Posted by T.K. Balakrishnan, Manager, Financial Management, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank
The World Bank has openings for 2 Senior Financial Management Specialist (Sr. FMS) positions -- one based in Washington, DC and the other in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both are international hire positions.
Job descriptions and qualifications needed are detailed in the job announcements, posted on the World Bank's website. To access the job announcements click on this link and then on the links to the job numbers 100143 and 100144.
The Closing Date is February 14, 2010.
For convenience, we provide the PFM Blog readers with two excerpts from the job announcement number 10143.
Duties and accountabilities
The specific duties and responsibilities of the Senior FM Specialist (CMU Coordinator) will include the following operational tasks:
• On behalf of LCSFM Management and in accordance with the Bank’s policies and procedures and LCR regional Quality Assurance Framework is responsible, among other tasks, for: a) proposing the allocation of projects per FM staff in the CMU FM team, b) overseeing the assignment of initial FM risks at PCN stage, c) reviewing and, when required, clearing FM assessment and supervision activities; d) directly conducting FM assessment and supervision activities when needed; e) ensuring that timely remedial action is initiated in response to borrower’s non-compliance with FM provisions of legal agreements f) identifying and escalating issues that require the Regional Financial Management Manager’s attention.
• Provides a leadership role within a country focus with respect of public sector financial management (government budgeting, accounting, internal control and audit systems).
• Takes a proactive role in defining practices and working in new areas of business and operational approaches– e.g. programmatic lending; use of country systems; sector wide programs; other financial management sector work e.g. governance and anti-corruption, new lending products.
• Takes a proactive role to disseminate specific financial management country experiences with sector staff and task teams working in the Country Team.
• Develops strategies for harmonizing financial management approaches with other donors.
• Provides substantive technical input into policy and strategic work in the field of financial management – e.g., providing inputs to the country strategic documents (CPS, CAS, Progress Reports etc).
• Provides a leadership, technical oversight, mentoring and coaching role for other CMU team members.
• Plays a leading role in departmental or institutional task forces on developing and implementing changes to financial management policies and practices, fiduciary safeguards and the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes.
• Handles all of the Financial Management Specialist responsibilities at the country, or multi-country level; and/or for high visibility, politically sensitive projects.
• Leads Country diagnostic work (e.g. CFAA, PEFA assessments), covering both the public and the private sectors and on this basis, provide information to Bank projects and other initiatives in the country concerned.
• Assesses the adequacy of the Borrower’s project financial management systems and their ability to manage and monitor Bank-financed projects. This includes budgeting, policies and procedures, funds flow, internal controls, accounting, financial reporting and auditing.
• Carries out supervision work to ensure that projects financial management systems are functioning appropriately, including the periodic review of interim project financial management reports for financial performance.
Selection criteria:
• Relevant accounting qualification (CPA, CA or equivalent), with a minimum of 8 years of post-qualification experience; Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., accounting, business, finance, public sector management, economics, etc).
• Strong knowledge of International Accounting Standards and International Standards on Auditing. Knowledge of current issues in FM, particularly relating to the public sector;
• Understanding of Bank policies and practices related to financial management including disbursements.
• Experience in designing and assessing internal control systems and procedures using internationally accepted control frameworks such as COSO;
• Experience in conducting audits, assessing auditor competence, and following up on issues raised by the audits;
• Experience in evaluating financial and project management reports and determining remedial actions to be taken by the Bank or borrower;
• Proven ability to conceptualize, design and implement country and sector level financial management capacity building initiatives.
• Strong knowledge in the application of accounting, auditing and financial reporting systems and software packages. Good understanding of information systems and the application of new technology;
• Experience in financial statement analysis, their use in comparison with industry benchmarks and their application to particular circumstances;
• Ability to communicate effectively, in writing and orally, including situations requiring negotiation with Borrower representatives;
• Demonstrated ability to integrate sector specific knowledge with broader operational strategy and policies;
• Demonstrated ability to function as a team leader and to work collaboratively with various client stakeholders, including country teams and colleagues, government officials, and other donors; to search for common ground and where appropriate to recommend decisive action;
• Ability to deal sensitively in multi-cultural environments and discuss politically charged issues with confidence and finesse; to inspire trust and confidence in clients and colleagues at all levels; willingness to travel and to work flexibly on a range of assignments, and adjust to and prioritize a variety of complex evolving tasks;
• Fluency in Spanish and in English is essential.
• Ability and willingness to travel.
The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
