National Professional Officer (Finance)

The WHO Global Service Centre (GSC), Malaysia, provides specialized services to all staff and all WHO offices worldwide in respect of human resources, procurement, finance and support of corporate IT applications and infrastructure. The aim of the GSC is to provide the swift and reliable delivery of a comprehensive array of products and services covering all these fields. The Global Finance team (GFI)within the GSC provides processing and accounting services for payroll, pension, accounts payable, travel and expenses and awards transactions as set out in the Service Catalogue.

Processing errors could lead to large-scale financial loss to the Organization, delayed implementation and severe inconvenience to staff, technical units and/or suppliers, globally. The position requires a good understanding of WHO's rules, procedures and systems to ensure that payments are processed timely and correctly; that awards are created accurately and in a timely manner; that agreed controls are operating effectively to minimize risks; all documents are analysed for accuracy and completeness; all accounting is correctly reconciled and correctly stated.

Within the delegated authority, the incumbent is assigned all or part of the following responsibilities. Since this is a generic post description staff may be rotated and assigned to perform other duties within GFI as determined by the Coordinator, Global Finance which includes ad hoc assignments, reinforcing other teams or replacing other staff members as required. General duties and responsibilities (for all teams):

The National Professional Officer (Finance) will manage teams covering the following duties:

• Manage, brief, motivate, train and coach the team in the respective GFI unit.
• Ensure that service requests and other work requests are distributed to team members in an equitable and transparent manner.
• Ensure that such requests are processed within the turn-around times specified in the Service Catalogue and within the relevant control environment.
• Ensure that all queries from staff or suppliers are processed within the turn-around times specified in the Service Catalogue.
• Ensure effective KPI for support specified in Service catalogue and performance tracker with focus on work progress are properly maintained and monitored.
• Prepare management reports on a periodic basis.
• Prepare and clean monthly reconciliations.
• Liaise closely with Internal and External Auditors, providing requested information and ensuring necessary changes are made when responding to recommendations, in coordination with stakeholders.
• Periodically, review processes and standard operating procedures, in coordination with stakeholders, to ensure that procedures are up to date and any potential process improvements are identified.
• Identify system issues, notify IT Support teams accordingly and test subsequent system fixes.
• Make recommendations on process improvements and implemented authorized changes, including changes to system design and subsequent testing.
• Closely collaborate with colleagues in GFI, GSC, HQ, ROs and COs, valuing one GSC.
• Perform ad hoc assignments, special projects, and any other related duties when required.

The teams in GFI have team-specific duties over and above those described above:

a) Invoice Processing:

• Process Supplier invoices, credit memos,
• Process advance payments,
• Process travel and hotel invoices,
• Provide account and payment attestations,
• Exception and error handling,
• Record and process clearing of receivable related to Direct Financial Cooperation.

b) Payments processing:

• Review transactions proposed for payment,
• Creating payment batches,
• Formatting payment batches into payment instruction templates,
• Uploading electronic payment instructions to banking portals,
• Issue payment instructions to relevant parties,
• Processing payment voids and refund,
• Exception and error handling.

c) Travel processing:

• Exception and error handling on travel invoices and travel recoveries,
• Process exceptional travel recovery requests,
• Process statutory travel requests,
• Process travel cancellations and refunds,
• Processing Negative Travel Claim (HQ) and Statutory Retroactive Travel Claims,
• Provide input to separation processing,
• Uploading monthly and mid-month per diem.

d) Award management:

• Donor creation,
• Process awards transactions such as inter alia awards creation, funding distribution and workplan funding,
• Donor agreement review,
• Running automated programmes for Revenue and Receivables generation including hedging activities,
• Monitoring and exception reporting,
• Perform all other related duties as assigned.

Essential:

• University degree in accounting/financial management or in a closely related field of study or an equivalent completed professional training in accounting with certification such as CPA, CA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent.
  

Desirable:

• Advanced University degree in accounting/financial management.
• Professional accounting certification such as inter alia CPA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent.

Essential:

• At least five years of relevant experience in financial accounting, managing financial transaction processing and/or income management preferably within a large corporation or international organization.
• Demonstrated experience in finance and accounting management.
• Experience in using integrated financial management and reporting systems.
• Proven recent managerial and leadership skills and experience.
  

Desirable:

• Experience in WHO with a good knowledge of the financial and administrative rules and processes.
• Experience in a Finance and HR Shared Services Centre.

• Ability to analyse financial data and recommend appropriate actions.
• Mature judgement and ability to detect shortcomings and anomalies.
• Integrity, tact and discretion in dealing with others.
• Excellent all round communication skills.
• Very good knowledge of ERP systems.
• Demonstrated skill and proficiency in MS Office.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Familiarity with International Public Sector Accounting Standards.

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English.

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at MYR 168,380 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level including those of a temporary nature.

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test and/or an asynchronous video assessment may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits and employs staff regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.

• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• WHO also offers wide range of benefits to staff, including parental leave and attractive flexible work arrangements to help promote a healthy work-life balance and to allow all staff members to express and develop their talents fully.

• The statutory retirement age for staff appointments is 65 years. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.

• Please note that WHO's contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at .

• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.

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