Finance Assistant

Job Posting Organization:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Established in 1945, FAO has over 194 member countries and works in more than 130 countries worldwide. The organization aims to achieve security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">food security for all and ensure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. FAO's mission is to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition, make agriculture, forestry, and fisheries more productive and sustainable, reduce rural poverty, and enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. The Shared Services Centre (SSC) is a key component of FAO's operational framework, focusing on process management and quality assurance to enhance service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Job Overview:
The Finance Assistant position is integral to the operations of the FAO Shared Services Centre located in Budapest, Hungary. This role involves undertaking finance-related support activities that are of medium complexity, ensuring that processes are executed with quality, transparency, and consistency. The Finance Assistant is expected to possess a thorough understanding of financial policies, procedures, and practices, and will provide procedural guidance to other staff members as necessary. The incumbent will work autonomously, demonstrating initiative and judgment while effectively organizing their workload. The position requires maintaining a wide range of contacts within the organization and providing experienced coordination and delivery of finance support processes and services. The Finance Assistant will also play a proactive role in the continuous improvement of financial processes and service delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The Finance Assistant will be responsible for a variety of key functions, including reviewing source documents for completeness, accuracy, and validity. They will extract transaction details from the integrated financial system for analysis and verification, investigate errors, and take corrective actions as needed. The incumbent will support continuous improvement efforts by participating in the testing and implementation of new financial process automations. Additionally, the Finance Assistant will monitor transactions to ensure due diligence is performed, prepare worksheets, and assist in the preparation of reports by compiling and consolidating data from various sources. They will draft correspondence, respond to queries, evaluate ongoing financial support requirements, and adapt service provision to meet changing needs. The role also includes providing procedural guidance and training to junior finance support staff and performing other duties as required. The impact of the Finance Assistant's work is significant, directly affecting the efficiency, effectiveness, accuracy, and timeliness of the services provided by the team.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a secondary school education as a minimum requirement. Additionally, they should have four years of relevant experience in finance, accounting, cash management, and/or asset management related support work. A working knowledge of English at proficiency level C is mandatory, along with very good knowledge of MS Office applications and office technology equipment. Candidates must be nationals of Hungary or possess an existing visa/work permit and reside within commuting distance of the duty station at the time of application.

Educational Background:
The educational background required for this position is a secondary school education. This foundational education is essential for understanding the basic principles of finance and accounting that the Finance Assistant will be applying in their daily tasks.

Experience:
The position requires candidates to have a minimum of four years of relevant experience in finance, accounting, cash management, and/or asset management related support work. This level of experience is crucial for the Finance Assistant to effectively handle the medium complexity of the finance-related support activities they will be undertaking.

Languages:
A working knowledge of English at proficiency level C is mandatory for this position. Additionally, it is desirable for candidates to have intermediate knowledge (level B) of another FAO official language, which could include Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish. This multilingual capability can enhance communication within the organization and with external stakeholders.

Additional Notes:
The position is classified under the General Service Staff category, which means that candidates must be nationals of Hungary or possess an existing visa/work permit. The role is expected to be full-time, and candidates must reside within commuting distance of the duty station at the time of application. This ensures that staff members can travel daily between their place of work and residence. The Finance Assistant will be expected to demonstrate competencies such as results focus, teamwork, communication, building effective relationships, and knowledge sharing and continuous improvement. Technical skills in financial rules and regulations, accounting policies, and practices are also essential for ensuring compliance and accuracy in processing controls.