Financial Assistant

The Council of Europe Office in Chisinau facilitates, maintains and strengthens working relations between the Council of Europe and the national authorities (mainly the government and parliament), regional and local authorities, representatives of civil society, political parties and the media, as well as members of the international community. Our work focuses on protecing human rights, supporting democracy and the rule of law through cooperation projects and programmes. 

You will join the Office’s core team, providing dedicated support to the Head of Office in their functions and assisting other colleagues. 

As a Financial Assistant, you will:

• ensure that all financial transactions of the Office are carried out in accordance with Council of Europe financial regulations, rules and procedures;
• advise and assist in financial, administrative and budgetary matters;
• prepare records and processes financial transactions, including in particular, input of requisitions and purchase orders into the financial management informations system (FIMS) and their finalisation;
• verify and control invoices before settlement;
• ensure regular follow-up of budget execution and prepare monthly reports of budget situation for information and validation by the relevant cost centre managers;
• provide accurate financial information; draw immediate attention to discrepancies and irregularities;
• follow up work or activities in progress and report to the supervisor, especially when problems occur;
• liaise with officials of local banks and financial institutions to obtain information on exchange and interest rates, changes in procedures and regulations for Office bank accounts;
• prepare regular management accounting reports and statements and transmit them to headquarters in Strasbourg;
• archive relevant supporting documents of all financial transactions;
• carry out customs and tax exemption and VAT reimbursement procedures;
• provide logistical support to the Office (requisitioning of supplies from headquarters, local purchases, issuing of supplies, preparing purchase orders and tender procedures);
• provide assistance and perform reception duties, receiving visitors and phone calls in the absence of the Office Assistant;
• contribute to the efficient functioning of the Office, in collaboration with the Head of Office and the Deputy Head of Office;
• promote Council of Europe values internally and externally.

You must:

• have a completed full course of general secondary education and appropriate professional qualifications in accountancy, finance, economics or management;
• have a minimum of two years of relevant professional experience in financial management, administrative management or management accounting; experience in preparing accounting or finance reports;
• have an excellent knowledge of Romanian (first language level) and a very good knowledge of English (one of the two official languages of the Council of Europe's official languages;
• be a citizen of the host country or one of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe and fulfil the conditions for appointment to the civil service of that state;
• be currently present in the Republic of Moldova;
• have discharged any obligation concerning national service (military, civil or comparable);
• not be the parent, child, stepchild or grandchild of a serving staff member of the Council of Europe;
• be under the age of 65 years.

Your application must demonstrate to what extent you have the competencies listed below. To help you doing so, feel free to consult our competency framework.

• Operational - Planning and work organisation
• Operational - Analysis and problem solving
• Operational - Results orientation
• Operational - Concern for quality
• Interpersonal - Teamwork and co-operation

• Professional and technical expertise:

• good knowledge of accounting techniques preferably of suppliers accounting and knowledge and experience in the relevant regulations and practices in force;
• sound and proven experience in dealing with financial management;
• experience in administrative duties;
• ICT skills: sound computer skills and proven experience of specific financial management software (e.g. Oracle) and knowledge of standard tools in office applications (word processing, spreadsheet, data bases, presentation software, Outlook).

• Managerial - Organisational and contextual awareness
• Interpersonal - Service orientation
• Interpersonal - Communication

• Professional and technical expertise:

• experience of working in an international environment.

This job vacancy is for a local external recruitment based on temporary contracts. Employment is limited to 31 December of the current year and may be extended. You can consult the conditions of employment (salaries, allowances, pension scheme, social insurance etc.) on the webpage What we offer.

For more information on how we recruit, you can consult the page Our recruitment process. This recruitment is carried out in accordance with Rule No. 1234 laying down the conditions of recruitment and employment of locally recruited staff members working in Council of Europe Duty Stations located outside of France. The deadline for applications is indicated in the General information section of this vacancy notice (see above) and is fixed at 23:59:59 (CET/CEST). When applying, make sure your motivation shows how your competencies make your profile the best for the role.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Council of Europe welcomes applications from all suitably qualified people, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion or belief. Under its equal opportunity policy, the Council of Europe is aiming to achieve gender parity in staff employed in each category and grade. At the time of appointment, preference between suitable people shall be given to the person of the gender which is under-represented in the relevant grades within the category to which the vacancy belongs.

Applicants with specific needs are encouraged to request reasonable accommodations at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact us at [email protected], we will ensure that your request is handled.

The information published on the CoE’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication of the vacancy notice. Any changes to these conditions during the recruitment process will be updated on our Portal and will apply at the time of the job offer. Our career's website is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have. Should you have remaining questions, please contact us at [email protected].