Finance Assistant SC5 - Lebanon Country Office, Beirut

Organizational Background

Assisting more than 90 million people in 83 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
As the international community has committed to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition by 2030, one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.

In Lebanon, WFP works to support approximately 700,000 people with regular assistance using e-cards. WFP also supports Lebanese schools with school meals, and has run over 300 development activities which include supporting rural infrastructure, as well as education and training opportunities for vulnerable individuals in families. WFP also supports Lebanon’s National Poverty Targeting Programme.  

Organizational Context:

This post is based in Beirut Country Office, and the incumbent will report to the Finance Officer.

Job Purpose:

To support effective delivery of finance, budget and administration support services in order to facilitate transparent and efficient utilization of financial resources.

Accountabilities: 

Under the supervision of the Finance Officer, the incumbent will perform the following tasks:

1. Assist in providing the procedural and technical support to staff within the areas of finance and budget, to ensure compliance with WFP financial policies, rules and regulations.
2. Monitor monthly expenditure forecasts and provide expenditure reports in order to facilitate informed decision-making.
3. Monitor the sub-imprest bank and petty cash accounts regularly, to ensure that adequate funds are available and appropriately disbursed.
4. Verify vendor claims, advances and other receivables and observe appropriate procurement procedures, to ensure that suppliers are paid in a timely manner and in conformance with WFP finance rules and regulations.
5. Assist in compiling information from various sources in order to prepare reports relating to budgets, accounting, finance and statistics.
6. Retrieve, format and validate information obtained from various financial information systems and bring any discrepancy or inaccuracy to the attention of the supervisor and follow up corrective actions.
7. Maintain the web-based register for all invoices and payment transfers and record paperwork, to ensure that all documents are maintained and filed in compliance with WFP standards and guidelines.
8. Monitor and record all expenses in line with the approved budget in order to ensure that correct expenditure costs are charged and payments to external suppliers, cash grants and other supplier invoices are processed in a timely manner.
9. Provide guidance and on-the-job training to other support staff, to ensure services are delivered consistently and to the required standards.

Minimum Qualifications: 

Education: Completion of secondary school education. A University degree in the related functional area is desirable.
Experience: A minimum of four years of relevant progressively responsible experience in Finance, Accounting, Audit or relevant fields with independence, analyzing financial figures and coordination with other functional units.
Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Arabic languages.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE: 

•    Has experience collecting and monitoring financial data on projects and programmes, assessing financial health and status, and reporting findings to senior leaders.
•    Knowledge and experience in working in ERP system
•    Experience in Cash Based Transfer operations Finance module