Finance Assistant

Job Advertisement

Position Title: Finance Assistant
Location: Budapest
Country: Hungary
Deadline Date:

Job Details

Job Posting Organization:
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is an international organization that 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. Established in 1945, FAO operates in over 130 countries and has a mission to eradicate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. The organization is committed to promoting sustainable agricultural practices and improving the livelihoods of rural populations. FAO's Shared Services Centre (SSC) plays a crucial role in supporting the organization's operational efficiency by managing quality assurance activities and enhancing service delivery through process standardization and automation.

Job Overview:
The Finance Assistant position is designed for individuals who will undertake finance-related support activities of medium complexity within the FAO Shared Services Centre. The role requires a strong understanding of financial policies, procedures, and practices, ensuring that processes are executed with quality, transparency, and consistency. The Finance Assistant will be responsible for providing procedural guidance to other staff members and will work autonomously, demonstrating initiative and judgment. The incumbent will also be expected to maintain effective working relationships with various stakeholders within the organization, contributing to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the finance support processes.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The Finance Assistant will have a diverse set of responsibilities, including reviewing source documents for completeness and accuracy, extracting transaction details from the integrated financial system for analysis, investigating errors, and taking corrective actions. The role also involves supporting 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 reports by consolidating data from various sources, draft correspondence, and respond to queries. The incumbent will evaluate ongoing financial support requirements, adapt service provision to meet changing needs, and provide guidance and training to junior finance support staff. Other duties may be assigned as required, all of which contribute to the overall impact of the role on the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance team.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a secondary school education and have a minimum of four years of relevant experience in finance, accounting, cash management, 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. The role requires candidates to be nationals of Hungary or possess a valid visa/work permit and reside within commuting distance of Budapest at the time of application.

Educational Background:
The minimum educational requirement 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 apply in their daily tasks.

Experience:
Candidates should have at least four years of relevant experience in finance-related roles, which may include work in accounting, cash management, or asset management. This experience is crucial for the Finance Assistant to effectively handle the responsibilities of the position and contribute to the team's success.

Languages:
A working knowledge of English at proficiency level C is mandatory for this position. Additionally, having intermediate knowledge (level B) of another FAO official language such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish is considered desirable and may enhance a candidate's application.

Additional Notes:
The position is classified under General Service Staff, which means that candidates must be locally recruited. To be eligible, applicants 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. The role is full-time, and the successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate competencies such as results focus, teamwork, communication, building effective relationships, and knowledge sharing. Technical skills in financial rules and regulations, as well as experience with integrated ERP systems like Oracle, are also beneficial.