Finance Associate [Open to internal and external applicants]

Multiple positions.

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The Bureau for Management Services’ Office of Financial Resources Management (BMS/OFRM) supports the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the implementation of the 2030 agenda and UNDP’s Strategic Plan. It achieves this by developing and making fully operational a dynamic and harmonized integrated resource management framework based on comprehensive analysis that enhances UNDP’s financial and administrative performance, as well as facilitating UN reform and coherence. The primary role of BMS/ OFRM is to maintain the financial integrity of UNDP through providing functional leadership, supporting the efficient and effective management of its financial resources, promoting financial sustainability and responsible resource allocation. This is accomplished by the development and implementation of sound financial policies and practices, oversight of corporate financial management performance, and flexible scalable support to resource allocation. BMS/OFRM serves as a business partner to Bureaux and Country Offices, providing sound financial management, advisory and analytical services, with a view to continuously improve the financial management performance of business units and support Bureaux in the exercising of their oversight functions. 

Within OFRM, the Financial Performance Management & Reporting (FPMR) team is responsible for oversight of financial reporting, the preparation and integrity of UNDP’s financial statements, and providing timely and accurate financial information in accordance with international accounting standards. FPMR fosters trust and accountability through leadership in financial policy, robust internal financial controls, and close engagement with auditors to support an unqualified audit opinion, while also delivering expert accounting and financial advisory support, addressing complex and non-routine financial issues, and overseeing financial risk related to implementing partners, enabling informed senior decision-making and sustained audit assurance.

Within FPMR, there are four units:

• Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR): Responsible for promoting clear accountability for financial transactions and for producing UNDP’s corporate financial statements.
• Financial Performance Management (FPM): Responsible for managing aspects of financial performance, including the administration of the Annual Representation exercise and the Statement of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting; monitoring of financial risks related to financial statement integrity; and management of the implementing partners policy framework, including the agency-wide Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT) framework.
• Payroll Finance Oversight (PFO): Responsible for the financial oversight of payroll accounting functions, as well as the reporting of employee benefits and liabilities for all UNDP personnel.
• Internal Advisory and Decision Support (IADS): provides expert, structured financial analysis to resolve complex, non-routine issues and enhance the quality and timeliness of senior decision-making.

Position Purpose

The Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) function is responsible for the preparation of the organization’s financial statements, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant financial reporting in line with international accounting standards. The team delivers reliable accounting and reporting execution, internal control assurance, and audit support through disciplined efficient close processes, strong data governance, and consistent application of financial policies.

Finance Associates in FPMR play a substantive technical role in the application of IPSAS and, where relevant, maintenance of the policy framework for the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT). They contribute to the integrity, reliability, and consistency of UNDP’s financial data, oversee and support the preparation of UNDP’s financial statements and other statutory reports, and undertake monitoring and analytical activities in support of OFM’s corporate oversight responsibilities. Finance Associates provide technical accounting and reporting and HACT-related guidance to relevant stakeholders and contribute to the articulation and defense of management positions during the external audit process, applying professional judgment and a sound understanding of accounting standards, internal controls, and audit assertions.

Note that UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. This is a recognition of interconnected nature of development risks & crises that the world is facing and that call for assembling of multidisciplinary teams for an integrated & systemic response. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across issues, units, functions, teams and projects in multidisciplinary teams to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provides substantive support and leads aspects in the preparation of statutory and corporate financial reports, including financial statements, donor reports, executive board reports, and other financial reporting outputs:

• Leads the planning and execution of data collection and preparation of financial statements and notes, applying sound professional judgment in the interpretation and application of IPSAS standards.
• Prepares donor financial reports on revenue, expenditures, and related information, and proactively follows up with relevant UNDP units to resolve financial or programme-related issues and respond to donor queries.
• Prepares financial highlights, interim financial reports, and audit-related information, and performs analytical work and data analysis to support financial reporting and global process owners.
• Performs detailed analytical reviews of financial data and reports to identify, investigate, and resolve anomalies, ensuring accuracy and consistency of reported information.

2. Ensures data integrity within the UNDP financial systems while assisting with the preparation and review of the general ledger and other related financial modules:

• Regularly monitors the financial dashboards and other financial reports to identify data errors, analyze Month on Month/Quarter on Quarter/Year on Year movement and collaborate with the respective Bureaux or business units or for follow-up and clearance to instill a strong internal control environment. 
• Performs GL reconciliations and performs monthly/quarterly analysis of balance sheet accounts, ensuring significant issues are identified, resolved or escalated as needed.
• Maintains core accounting information (account, fund and donor), financial statement mapping, IPSAS trees and accounting templates and other master data as needed. 
• Supports regular financial closure processes including module closure per schedule, data analytics relating to the financial statements, among others.

3. Monitors compliance with financial procedures:

• Follows-up, reviews and monitors bureaus/Country Office submissions and account analyses and other financial information and summarized and prepares plan for resolving issues systematically.
• Liaises and communicates with GSSC teams, country offices, Regional Bureaus, HQ units and/or client Agencies (as appropriate) on corrective actions.
• Performs oversight support of assigned financial processes and accounts, reviewing the work of other units, as appropriate. For example, review cost recovery balances, including transactions and exceptions, monitoring performance, coordinating issue resolution with other teams (including IT department) to ultimately support reporting to Offices and the Executive Board, ensuring appropriate GMS levels are charged, collected, and reported.
• Performs finance business processes mapping and elaboration of the content of policies and prepares/updates Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in Finance in consultation with FPMR management, proposing changes as required to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assists in the development of system tools, reports, dashboards, and testing and user guides and training materials.

4. Provides substantive accounting and transaction support across the finance function, contributing to accurate financial recording, reconciliations, and reporting in accordance with IPSAS and established policies and procedures:

• Manages accounting, billing, and reconciliation activities for assigned financial areas, including balance sheet and income statement accounts (e.g. MIP billing, investment accounting, GMS accounting), ensuring accuracy and timely resolution of issues.
• Prepares, validates, and reconciles financial data and supporting schedules for financial reporting, audit, actuarial, and management purposes, applying sound professional judgment within established frameworks.
• Proactively coordinates with shared services, country offices, policy units, and external service providers to investigate and resolve accounting queries and transaction issues, escalating complex matters as appropriate.

5. Audit support: 

• Leads assigned internal and external audit activities by preparing documentation, data, and explanations, and responding to audit requests in a timely and accurate manner.
• Supports follow-up on audit observations by tracking actions, supporting remediation activities, and maintaining appropriate audit trails.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: None

Competencies

Core 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

People Management:

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site. 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Management:

• Risk Management     
  • Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks.
• Monitoring & evaluation    
  • Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively. 
  • Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results. 
  • Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming. Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. 
  • Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Development    

• Knowledge generation    
  • Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. 
  • Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. 
  • Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.

Finance  

• Audit risk management     
  • Ability to address risks and audit issues raised in the course of an audit and propose solutions in order to ensure true and fair audit opinion is achieved.
• Financial risk management    
  • Ensures financial resilience through proactive assessment of risk, implementation of controls and taking mitigating action.
  • Understands risk and reward in relation to collaborative and commercial projects.
  • Ensures a culture of positive risk management.
• Finance business partnering        
  • Able to support business units and add value by innovating and providing solutions to financial issues/queries, including through FAQs, financial tools, advisory, etc. Influences and appropriately challenges non-finance colleagues for whom the service is being provided. Understands the operations opportunities and challenges of the organization.
  • Holds a commercial outlook, demonstrating accountability towards organizational goals.
• Accounting (General)    
  • Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, frameworks, standards, regulations, policies and trends, and ability to apply this to strategic and practical situations.
     

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Completion of Secondary Education is required with specialized certification in accounting and/or Finance is required. University degree in Finance or Accounting is desirable.
• A professional accounting qualification (Fully Qualified) from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy is required. 

Experience:

• At least 7 years with a Secondary Education or 4 years with a Bachelor’s Degree, of experience in a financial management position(s) with large international organizations, required. 
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with ability to work in and across teams. 
• Experience with ERP systems and Excel, preferably Oracle Cloud ERP, is required.
• Collaborative team player with flexibility to work across global time zones.
• Experience in the preparation of Financial Statements is desirable.
• Audit experience in a public auditing firm will be an added advantage. 
• Proven track record of a sound understanding of international accounting standards, preferably Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) utilized by international organizations will be an added advantage. 
• Analytical capabilities with distinct knowledge of current analytical applications and tools is desirable. 

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English.

This vacancy is open to nationals of the respective country.
 

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Probation

For all new UNDP fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNDP under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Use of AI by candidates

Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.