Finance Analyst

UNOPS Ethiopia Multi-Country Office (ETMCO) is recruiting for this position: Finance Analyst based in Addis Ababa.


Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.


The Finance Analyst  liaises with stakeholders on issues related to financial management and ensures compliance with UNOPS financial management policies, procedures and practices.  The incumbent promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach and works in close collaboration with the Projects’ and Operations personnel in the UNOPS office across the MCO,  ensuring successful delivery of financial services.



Background of Country Context:

Ethiopia Multi-country office (ETMCO) sub-region currently consists of an established Operation Centre in Addis Ababa which manages a portfolio of engagements in four (4)  Horn of Africa countries  (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan).  ETMCO focuses on Infrastructure, Procurement, Project Management, HR and Transactional Services, and Fund Management services across a wide range of sectors including Health, Education, Agriculture, Resilient infrastructure among others.  

Our goal is to support countries, help people in need and enable our partners through  delivering on our mandate of infrastructure, procurement and project management in the countries in the Horn of Africa.  Building on our global experience successfully delivering projects in complex operating environments, a healthy pipeline of engagements are at various stages of discussion with our priority partners.  

Under the overall guidance of the ETMCO Finance Specialist, the Finance Analyst provides a variety of specialized finance, accounting, and budget related activities ensuring high quality, accuracy and consistency of work. 


Summary of key functions

1. Implementation of operational strategies

2. Budget preparation, monitoring and control

3. Cash management and treasury

4. Control of accounts and payments

5. Knowledge building and knowledge sharing

1. Ensures implementation of operational strategies focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Full compliance with UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations, the Finance Manual and Finance and Budget Technical Instructions in all financial transactions, recording, reporting, etc.

• Routine monitoring of financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions, and analysis of anomalies or unusual transactions with further actions if required.

• Implementation of cost saving and reduction strategies in consultations with office management.

2. Ensures timely budget preparation and effective monitoring and control, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Ensure that budgets are prepared in the right format with clearly written assumptions, within the required timeframe and with a high level of accuracy.

• Coordination of the preparation of project budget; review of budget submissions, regular analysis and monitoring of expenditures against budget allotments and reporting on variances; 

• In coordination with the Finance Specialist to ensure compliance with UNOPS financial rules and regulations, financial policies and procedures and that project budgets and revisions are prepared in accordance with established procedures and budgetary guidelines of the funding agency; project budget-phasing is processed accurately and punctually.

• Identification of administrative budgetary requirements; provision of guidance on guidelines for budget preparation.

• Review and update of guidelines, procedures in light of changing circumstances or for the purpose of complying, streamlining and/or strengthening of existing financial and budgetary procedures.

• Monitoring of budget implementation, expenditure levels against allotments and determination/recommendation of reallocation of funds when necessary.

• Maintenance of the UNOPS Project Budget formulation system ensuring timely input and processing of data; With the cooperation and support of the Information Technology group, always ensuring the relevance of the system by updating and proposing changes to facilitate the financial management of projects and enhance financial reporting;

• Flagging any potential risks to the Finance Specialist when required so that timely corrective actions can be taken.

3. Cash management and treasury: provides substantive review, contributions, and support towards achievement of the following:  

• Organization and oversight of cash management processes, including liquidity management, recommendation of imprest level, risk assessment, bank relationship management, timely accounting and reconciliation of all transactions, security for cash assets on site.

• Timely review of cash position for local accounts to ensure sufficient funds on hand for disbursements; identification and recording of receipts for income application.

• Provision of support to ensure efficient local banking arrangements and compliance with local financial and banking regulations;

• Analysis of trends and forecasting of ETMCO cash needs with coordination of the program team. 

4. Accounts and payments: ensures and is accountable for key elements of the following:

• Ensuring full compliance with Financial Rules and Regulations and UNOPS procedures with regard to financial processes, financial records, reports, and audit follow-up;

• Quality control of the account by performing ongoing review, analysis and reconciliation of accounts. Investigation of discrepancies and initiation of timely corrective actions on unposted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers..

• Prior to further processing, reviewing payment requests for completeness and ensuring documentation is complete and information concerning the payment provided as required: proper accounting codes used, payment to sub-contractor/supplier is in compliance with terms and conditions of agreement;

• Support the Finance Specialist in analyzing, developing and implementing the internal expenditures’ control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in oneUNOPS ERP; construction payments, retention, VAT and balance sheet monitoring e.g. bank guarantee monitoring tools are duly prepared; travel claims and other entitlements are duly processed;

• Control of the Accounts Receivables and follow up with internal/external stakeholders on liquidation of advances, deposits creation in ERP and their application to AR pending items.

• Proper control of the supporting documents for payments; preparation of all types of vouchers; Pay Cycle and payments execution.

• Ensuring of proper maintenance of the Office financial accounts; preparation of financial records, periodic statements, and reports as required;

• Control and verifying of supporting documents for payments; preparation of all types of vouchers; execution of payments by the discharge of duties as Delegation of Authority 1 holder;

• Monitoring/follow-up on the remittances and payments completion with due recording in accounting system;

• Preparation of periodic accounts closure;

5. Knowledge building and sharing:

• Provision support to the organization and conduct of training for the operations/ projects staff on Finance

• Filing of lessons learned and best practices in Finance

• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice

1. Contract type: Local Individual Contract Agreement (LICA)
2. Contract level: LICA 8 (ICS 8)
3. Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance. 

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.