Financial Management Consultant

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The Financial Management Services (FMS) section at UN Women, led by the Deputy Director of Financial Management, plays a pivotal role in ensuring the due accounting for resources and effective provision of financial management services. It is structured into five specialized teams: Awards Management, Accounts Payable, Financial Operations, System Support and Accounting, and Regional Office Finance Specialists. Collectively, these teams are responsible for a comprehensive range of functions, including issuance of International Public Sector Accounting Standards-compliant financial statements and donor reports; fund and grant accounting; efficient processing of payments; oversight of financial transactions and operational efficiency; maintenance and optimization of financial systems and accounting records; and provision of dedicated financial advisory and support services to headquarters, country, and regional offices. FMS is also responsible for the development of sound accounting and financial policies and procedures, exercising select first- and second-line of defense control activities, and optimizing financial and accounting systems. Through these integrated efforts, FMS ensures efficient financial operations, transparency, and strategic support for UN Women's global mission. 

UN-Women's accounting policies, effective from January 1, 2012, follow the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). UN Women’s financial activities are governed by UN Women’s Financial Rules and Regulations, which have been in place since the inception of the entity in 2010 and have been revised in 2025.  

In January 2023, UN-Women adopted the next-generation enterprise resource planning system, Quantum, cloud-based solution anchored in the Oracle Cloud enterprise resource planning architecture. The implementation was carried out as part of an inter-agency consortium of partners comprising several organizations of UN system, under leadership of UNDP. This transition necessitated the update of select business processes and associated guidance documents, introduction of new / revision of existing control procedures, the development of new reports and monitoring tools, and strengthening corporate training and trouble-shooting services.  

In the course of 2025 and 2026, UN Women will be adopting several new accounting standards, including IPSAS 47, Revenue, IPSAS 43, Leases and IPSAS 48, Transfer Expenses which will have a major impact on how UN Women accounts for its contribution revenue, contributions receivable, leases, programme partner expenses, and grants. Adoption of the new standard requires development of dedicated accounting policies, introducing updates to the system accounting processes, restatement of prior year balances, and reversal and reprocessing of current year transactions.  

As part of broader UN system, UN Women is fully aligned with the principles of UN reform including improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its delivery through simplification, integration, streamlining and improved coordination of its operations. This requires dedicated review and analysis of its policies, processes and procedures followed by the introduction and roll-out of the necessary improvements.  

Therefore, FMS is seeking services of a dedicated consultant(s) to strengthen the team especially at the time of peak workload, to deliver on the results from its bi-annual workplan and in support of the corporate priorities, set in line with UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2026 – 2029, by performing responsibilities listed below.  

Description of Responsibilities/Scope of Work

 1. Accounts Closing Procedures 
- Lead certification among all business units for select financial processes, responsible for final quality assurance of the certification process outputs and ensuring that relevant corrections are processed in the corporate ERP prior to closure of accounts; 
- Review and approve reconciliation of select General Ledger accounts; 
- Review complex financial arrangements and recommend IPSAS-compliant accounting treatment, documenting the analysis and its conclusion, as well as ensuring that approved position is reflected in the corporate EPR prior to the closure of accounts; 
- Develop, implement and document closure procedures in the select financial management areas; develop and perform quality assurance tests to identify erroneous transactions and other issues with impact on timeliness, accuracy or completeness of corporate accounts; 
- Perform other related activities to enhance closing procedures.

2. Implementation of new accounting standards 
- Establish opening balances as per the requirements of a relevant standard; 
- Draft accounting policy papers in select areas; 
- Analyze complex arrangements and quality assure analysis performed by other members of the team to ensure appropriate accounting treatment for these arrangements as per the requirements of the new standards;  
- Prepare or quality assure note disclosures for the corporate financial statements including associated working papers; 
- Write Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for select business processes impacted by the adoption of the new accounting standards;  
- Contribute to the development of Quantum solutions introduced to enable generation of IPSAS-compliant accounting; 
- Perform other activities required for the successful implementation of new accounting standards in UN Women.  

3. Transactions approver 
- Review and serve as an approver for select transactions in Quantum, including General Ledger Journal Entries (GLJE), Contracts, and other transactions, based on correspondent delegation of authority.

4. Generating efficiencies and business process optimization 
- Develop operational guidance and procedure documents impacted by simplification, streamlining and integration initiatives; 
- Develop business requirements, test and document testing results for new financial management and accounting reports; 
- Lead the preparation of training materials for and the roll out of results of initiatives aimed at generating efficiencies and business process optimization among country, regional and headquarter offices.

5. Other activities  
Perform other activities assigned by the immediate supervisor, to support the achievement of FMS goals as per approved workplans.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel 
This is a home-based consultancy. No travel is envisaged.   

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification: 

 Experience: 

Languages: 

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.