Job: Risk and Compliance Advisor

Location: Phnom Penh
Deadline: Tuesday, 12 November 2013

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN system and its partners to implement peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need. Working in some of the world's most challenging environments, our vision is to always satisfy partners with management services that meet world-class standards of quality, speed and cost effectiveness.

UNOPS provides services in sustainable infrastructure, sustainable procurement and sustainable project management, with projects ranging from building schools, roads, bridges and hospitals to procuring goods and services and training local personnel.

By assisting UN organizations, international financial institutions, governments and other development partners, UNOPS makes significant, tangible contributions to results on the ground.

We employ more than 6,000 personnel annually and on behalf of our partners create thousands more work opportunities in local communities. Through our headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and a network of regional and country offices, we oversee activities in more than 80 countries.

UNOPS is committed to achieving a truly diverse workforce.

In December 2012, UNOPS was selected by the Cambodia Country Coordinating Mechanism for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to become the Principal Recipient (PR) for the Single Stream of Funding (SSF) Malaria grantfor Cambodia. The management responsibility for this grant has been handed over to UNOPS on April 1st 2013. As the designated Principal Recipient for the Global Fund SSF Malaria grant, UNOPS is responsible for the quality financial management, timely procurement of supplies and service delivery as well as efficient monitoring and evaluation of grant implementation activities. The Phase 1 PR of the grant assists the PR in the technical oversight and implementation of the grant in their new role as the Principal Implementation Partner (PIP).

To strenghten the national financial systems, UNOPS will employ a Risk & Compliance Advisor to oversee the fiduciary aspects of grant implementation to be undertaken in Phase 2. The Risk & Compliance Advisor will also work to build financial management capacity and support the strenghtening of procurement capacity, so that national systems in these areas are adequately strengthened.

Functional Responsibilities

Functions / Key Results Expected

I. General Tasks and responsibilities of the Risk & Compliance Advisor

a. The RCA shall work with the CNM to ensure that all requests to commit funds and/or to make payments as part of the grant implementation:

(i) are complete and accurate in terms of supporting documentation;

(ii) are justified based on the approved budget and work-plans, as well as procurement and Supply Management Plan and the Monitoring & Evaluation Plan;

(iii) have been appropriately authorized;

(iv) pertain to an eligible expense; and

(v) are made to the correct recipient.

b. The RCA shall support the CNM in verifying, approving of the necessary commitment documents and payment instructions.

c. After verifying that the supporting documents are complete and the transaction is eligible, the RCA shall compare the proposed transaction to the approved CNM budget and work-plan as well as the PSM and the Monitoring & Evaluation plans. The RCA shall ensure that the proposed transaction is in accordance with the approved activity under the above plans and the cost is in line with the budget.

d. The RCA shall carry out reasonable steps to ensure that the documentation in relation to all CNM transactions is authentic.

e. The RCA shall work alongside the CNM to ensure all financial transactions are correctly recorded in the accounting system, financial reporting is accurate, timely and in the format required and that all supporting documents are correctly filed and stored in accordance with the local legislation and the Grant Agreement.

f. The RCA shall verify that the CNM is maintaining an approriate system to monitor and record all tax liabilities.

g. In the case of payments relating to the procurement of goods and services (with the exception of payments made directly by the Global Fund to third parties on behalf of the CNM (procurement agents, etc.) the RCA shall work with the CNM to ensure the CNM's compliance with National Procurement-related guidelines and regulations as applicable.

h. The RCA shall provide general capacity-building support to the CNM, and support the strengthening of financial control mechanisms as needed, with a view to ensuring their sustainability beyond the RCA's assignment end date.

i. The RCA shall undertake other tasks and responsibilities as is customary for the performance of such duties.

II. Specific Tasks and Responsibilities of the Risk & Compliance Advisor

1. Financial management and procedures

a. The RCA shall review the agreements between the CNM and the SRs and shall make recommendations for necessary amendments in order to ensure their compliance with the Grant Agreement and the local legislation.

b. Upon request of the Global Fund, the RCA shall review existing administrative, financial and accounting procedures and shall provide recommendations, if necessary, to ensure that the processes and procedures comply with the financial management and accounting rules and practices established in Cambodia, including international best practice, particularly with respect to high risk activities that can result in fraud or the misuse of funds.

c. To support the implementation of administrative, financial and accounting procedures and as mandated by its capacity-building role, the RCA shall provide, upon request of the Global Fund, on-the-job training support and/or organize regular training sessions for CNM and SR staff involved in financial management.

2. Cash Management and Verification of Transactions

a. The Risk & Compliance Advisor shall:

i. Ensure that all payment requests for the GF activities are first signed by the CNM and are thereafter countersigned by one of the authorized representatives of the CNM;

ii. Verify and report that grant funds are not comingled with funds from other sources;

iii. Support the CNM in producing the original disbursement documentation, which should fulfill the minimum standards set forth below in b.

b. The RCA shall ensure that all authorized financial transactions of the CNM meet the following minimum standards:

i. The financial transaction is in accordance with the approved budget and the proposed activity is in line with the approved work-plan;

ii. The financial management systems and controls employed by the CNM for each transaction are in compliance with the approved Financial Management Manual;

iii. All transactions are duly supported by original documentation;

iv. Requisition is prepared and signed by the person who will carry out the action or purchase or will supervise the work of others or provision of a service;

v. Requisition is in line with the specific activity under the approved budget and work-plan;

vi. The specifications are attached to the requisition, setting out the criteria for payments to be made and any measures of quality or completion that are relevant;

vii. The procurement method of identifying suppliers includes the selection criteria and methods for inviting quotations in accordance with applicable procurement laws in Cambodia and applicable guidelines of the CNM; viii. The quotations are attached (where applicable) and a description of the merits of the preferred quotations over the alternate ones is demonstrated;

c. The RCA shall assist the CNM to develop and implement procedures necessary to ensure that there is no commercial, legal or familial link or other conflict of interest between the employees and owners of the preferred suppliers and members of the organization's staff.

d. The RCA shall consider audit reports and other external reports in determining the extent of additional checks and verifications required for the authorization of each individual transaction.

e. In the event the RCA requires additional verifications he/she shall request the Global Fund to instruct the RCA to carry out additional field checks on doubtful documents, suppliers or transactions.

f. Through bank and cash monitoring and in consultation with the Global Fund Country Team/ FPM, the RCA shall provide a rolling six-month cash forecast of the following:

i. monies on hand/ in-country and the available committed funds pursuant to the applicable Grant Agreement;

ii. the anticipated use of funds for the following six months.

3. Financial Management at the Sub-Recipients' Level

a. The RCA shall support the CNM in the financial management and oversight of the SRs. This may include but is not limited to, the participation of the RCA in SR supervisory activities of the CNM, the review of financial management activities at selected SRs and capacity-building activities at selected SRs.

b. The RCA shall review all disbursements made by the CNM to the SRs based on a detailed review of cash requests by SRs against expenditure reports and the approved work-plan and budget. c. The RCA may be asked to review expenditures incurred by the SRs based on the supporting documents provided by them. The RCA may also be asked to review the direct payments by the CNM to the suppliers of the SRs. For certain costs requiring advance payments to the SRs, the RCA may be asked to review and verify the supporting documentation provided at a later date justifying expenditures.

4. Books and Records

a. The RCA shall ensure that books of account are kept and reporting is done according to the Grant Agreement and the generally accepted accounting principles in Cambodia. The RCA shall ensure that all transactions are appropriately coded and recorded so that the CNM is able to automatically generate Enhanced Financial Reporting (EFR) and the progress Update and Disbursement Request (the 'PU/DR') in the required format with minimal manual intervention.

b. The RCA shall oversee that bank reconciliations are prepared on a monthly basis and to perform monthly reviews of the accounting entries to ensure that all transactions have been accurately and appropriately recorded in the CNM's accounting system.

c. The RCA shall oversee that month-end (or other periodic) close out proocedures are performed in the accounting system, as well as support the CNM in conducting fixed asset verifications on an annual basis. The RCA shall be given full access to the accounting system for access of electronic data and reports available.

d. The RCA shall maintain a separate record of accounts using its own systems, to be reconciled with the CNM's systems on a regular basis. The RCA shall maintain its own copies of all relevant financial documentation for the purpose of future audits or verifications.

5. Reporting

a. The RCA shall support the CNM to ensure the accurate and timely preparation and submission of the period end program financial statements (including consolidated financial reports) in accordance with applicable national accounting standards in Cambodia and in accordance with Global Fund policies and guidelines.

b. Through the monitoring of the budget and bank movements, and at the time of development of the disbursement request by the CNM included in the PU/DR, the RCA shall verify the following:

i. Reconciliation and reporting on the cash movements in the progress update period; and

ii. The total cash balance at CNM and SR levels, and outstanding commitments yet to be paid, at the end of progress update period.

c. Following each disbursement from the Global Fund to the CNM, the RCA shall take into account the adjustments made by the Global Fund to the detailed financial forecast originally submitted by the CNM as part of the PU/DR.

d. The RCA shall support the CNM in preparing the EFR report to the Global Fund and performing a budget versus actual variance analysis. In preparing this analysis, the RCA can make recommendations to improve the CNM's performance in the implementation of the Grant, which analysis may form the basis for the subsequent contractual and payment requests received from the CNM.

e. The RCA may develop and use a budget tracking tool that monitors the approved budget and associated quantities and unit costs planned for given activities. Liaison with the LFA will reduce the risk of duplicated monitoring of budget utilization and work plan progress.

f. The RCA and the external auditors will continue to carry out their reviews and audits as required by the Global Fund under relevant agreements. The RCA shall support the work of the LFA and external auditors, along with the CNM, by providing the necessary information and documents.

6. Capacity building

The RCA may be asked to conduct an assessment of finance and other staff of the CNM in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses and shall recommend a capacity strengthening and mentoring plan/schedule to the Global Fund.

7. CNM Procurement of goods and services

a. Consistent with this responsibility, the RCA shall review requests for such transactions for compliance with applicable procurement guidelines/policies, as relevant, prior to such transactions being carried out.

b. The RCA shall have no responsibility for the forecasting, quantification, planning, development of specifications, and budgeting for all grant-related goods and services, as related to the program necessities and expected programmatic achievements.

8. Taxes

a. The RCA shall monitor and report on measures taken by the CNM to ensure that the Grant funds under the Grant Agreement are free from taxes, and duties imposed under the laws of Cambodia, as provided for in the Grant Agreement.

b. The RCA shall support the CNM to ensure that a system to track tax exemptions and reimbursements is in place and shall ensure that the CNM takes all necessary steps to obtain reimbursement for taxes where direct exemption is not available.

9. External Audits of the CNM

a. Upon request of the Global Fund, the RCA will review and make recommendations to the CNM and the Global Fund for improvement to external audit plans for annual audits of the CNM and SRs to ensure that the terms of reference are in accordance with the Grant Agreement and the scope of work is risk based.

b. The RCA shall support the CNM in ensuring that the tender process and auditor selection is transparent and objective.

c. The CNM remains responsible for maintaining all relevant financial accounts (physical and electronic), bank statements, and associated reports to be CNM provided as part of the audit exercise.

10. Ad hoc

a. The RCA shall perform any other relevant duties as may be assigned by the Financial

Management Officer of UNOPS.

III. Expected results and performance assessment

The following are some of the results expected from the work of the RCA:

i. Funds will be managed transparently, efficiently and effectively without irregularities;

ii. Accurate and timely financial reports from the CNM are submitted to the Global Fund via the PR;

iii. The financial management and procedures manual is operational and consistently applied at all levels;

iv. The capacity of finance staff at the CNM as well as the monitoring and supervision of SRs by the CNM is improved.

UNOPS's assessment of the RCA will seek to evaluate, without limitation, areas such as:

i. Timeliness and quality of reporting by the CNM to the Global Fund;

ii. Timeliness and quality of reporting by the RCA to the PR;

iii. Quality of support provided to the CNM by the RCA;

iv. RCA interactions and co-operation with the CNM;

v. Level of responsiveness to the Global Fund and the LFA;

vi. Reduction in the issues reported from the LFA, OIG and external auditors.

CompetenciesImpact of Results

The RCA will broadly aim to

a. mitigate the risk of fraud or misuse of grant funds and reduce the ineligible expenditures reported by the Office of the Inspector General (the 'OIG') and the Local Fund Agent (the 'LFA');

b. ensure the continuity of the program implementation in high risk environments and that safeguards are in place with respect to Global Fund investments;

c. ensure effective controls are in place on the use of Global Fund grant monies and that all payments are eligible, justified and represent value for money;

d. ensure that financial records for all transactions are maintained accurately and on a timely basis;

e. ensure that reporting to the Global Fund is accurate, timely and in accordance with the Grant Agreement and the applicable policies and regulations of the Global Fund

Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate, assess and strengthen fiduciary arrangements in a project implementation environment

• Demonstrated ability to build capacity through structured trainings and on the job hand holding in the areas of financial management and non health procurement

• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical financial matters in a simple and clear manner to individuals not well-versed in the intricacies of financial management.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with financial counterparts and substantive offices.

• Willingness to travel in area of responsibility, including to remote provincial areas.

• Demonstrated ability to write in a clear concise manner and to communicate effectively verbally.

• Ability to seek and apply knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNOPS.

• Demonstrated ability to work successfully in a challenging environment where resources are accounted for in a transparent manner.

• Demonstrated ability to work with minimum supervision in a decentralised environment.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

• Advanced University degree inBusiness Administration, Finance, and Accounting or related discipline;
• or arelevant combination of academic qualification and experience in an area suchas budget/finance or a First University degree in related fields combined withextensive experience in a responsible position.
• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA),Chartered Accountant (CA) or equivalent essential Masters with 7-9 years' experience or Bachelors with 9 years' experience partly in each of the following work areas;
• Progressively responsible, jobrelated experience in audit, internal audit financial compliance and assessment of internal controls in theinternational donor funded development sector
• Experience in capacity buildingin the areas of financial management and non-health procurement in theinternational donor funded development sector
• Experience in assessing,evaluating and recommending improvement measures in fiduciary aspects ofinternational donor funded projects
• Provenexperience in a wide-spectrum of operations including financial management,non-health procurement, budgetary control, review of audit arrangements, assetmanagement and control etc.
• English required, Khmer desirable

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: International ICA Contract level: IICA3 Contract duration: one year, renewable For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: http://www.unops.org/ENGLISH/WHOWENEED/CONTRACT-TYPES/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements-ICAs.aspx Financial Disclosure This is to note that, given the authorities and responsibilities that may be delegated to the incumbent of this position, full financial disclosure will be required on an annual basis, in accordance with the corporate and confidentiality standards for financial disclosures. Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time (CET)
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

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