Finance Assistant, Cairo, Closing date: Thursday, 18 June 2015

• Organization: IFC - International Finance Corporation
• Country: Egypt
• City: Cairo
• Office: IFC Cairo

Background / General description

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is a global investor and advisor committed to promoting projects in its developing member countries that are economically beneficial, financially and commercially sound, and environmentally and socially sustainable. IFC finances private sector investments, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses in the developing world. IFC's Middle East & North Africa department is looking to hire a Finance Assistant to work in our Cairo, Egypt office. The main purpose of the position is to provide accounting support for this office.
The Finance assistant will be a member of the EMENA finance team. The responsibilities include to assist the Investment and the Advisory Services operations in MENA by working across operational functions to give support to operations regarding transaction processing, accounting, reporting, budgeting and analysis. The Finance Assistant should be able to: work independently on routine issues; work with supervision on complex/new issues; check his/her own work for quality; organize and prioritize his/her own work to meet deadlines; develop a thorough knowledge in IFC/WBG systems, tools and policies; develop working relationships with internal and external clients. S/he needs to be able to research, analyze and synthesize information, interpret data, retrieve information from SAP or similar integrated systems and clearly and concisely prepare results. Also to maintain internal controls by monitoring expense, revenue and administrative transactions, in compliance with institutional guidelines.

International Finance Corporation Nile City Towers, North Tower, 24th Floor 2005C Cornich El Nil, Ramlet Boulac Cairo, Egypt Tel: + 20 (2) 2461-9140 / 45 / 50 Fax: + 20 (2) 2461-9130 / 60

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year term appointment.
Duties and Accountabilities
Bank/cash accounting and SAP imprest administration

• Maintaining petty cash/bank payment journal
• Executing payment runs
• Checking payment vouchers and supporting documents for completeness and accuracy
• Maintaining and regularly reconciling all accounts
• Monitoring and ensuring replenishment of petty cash/bank account funds
• Processing bank payments
• Ensuring reimbursement of VAT and other taxes (i.e., collecting supporting documents, liaising with local tax authorities, monitoring reimbursement)
• SAP processing and payment of local staff salaries and benefits
• SAP processing and payment of travel advances and Statement of Expenses (SOEs)
• SAP processing / payment of POs, SES, SAP Invoices
• SAP processing and payment of office expenses (petty cash or bank)
• SAP payment to Short Term Consultants and STT
• Allocating shared office costs among different charge sources
• Preparing monthly Imprest accounting compliance reports

Reporting, Budgeting and Monitoring

• Preparing standard budget monitoring reports with a forecast on a monthly basis
• Preparing monthly financial reports (expenses and variance analyses) for each project
• Preparing ad-hoc financial reports at the request of Management
• Ensure accuracy of financial data for each project by donor using SAP, IBIS and Idesk systems
• Assist the Finance and Budget Officers in budget preparation and monitoring

Internal Financial and Fiduciary Controls

• Maintains internal controls over units' financial transactions and reviews effectiveness of the internal control systems and monitoring compliance
• Review regularly expenses for accuracy, proper approval, and identification of expense category, and ensuring correction of any errors or discrepancies

Guidance, Policy Development and Implementation

• Provide advice and guidance on WBG policy and practice.
• Share new WB/IFC resource management & accounting and administrative policies and procedures and ensure these are communicated and followed by staff
• Promotes sharing of professional experience and information with colleagues from other departments through networking

Additional Functions or Duties

• Supports the implementation of procedures and systems for implementing and recording cross support arrangements, trust funds, etc
• Work on ad-hoc tasks as may be required by the Finance Office and/or Regional Controller
• Work closely with IBRD resource management staff where appropriate
• Ensuring finance archives and files are up to date and well organized
• Responding to queries from Chennai

Selection Criteria

• Degree in accounting or finance with at least 3 years of accounting experience in IFRS accounting
• Proven practical skills in GL, AP/AR, journal entries, account reconciliations, budgeting, analysis of financial data, preparation of financial reports
• Understanding of financial accounting reporting, budgeting and cost allocation
• Advanced skills in Excel, working knowledge of Microsoft office, Lotus Notes applications
• Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent interpersonal, teamwork and communications skills.
• Ability to manage multiple, concurrent tasks with tight deadlines
• Knowledge of donor funded operation and/or World Bank group policies is an added advantage
• Previous experience with an ERP system (e.g. SAP) is an advantage
• Client service orientation skills, ability to work well within a matrix organization and team environment
• Superb accuracy and attention to details

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