Role :   Job Opportunities : Financial Management Specialist
Location :   2. Yaoundé
Company URL :   www.worldbank.org/

Background / General Description

Established in 1944, the World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally. The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, fourteen Global Practices (GPs), and five Global Thematic Areas, to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

THE WORLD BANK GROUP’S VISION AND STRATEGY

Due to the achievements of the past few decades in the fight against poverty and a favorable rate of economic growth, developing countries now have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation. This is the vision of the WBG: to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, and to promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country.

To achieve this vision, the WBG Board of Governors has approved a strategy for the organization. This strategy leverages, for the first time, the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their unique ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. The strategy has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

The architecture underpinning the strategy and instrumental to its success is the establishment of fourteen Global Practices and five Global Thematic Areas that, in concert with the WBG Regions, will design solutions that address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

The Governance Global Practice

An effective and accountable governance framework, in the form of functioning institutions, is a necessary precondition for sustainable poverty reduction. Fragile, ineffective, weak and/or inexistent institutions have long been put forward as explaining the relative underperformance of economies. Furthermore, poor governance and structural deficiencies in public and private institutions are often prevalent in fragile and conflict affected states. On the other hand, cross-country empirics have confirmed that higher institutional quality is correlated with higher levels of per capita income and greater economic growth. Thus, governance mechanisms and

institutions are critical to sustained growth and poverty alleviation. The Governance Global Practice (GGP) comprises a variety of different professional disciplines working on public institutions, including public sector management, governance and anti-corruption, procurement, financial management, social accountability and justice reform.

The GGP interventions range from diagnostics, technical assistance, and advisory services, learning, innovation and knowledge management and sharing, creating peer learning platforms, lending and project implementation support, and monitoring and reporting. An important part of its responsibilities is to deliver operational support to other Practices, including through inputs for policy-based operations, hands-on implementation advice and direct fiduciary due diligence of investment financing.

The World Bank is looking for a Financial Management Specialist (FMS) who is a professional accountant (CPA, CA or equivalent), with at a minimum a relevant Bachelor’s degree in one of the following: accounting, business, finance or economics and related disciplines, and at least five years of relevant experience in financial management (FM). Public Financial Management experience in the public sector would be an advantage. The FMS will report to the Governance Practice Manager of the Central and Southern Africa Region (GGOAC) and will be part of the Cameroon and Gabon Country Teams. The successful applicant will work with the teams in the Cameroon and Gabon Country Offices, including Administrative and Client Service (ACS) staff, as well as colleagues in charge of procurement, disbursements, other GGP departments and other Practices/Global Thematic Areas. The FMS will carry out financial management (FM) tasks and responsibilities related to World Bank financed operations, and will manage advisory and technical assistance tasks as assigned. This will include, but will not be limited to: assessing the adequacy of project financial management arrangements, participating in implementation support missions for projects financed by loans, credits and grants; ensuring compliance with the Bank’s audit and fiduciary requirements, ensuring that project operations are carried out in accordance with sound FM practices and performing operational and analytical work on FM and financial accountability issues in support of building client capacity. The FMS will work from the World Bank Office of Cameroon, and will be responsible for financial management (FM) aspects related to the World Bank’s operations for Cameroon and Gabon, and other countries as determined by the Practice Manager.

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 4 year term appointment.

Duties And Accountabilities

The FMS is expected to assume the following duties and responsibilities:

• Assess the adequacy of the Borrower’s project financial management systems and their ability to manage and monitor World Bank financed projects. This includes activity planning and budgeting, policies and procedures, internal controls, funds flow, accounting, financial reporting and auditing;
• Carry out implementation support work to ensure that project financial management systems are functioning appropriately, including the review of periodic interim financial reports;
• Assess the selection and engagement of auditors, ensuring their suitability including their independence, and competence to perform; and ensure that the borrower provides auditors with all the relevant information (including Terms of Reference and Bank requirements) necessary to carry out their engagement;
• Review audited financial statements received, monitor the Borrower's compliance with financial covenants including audit compliance, ensure adequate communication with the Borrower and the project implementing agencies with respect to audits and provide advice to Bank teams, management and borrower as appropriate;
• Monitor and review project interim reports, audit reports, and other FM related communication and exchange between the Bank and the borrower, and maintain and update the information systems regularly.
• Produce reports on portfolio FM status on a regular basis and as needed; and communicate with the task teams and management team as appropriate.
• Provide advice and support to Borrower and the World Bank Task Teams on matters related to all aspects of financial management;
• Provide financial management guidance for the development of technical assistance programs and evaluate and monitor their implementation;
• Provide guidance and advice to borrowers and Bank staff on capacity building in projects and with public sector accountability institutions;
• Assess the financial and operational viability of implementing entities (e.g. with respect to revenue earning entities), and to advise on the design and use of financial performance covenants;
• Contribute with other members of the GGOAC Team to governance operations, policy dialogue and analytical/advisory services, especially in the field of Public Financial Management; and
• Undertake other activities, as appropriate and as requested by the PM.

Selection Criteria

The candidate should be a professional accountant (CPA, CA or equivalent membership of an internationally recognized professional accounting institute) with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, finance, economics or related subject. The CPA requirement may be substituted with an Advanced Degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Public Sector Finance) and significant experience (5+ years) in public financial management.

The Ideal Candidate Should Also Have

• Public Financial Management System Knowledge and Ability: Demonstrates solid understanding of budget formulation, authorization and commitment, treasury and cash management, internal controls, internal audit and risk management, financial management information systems, accounting and reporting (including international public sector accounting standards), and accountability and oversight institutions (including SAI and external audit, INTOSAI standards, and legislative scrutiny).
• Financial Management in Operations Knowledge and Ability: Demonstrates solid knowledge of the Bank’s fiduciary assurance risk model, and use of country PFM systems for Bank-financed operations. Performs a range of standard assessments to strengthen and monitor the Borrower or Implementing Entities’ financial management arrangements to help provide reasonable assurance that the proceeds of the Bank financing are used for the purposes for which they are granted.
• Capacity to function as a member of multi-disciplinary teams, search for common ground, and where appropriate recommend necessary actions;
• Ability to communicate fluently effectively, in writing and orally, in French and in English and to negotiate substantive and difficult issues with senior government officials (essential);
• Demonstrated ability to deal with complex analytical and strategic work; process coordination;
• Interpersonal skills with the ability to work independently with the clients; and
• Willing to travel frequently.

Behavioral Competencies

• Client Orientation - Maintain good and professional client relationships.
• Drive for Results – takes initiative as needed and delivers results of his/her work program as agreed with the management team.
• Teamwork and Inclusion – collaborates and integrates well with the various teams he/she works with, stays organized and focused, and seeks diverse opinions, ideas and approaches from other colleagues in the network as needed.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication – actively seeks to learn and share knowledge and lessons as needed.

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.