Administrative Assistant

Main Purpose

The Administrative Assistant coordinates and performs the full range of office support, management support and administrative tasks, providing for the smooth and efficient running of the Office. He/she ensures quality and consistency of the flow of office work and information in the work unit.

Key Functions/Results

• Maintain financial records and monitor systems for the office; maintain imprest accounts; reconcile expenditures, balances, payments, statements and other data for day-to-day transactions and reports; manage the Country Office petty cash; monitor project and programme accounts for which responsibility is assigned.
• Retrieve, enter, select and analyse data from a wide variety of sources, including FAO's corporate systems and databases; verify accuracy of data documents; make necessary calculations.
• Verify availability of funds under all programmes; ensure that operational expenditures are in accordance with approved budgets and that all committing documents are complete and consistent.
• Prepare correspondence of administrative and financial nature; draft correspondence to verify data, answer queries and obtain additional information on transactions and financial matters, as required.
• Maintain detailed records of budget estimates, obligations and available balances; participate in the consolidation of budget proposals; prepare financial data for budget estimates and financial planning.
• Provide reports on budgetary performance of office accounts and if required, of project accounts; report variations from budgets.
• Maintain local inventory records with responsibility for proper recording of assets, their maintenance and safeguard.
• Maintain a filing system of administrative and financial documents.
• Monitor the receipt of Government contributions and the transfer of ownership of the Organization's equipment.
• Maintain liaison with local banks and financial institutions to keep up-to-date with financial and regulatory information (exchange and interest rates, procedures and rules, maintenance of bank accounts, etc.).
• Support the streamlining of procedures and practices and the introduction of new information technologies to the office.
• Support the administration of personnel and equipment as well as protocol-related issues.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Secondary school education.
• Experience: Four years of administrative, accounting and office management experience.
• Languages: Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English.
• IT Skills: Very good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment.

Residency

General Service Staff are recruited locally. To be eligible for this position, candidates must be nationals of the country of the duty station or possess an existing visa/work permit, and reside within commuting distance of the duty station at the time of the application. "Commuting distance" means the distance within which staff members can travel daily between their place of work and their residence.

How to Apply

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Once completed, please apply and submit your application, with language certificates as attachments. Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications. FAO reserves the right to request candidates to undertake a language test in the future, as appropriate