Financial Officer

Job #: req24766

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Finance & Accounting

Grade: GF

Term Duration: 3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type: International Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 11/7/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to join us to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank (WB) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID) dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development on a livable planet. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

Organizationally, WFA is comprised of three departments: (1) Corporate Accounting and Reporting, (2) Trust Funds and Loans, and (3) Financial Controls. In WFA, our mandate supports both internal and external clients while we focus on delivery, optimization, impact, and people & culture.

The World Bank Group Finance and Accounting (WFA), the hiring vice-presidency, is responsible for the following:

•  Overseeing the Bank’s accounting and related financial control functions, maintaining the Bank’s financial records, ensuring the overall integrity of the Bank’s financial transactions, and satisfying the Bank’s internal and external reporting requirements.
•  Supporting an appropriate fiduciary control framework and administering disbursements for Bank lending.
•  Providing technical advice to clients in financial management and accounting.

WFA provides reliable, transparent, and up-to-date data to facilitate business decision making by senior management and the Board of Directors. The Vice President and Controller reports through the Chief Financial Officer to the President and represents senior management’s viewpoint to the Audit Committee on matters of financial integrity, reporting, monitoring, and internal control.

The Department of the World Bank’s Chief Accountant (WFACA) is leading the sustainability reporting efforts for the Bank and is looking to a hire a finance officer to support the design, implementation, and execution of the sustainability reporting strategy.

How your contributions will help us achieve our goals:

•  Climate and Sustainability Reporting and Support to WBG Mission

Evolution of sustainable finance (comprising development of harmonized global standards, taxonomies, risk management and credit risk rating methodologies, as well as investment strategies and principles that would mainstream sustainability criteria in global financial markets) is prioritized by many WBG shareholders from donor and client countries, who see it as a critical focus area for the global commons/global public goods agenda.

Transparency and accountability are essential to the development process at the World Bank Group and central to achieving the Bank’s mission to alleviate poverty.

The finance officer will play a key role in the implementation of the Bank’s sustainability reporting roadmap. The roadmap consists of seven pillars that cover (i) strategy development & planning; (ii) governance; (iii) risk management; (iv) content development & enhancement; (v) process development & enhancement; (vi) assurance readiness; and (vii) capacity building.

What you will do:

The successful candidate will be required to have thorough understanding of the Bank’s strategic priorities and key areas of focus.

The successful candidate must be able to work with stakeholders across Vice Presidencies in finance and operations, and Global Practices.

Roles and responsibilities:

Sustainability Reporting:

•  Liaise with teams and working groups across the organization, and other external peers to help with the implementation of the sustainability reporting strategy.
•  Coordinate the work of the Sustainability Reporting Technical Working Group (TWG), and work with expert teams on issues that require collaborative efforts to resolve.
•  Work with internal and external partners to support the ongoing materiality assessment.
•  Assist in the development of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) aligned disclosures.
•  Update/refresh gap analyses based on the finalized ISSB standards and SEC climate disclosure rule.
•  Contribute to the development of an approach to define reporting boundaries for IBRD and IDA.
•  Review existing sustainability-related reports in the Bank and propose any consolidation where appropriate.
•  Identify areas for future maturity progression across sustainability and climate reporting.
•  Collaborate and maintain ongoing dialogue with technical teams to understand and document the scenario analysis methodology for the Bank.

Data Analytics:

•  Support the efforts for the development of data management approach for climate and sustainability related data and metrics.
•  Create and manage an inventory of sustainability and climate related metrics.
•  Produce climate risk heatmaps and summary data tables.
•  Prepare detailed data summaries and presentations for engagements with Senior Management and other internal stakeholders.
•  Evaluate IBRD’s and IDA’s financial performance, sustainability, portfolio evolution, and resource management and utilization by comparing and analyzing financial results.
•  Synthesize analyses to convey key insights relating to the Bank’s engagement with countries across the income spectrum, with a focus on low-income countries, FCV countries and small island states.
•  Produce ad hoc analytics for presentations to Senior Management.

Project Management:

•  Monitor the roadmap, timelines, and deliverables.
•  Synthesize status reports on climate and sustainability reporting for the WFACA Director.
•  Liaise and engage with relevant operational and technical departments, and/or WBG Climate Change teams, and project teams, as required.
•  Provide progress reports to WFACA Director and WFA VP on data analytics projects.

Capacity Building:

•  Maintain WBG-wide knowledge-sharing on data analytics, key metrics, key performance indicators, financial and sustainability reporting.
•  Engage with and convene internal stakeholders to share knowledge, develop joint solutions, and facilitate action to ensure the improvement of the climate and sustainability reporting landscape in the organization.
•  Create training materials to assist in capacity building around sustainability reporting within WFA and the Bank.
•  Participate in learning exercises across and outside the organization to understand global trends in finance and ESG reporting.
•  Lead the preparation efforts of a biweekly climate and sustainability newsletter that is distributed across the World Bank.

Selection Criteria

Education:

•  Bachelors in Finance, Accounting or relevant discipline.
•  Master’s in Finance, Accounting or relevant discipline is a plus.
•  Professional accounting qualification (CA, CPA, ACCA or equivalent accounting qualification) desirable.

Experience:

•  5-years or more of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
•  Big 4 background is desired, but not required.

Abilities:

•  Familiarity with existing industry standards for climate-related financial disclosures. Knowledge of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the International Sustainability Standards Board (IFRS)/International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) is a prerequisite.
•  Understanding of environmental and climate policies, strategies, institutions, and regulatory environment, as well as the broader sustainability issues.
•  Understanding of climate scenario analysis.
•  knowledge of GHG emissions accounting methodologies for Scope 1, 2 and 3.
•  Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with preference for a background in financial analysis and sustainability.
•  Advanced technical and quantitative skills in data analytics and visualization.
•  Excellent skills in MS Excel. Experience working with Business Intelligence (BI) tools and in preparing data visualizations such as Tableau, etc. is desirable.
•  Advanced writing and editing skills, with a strong command of English and an ability to convey complex ideas in a clear and succinct style.
•  Strong project management skills.
•  Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
•  Brings new and different insights; seeks opportunities to improve and find innovative solutions; applies critical thinking to current approaches, identifies areas for improvement, and tries new solutions that drive results.
•  Willingness to learn new programs and applications as needed.
•  Synthesizes, analyzes, and effectively presents material from a wide range of sources. Articulates ideas, verbally, and in writing, using the most effective means of delivery and appropriate verbal and graphical content. Can quickly draft and prepare analytical and technical reports for the review of more senior colleagues. Uses charts, graphs, and other data presentation techniques appropriately to communicate data, technical information, or complex concepts to non-specialists.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.