Overview
The Audit and Verification Specialist will coordinate verification missions, provide technical leadership, and assess internal audits and verifications for consistency with professional standards and Agency regulations.
Key Responsibilities
- Acts as a focal point for coordinating verification missions across Fields.
- Provides technical leadership in planning and leading interactions and coordination of UNRWA activities and information.
- Assesses approach of internal audits and verifications for consistency with techniques and standards.
- Ensures findings are in line with terms of references.
- Identifies issues and trends and makes recommendations for improvement.
- Reviews submission of documents for accuracy and completeness.
- Highlights risk areas and coordinates corrective actions.
- Performs proper reconciliations.
- Manages interim and final audits by UN Board of Auditors.
- Develops and leads Agency-wide mechanism for data collection and consolidation.
- Coordinates with concerned parties to ensure timely responses to audit queries.
- Drafts management responses to audit queries.
- Backfills main UNBOA focal point as necessary.
- Provides support in managing timely implementation of UNBoA, internal audits, and donor verification recommendations.
- Ensures audit recommendations implementation rate meets required benchmark.
- Takes the lead in implementing initiatives to improve audit recommendations tracking and implementation.
- Acts as Finance Department’s focal point for DIOS audits, ACIO visits, and other inspections.
- Acts as Finance Department’s focal point in coordinating responses to donor requests on financial matters.
- Reviews and comments on donor agreements and issues raised by ERD and DLA.
- Ensures terms and conditions of donor agreements are supported by UNRWA systems.
- Provides authoritative interpretation of requirements for handling transactions with respect to donor reports.
- Plans, leads, monitors and evaluates staff performance.
- Provides technical guidance and ensures staff are sufficiently trained.
- Supervises or conducts training sessions as required.
- Acts as Finance Department’s focal point on Inter-Agency coordination and European Union meetings.
- Attends meetings with donors and addresses their queries.
- Analyzes problems and issues, formulates options, strategies and policies.
- Recommends solutions to address compliance, audit, verification and donor reporting issues.
- Takes the lead in the implementation of strategies and policies.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Required Experience
- At least seven years of progressively responsible and relevant experience in accounting, finance, business administration or related field is required.
- At least three years at the international level, in a large multinational, governmental, or non-profit organization in budgeting, accounting, financial management or related work, using computer-based financial systems is required.
- Unless already serving as an international staff member in the UN Common System, a candidate for an international post must have a minimum of two continuous years of relevant international experience outside UNRWA, and outside the country(s) of which the candidate is a national or holds citizenship, a passport or a national identity number is required.
- Experience in budget or finance office of an organization in the UN common system is desirable.
- Membership in a professional body of accountants is desirable.
Qualifications
- Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) from an accredited educational institution in accounting, finance, business administration or related field is required.
- Equivalency: A first level university degree in combination with additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
