Finance Assistant at International Maritime Organization

Purpose of the Post

• The incumbent is responsible for providing business and finance support in the processing, accounting, analysis, monitoring and reporting relating to Accounts Payable, Account Receivable and Cafeteria Financial Operations, as well as providing support to the on-going improvement projects and administrative matters.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
Accounts Payable

• Reviewing and processing requests for payments by: matching and reconciling against approved and goods-receipted Purchase Orders, including confirmation of expenditure coding; identifying and following up mismatched items, initially internally and subsequently seeking supplier amendment where required; checking expenditure reports and creating journals associated with payments made by direct debit.
• Acting as the primary point of contact between the Organization and its suppliers, consultants, temporary employees and contractors regarding financial matters including, but not limited to VAT, provision of duplicate invoices and statements, and preparing and sending correspondence over unresolved disputes or delayed payments and issuance of supplier credit notes.
• Reviewing requests for payments to all supernumeraries, sub-contractors and consultants to ensure they are properly authorized and in line with contract terms, reconciling against the information on the SAP Purchase Order. Ensuring advance payments are consistent with the Memorandum of Understanding, the services requested, IMO’s financial policies and procedures, and covered by the relevant Framework Order.
• Pro-actively identifying and following up incorrectly authorized requests for payments or those which do not comply with the Organization’s financial policies and procedures, internally in the first instance and subsequently seeking clarification from the third party.
• Verifying invoices reported on the suppliers’ statement against the invoices processed for payment or paid to ensure that no invoice is left unpaid or outstanding.
• Reviewing vendor outstanding balances and ensuring that the balances represent valid and correct amount of payable to the vendor, and take necessary action when necessary.

Accounts Receivable

• Invoicing and receipting revenue or refund relating to donor contributions, cafeteria cash and reception sales, publications sales, subletting income, travel recoverable, IOPC Fund rent and other shared costs, ASHI payment by retirees, refund of service incurred medical expenses.
• Reviewing the monthly VAT receivable report, preparing a claim to be submitted to the Foreign Commonwealth Office for approval, following up receipt of amount recoverable from the UK Government, and serving as the Focal Point for the FCDO Auditors.
• Monitoring customer or receivable outstanding balances and issuing or sending regular reminders for the follow-up of payments.
• Reviewing and maintaining customer accounts and ensure that the balances represent valid and accurate amount due from Member States and other customers.
• Maintaining electronic record of documents supporting each transaction, including correspondence.
• Creating and maintaining correct and current customer master record.
• Cafeteria Financial Transactions Processing and Reporting
• Processing of Internal Functions charged to the relevant WBS element with corresponding credit to income of Cafeteria.
• Reviewing and reconciling the daily Cash sales, Loyalty Card sales, and Chip and Pin Sales between the SAP System, Till Receipts and MCR System, and investigating and resolving any discrepancies with the Catering Manager.
• Reviewing and ensuring the accuracy of the balance of the liability for the Loyalty Card top up as at a given period of time, between SAP system and MCR System figures.
• Reviewing, reconciling and validating all income and expense transactions recorded in the SAP system, in the income sheet report and subsequently against the weekly and yearly figures reported in the profit and loss statement report.
• Monitoring regularly the charges made against the Framework Orders and the commitments made against the available budget for all WBS and costs elements.
• Preparing the budget monitoring report showing the budget available, actual charges, commitments and balances for the use of the Catering Manager to assess whether there is a need to raise and increase the value of the Framework Requisition/Order, which will ensure the timely payment of invoices and avoid penalty or termination of the supply of services.
• Preparing the yearly and monthly profit and loss statement and ensuring the accuracy against the weekly financial report.
• Maintaining and reconciling the weekly revenue and expense monitoring report with SAP System and separate reconciliation working papers.
• Maintaining the files and records supporting the monthly and yearly profit and loss statement, and the weekly monitoring financial report.
• Maintaining complete and accurate electronic copies of all source documents and financial working papers and reports.

Projects – Business Process, Controls and Procedures Enhancements

• Providing assistance and support in the on-going projects in the improvement of various business processes, systems, controls and procedures, as well as working papers and forms.
• Maintaining documentation and working paper analysis related to each of the projects.
• Provide support to administrative and coordination in the office (maintenance of intranet pages, SAP focal point).
• Perform any other related duties as assigned.

Required Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to work independently under general guidance, with a high degree of accuracy, initiative, judgement.
• Demonstrated ability to multitask and to work under pressure, whilst maintaining excellent quality and attention to deadlines and details.
• Ability to solve problems in a systematic manner. Able to define a path for problem resolution and deal with obstacles. 
• Capacity to be flexible and open to change 
• Ability to pay attention to internal and external customer needs and adapt as these evolve.
• Good communication skills, ability to draft and present issues in a clear manner.
• Confidentiality and a high degree of tact, and ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, at all levels, in a multicultural environment. 

Professional Experience

• At least four years of relevant professional experience in financial accounting, analysis and reporting, and administration.

Education

• Secondary education to university entrance standard preferably in finance/accounting.  Part or full professional qualification (CPA, CA or CIMA) will be highly desirable.

Language Skills

• Complete proficiency in English both written and oral. Knowledge of any other UN languages would be an asset.