Chief of Section, Audit P5 at Office of Internal Oversight Services

The Internal Audit Division provides assurance services to all activities of the United Nations under the Secretary-General's authority. Clients comprise of the United Nations Secretariat, five regional commissions, select funds and programmes and other United Nations entities.

Responsibilities

The incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:

• Develop and implement the Section’s medium and long-term goals and objectives, and related annual audit and work plans
• Plan, organize, direct and coordinate the activities of multiple teams and resources of the Section
• Define the broad objectives and scope for each audit/review
• Provide direction and leadership with respect to all phases of each audit/review with a view to ensuring that OIOS standards are complied with and that audit/review objectives are achieved within budget
• Review working papers and related audit/review communications (e.g., audit reports)
• Provide guidance to audit staff on technical and administrative matters
• Lead audits/reviews of a sensitive and complex nature
• Lead team members efforts to collect and analyze data and provides insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensures that everyone can discover, access, integrate and share the data they need
• Analyse guidelines and standards for internal audit activities in the course of ensuring consistency of approach and adequacy of practice of subordinate auditors
• Coordinate and recommend improvements in, or reviews proposed changes to, the financial rules of the Organization
• Monitor the status of audit/review recommendations
• Liaise with internal audit functions of other United Nations organizations
• Empower/challenge staff to assume more responsibility
• Establish and maintain a positive relationship with auditees
• Carry out other tasks as may be assigned by the Chief of Service

Competencies

• Professionalism: Knowledge of auditing standards and practices, knowledge of applicable financial rules and procedures. Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions and present conclusions and recommendations. The ability to analyze and interpret data in support of decision-making and convey resulting information to management. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
• Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Managerial Competencies

• Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.
• Judgement/Decision-making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, finance, accounting or related field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is an advantage.

Job - Specific Qualification

• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), and Certified International Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or equivalent is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible professional experience in audit, finance, accounting, administration, statistics, computer science or related area is required.
• Experience in audit management is required.
• Experience in analysis of complete sets of data to identify anomalies and trends is required.
• Experience in using data analytics tools such as IDEA, ACL, and Excel for analysis of entire populations of data is required.
• Experience in auditing in the public sector is desirable.
• Experience within the United Nations system, or similar large international organization is desirable.
• Experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.