Finance Officer Full Time

Scope of Work

The Finance Officer is expected to closely work with the team working on the Support to National Dialogue Project within UNDP as well as with relevant team members at the ENDC. He/she is expected to ensure the provision of high-quality support for the overall financial management activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide NEX Advance/ Grant Management Support:

• Produce a monthly summary report on the budget against the AWP for review by the Project Officer and concerned.
•  Monitor and track project expenditures against the approved budget.
•  Provide financial information on Implementing Partners for audit purposes.

Project Planning & Budgeting

• Prepare and maintain the project budget in collaboration with the project team and partners.
  •   Provide forecast cash flow needs to UNDP Finance and manage project funds accordingly.
  •   Assist the Project Officer in identifying and addressing any financial deficiency and issues, if any.
  •   Guide Implementing Partners in preparing budgets which are compliant with UNDP’s financial rules and regulations.
  •   Ensure proper documentation and filing of Implementing Partner documents (forms, signed contracts, workplans, budgets, grants assessment reports, M&E frameworks, correspondences etc.)

Provide Financial Management Support:

•   Prepare accurate and timely financial reports based in compliance with donor requirements and UNDP organizational standards.
•   Analyze financial data to identify trends, areas of improvement, and potential challenges.
•   Provide the project team with regular financial updates and insights to inform decision-making.
•   Perform regular monitoring of the project budget/delivery and review for correctness and alert Finance for any deficiency, wrong entry, insufficient fund etc., before             quarterly financial closures by UNDP HQ;
•   Regularly monitor and track disbursements/advances to Implementing Partner on a monthly basis.
•   Review NEX advance requests/Direct Payment/Reimbursements sent from the RP for compliance with the standard template, accuracy of amounts/exchange rates etc. in      collaboration with the M&E Officer and the Project Manager and provide technical advice to the IP.
•   Jointly with PDRM Unit, undertake regular spot checks as per HACT guidelines to ensure that all expenditure/payments by Implementing Partners is adequately                   documented and adheres to established guidelines.
•   Generate Quarterly and Annual financial reports for the UNDP CO review and assist in their analysis.
•   In liaison with the Project Manager, UNDP Operations Managers and PDRM Unit, assist in coordinating in provision of information and documents for project’s audits/          verifications as and when appropriate.
•   Provide regular budget/resource/Delivery updates to the Unit when requested.
•   Ensure adequate supporting documents for all payments as per the POPPs and maintain an organized, well documented, and sequential filing system for finance records      and documents.
•   Produce a monthly summary spreadsheet per Implementing Partner on the financial status of the project for review by the CO.
•   Ensure that LOA for Support to NEX is prepared/Updated and sent to Min. of Finance and uploaded in the HACT share drive.

General Administrative Support

•   Handel and follow-up procurement of services and goods in consultation with the project team, procurement, and operations team, and the DGPU Team Leader.
•   Critically follow up on the proper Transfer of Title, inventory and Registration of Capital Assets procured for the IP using the UNDP’s POPPs guidelines.
•   Ensure that Implementing Partner adheres  to the UNDP’s standards  of procurement when Support to NEX is preferred.
•   Facilitate in the Travel inland and outside of Ethiopia for the IP and Team Leader as deemed necessary.
•   Facilitate in the logistics for workshop/meetings/Seminar etc. as and when required.

Ensure Integrated Programme Implementation & Capacity Building:

•   Contributing to project work planning and reporting exercises, participating in the process to collect inputs from various teams (programme, operations, country offices)     and consolidate them into a holistic plan.
•   Identifying synergies and collaborative areas of work between the programme and operations teams, to maximize the project’s overall impact working together with the      Project Manager.
•   Collects and provides necessary data, statistics, and information to support integrated work planning and reporting.
•   Guide/share knowledge and information with Implementing Partners on acceptable accounting principles and procedures.

Other responsibilities

•   Carry out other responsibilities as assigned by the Supervisor.

Institutional Arrangement

The Finance Officer will be directly accountable to UNDP Team Leader-Democratic Governance and Peacebuilding Unit.

Competencies

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Management – Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, priority and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Business Management – Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Business Management – Resource Management: Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity

Administration & Operations – Finance, Budget management: Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets

Administration & Operations – Documents and records management: overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving.

Administration and Operations – Finance, Financial reporting, and analysis: understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector. Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance.

Audit & Investigation – Financial and Managerial Accounting and Finance key concepts: key concepts and principles of financial accounting, interpret financial analysis, managerial accounting, etc.

Job Requirements

• Experience: Minimum two (2) years of work experience with Bachelor’s or 0 years with Master’s