Accountant, Donor Reporting Unit, DFAM, P-2, New York

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Background

The Donor Reporting Unit is part of the Accounts Section of UNICEF’s Division of Financial and Administrative Management (DFAM) and produces interim and final certified statements of account for donors.  Whilst UNICEF’s accounting system records expenses on an IPSAS basis, donor statements report “expenditure” which is defined as disbursements plus purchase orders. 

UNICEF Country Offices have been informally reporting to donors on a “utilisation” basis which includes disbursements, purchase orders and other funds commitment documents.  Therefore utilisation will generally report higher “spending” than is reported in the donor statements.

To eliminate the inconsistency between the two reports UNICEF intends to replace both reports with a new donor report.  This report will also separate commitments from disbursements.  These are currently not separated. 

In addition donor statements will be produced from a BI module rather than directly from SAP (UNICEF’s ERP system) in order to produce donor statements faster.  This is currently a major constraint.

The new statement will be rolled out on 1 January 2016.  DFAM has decided to recruit a temporary staff member in order to assist with the roll out of this statement.

The Accountant, under the supervision of the manager of the Donor Reporting Unit, will be responsible for:
- Reviewing the accuracy of amounts reported on the new donor statement and the donor reporting cube.
- Ensuring that the logic of the new donor statement is kept up to date.
- Acting as a first point of contact for questions from Country Offices.

A secondary role will be to review interim reports submitted by Country Offices for EU grants. 

Timeframe

The Accountant will be recruited on a temporary assistance basis for a period of 12 months starting 1 January 2016.

Assignments

1. Reviewing new donor statements for accuracy of data (40%)

- Follow up of previously identified Purchase Orders and Cash Transfers which are not correctly reported in the new donor statement.
- Proposing changes to the logic of the new donor statement to improve accuracy and ensuring that parallel changes are made in the SAP donor statement logic if required.

2. Acting as focal point for questions on the new donor statement (40%)

- Responding to questions from Country Offices and other users on the format and contents of the new donor statement and expenditure listing.
- Forwarding questions to other DFAM staff for response if appropriate. 
- Keeping a log of questions and their responses.

3. Review of interim financial reports to EC (20%)

- A schedule of due dates of reports should be maintained to ensure reports are submitted on time.  Overdue reports should be followed up.
- The reports should be prepared in accordance with the published DFAM guidelines.
- It should be ensured that the reports are derived from expenditure and commitment listings and correctly include the relevant portions of non EC grants.

Profile

Required
• University degree in accounting or related field
• Strong data analysis skills, comparisons of large data sets (VLookup, Pivot Tables, etc) and advanced use of Microsoft Excel.
• Proven experience of working with BI, data warehousing and specifically reconciliation between BI and underlying accounting systems.
• Proven experience of project management and the ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to:
 Express clearly and concisely ideas and concepts in writing and orally
 Research, analyse, evaluate and synthesize information
 Work well under pressure
• Fluency in English

Desirable
• Knowledge of SAP is an advantage.

How to Apply:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, CV and P 11 form, (which can be downloaded from UNICEF’s website at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc to NYHQDFAM-Recruitment atdfamrecruitment@unicef.org with subject line “Accountant (P-2), Donor Reporting Unit, DFAM” by 11 December, 2015, 5:00pm EST
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.