The Finance Specialist works in close collaboration with the sub-recipients (SRs) of the Global Fund project, the operations and project teams in the PMU in ensuring successful implementation and oversight of GF activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Finance Specialist reports directly to the Project Coordinator.

Ensures effective and accurate financial resources management and oversight, focusing on achieving the following results:

• Leads on financial analysis and oversight for all resources managed by the Global Fund programme and provision of high-quality technical financial advice to the Programme Coordinator and other PMU staff members and Country Office senior management.
• Ensures proper planning, expenditure tracking of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations, policies and procedures, grant agreements and corporate agreements with the Global Fund and Global Fund financial management rules.
• Maintains robust internal financial management controls over all financial processes.
• Maintains adequate financial management arrangements including reviews and reconciliations, to support the deployment of grant resources in an economic, efficient, and effective manner to achieve the desired objectives, ensuring expenditures incurred are reasonable and allowable against budgetary allocations and that inappropriate payments and non-compliant expenditures are prevented.
• Ensures an efficient financial flow process is developed and implemented and amended to reflect the programme financial management requirements which are guided by risk assessments.
• Establishes and maintains a reporting system for internal and Global Fund needs, including Sub-recipients, contractors, service providers, and technical assistance providers.
• Ensures an effective information flow between finance and non-finance actors (Global Fund, Local Fund Agent and Sub-recipients) in order to effectively link the programmatic results to expenditures, as required by Global Fund.
• Develops and maintains an organizational structure for the Finance Unit, and leads on the recruitment of staff, fostering diversity, equity and inclusion and builds the technical, management and leadership capacity of staff for promotion of organizational excellence.
• Monitors the financial performance of supply management systems/ procurement.
• Prepares cost estimates for different activities according to the needs of programme management.
• Develops, tracks and reports to management key financial performance indicators. 
• Maintains a document management system for UNDP, including Sub-recipients, contractors, service providers, and technical assistance providers records.
• Supports the design of the workplan and budget, alert on required budget revisions and propose budget revision strategies for UNDP and Sub-Recipients.
• Under the guidance of the Programme Coordinator, prepares programme budgets, inputting budgets into Quantum, and complete budget revisions in a timely manner.
• Undertakes periodic review of Quantum vouchers and other entries and provides documentation to support necessary corrections including raising zero-dollar invoice where necessary.
• Conducts monthly analysis and monitoring of budget expenditures.
• Exercises control of accounts receivables for programmes and fund transfers from donors and UNDP Country Office and Headquarters.

Ensures implementation of operational strategies and procedures, focusing on achieving the following results:

• Establishes and/or ensures robust financial procedures: e.g., receipts, payments, disbursements, and bookkeeping, filing procedures for the GF projects of Sub-recipients.
• Ensures that financial procedures in place comply with the financial/accounting and procurement requirement of the Global Fund and UNDP.
• Performs a continuous analysis and monitoring of the financial situation, presentation of forecasts for the Global Fund programme.
• Ensures the timely closure of programmes and compliance with Global Fund and UNDP rules, policies, and procedures, including the transfer of assets.
• Support the PMU in the establishment and update of asset management system, assets tracking and process of assets verification.
• Ensures oversight for the transparency of the financial processes and use of funds and compliance with Global Fund and UNDP financial guidelines.
• Leads on the preparation of the donor reports (including Pulse Check and PUDR reports), monthly Cash Flow and annual Cash Flow Forecasts, statement of sources and uses of funds in compliance with the Global Fund requirements.
• Leads on the preparation of other financial reports to be submitted to the LFA/Global Fund, acting as the Focal Point for financial management information for the LFA/Global Fund.
• Elaborates and implements cost savings and reduction strategies under the guidance of the Programme Coordinator.
• Under the guidance of the Programme Coordinator, facilitates audits and investigations by the Office of Audit and Investigations and audits of Sub-recipient(s)) and by the Office of Inspector General in line with corporate agreements with the Global Fund and UNDP rules and regulations and policies and procedures and ensures timely implementation of audit recommendations and findings as they relate to financial, asset and Sub-recipient management.
• Routinely monitors financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions and investigates anomalies or unusual transitions.
• Leads on preparing timely and quality monthly cash flow forecasts for use by the Programme Coordinator in liaison with other Implementing Partners.

Manages the programme budgets and ensures proper control of programme accounts focusing on achieving the following results:

• Leads on managing financial resources through planning, guiding, monitoring, and controlling of the resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations.
• Prepares and monitors programme budgets in Quantum.
• Elaborates proper mechanisms to eliminate deficiencies in budget management.
• Ensures that contributions from the Global Fund are properly transferred to UNDP on a timely basis.
• Leads on ensuring compliance with the internal expenditures control system, which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Quantum.
• Leads on arranging quarterly financial management review meetings with Sub-recipients in coordination with other PMU staff across functional areas (programme, PSM, M&E).
• Ensures timely corrective actions on unposted invoices, including the invoices with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved invoices and ensures timely responses to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues.

Support risk management and assessment processes, for risk-informed financial operations, focusing on achieving the following results:

• Ensure compliance with UNDP POPP, Manuals and Guidelines related to the GF grant.
• Lead the periodic and targeted quality assurance and transaction-level analyses, including sampling and reviews at the project level.
• Organize and plan work to systematically meet service standards set for areas of responsibility within the grant life cycle.
• Ensure compliance of the SRs with recommendations outlined in the Capacity Assessment Reports.
• Conduct periodic monitoring in line with the recommendations outlined in the Capacity Assessment Reports.
• Lead SRs in producing reports that match UNDP standards by taking proactive measures, such as monthly check-in to engage on financial reporting and consulting on report preparation.
• Ensure SRs properly fill in Face Forms in line with UNDP requirements and verify accuracy of reports, facilitate spot checks and other monitoring activities, ensure timely entry in UNDP systems.

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

Competencies

Core competencies: 

• Achieve Results LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.
• Think Innovatively LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.
• Learn Continuously LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences. 
• Adapt with Agility LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.
• Act with Determination LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.
• Engage and Partner LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity. 

People Management competencies: 

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

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

2030 Agenda: People     

• Health:  Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund).

Finance

• Accounting (General): Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, frameworks, standards, regulations, policies and trends, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations.
• Audit risk management: Ability to address audit issues raised during an audit and propose solutions in order to ensure a true and fair audit opinion is achieved.
• Budget management: Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets.
• Financial planning and budgeting: Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP’s long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analyzing and reporting.  
• 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.

Business Direction & Strategy     

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.