The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and of wetland biodiversity and services. It is the first of the modern global multilateral environmental agreements and remains the only one devoted to a specific critical ecosystem.

The Convention Secretariat has its headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides some administrative services for the Convention.

The Convention on Wetlands, also known as the “Ramsar Convention” from the name of the city in Iran where it was signed in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and sustainable use of wetland biodiversity and services. It was the first of the modern global multilateral environmental agreements and remains the only one devoted to a specific critical ecosystem.

The Ramsar Convention Secretariat has its headquarters in Gland, Switzerland where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), provides some administrative services to the Convention’s Contracting Parties for the operations and implementation of the Convention.

Under the supervision of the Finance Officer, the Accounting and Finance Assistant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Finance and accounting

a) Receipts and Billing
• Daily recording of all receipts including bank and membership transactions
• Keep membership records and database as well as the overview over other income up-to-date
• Assist with yearly billing for member contributions and with reminder letters for outstanding member contributions
• Prepare a monthly update of the status of outstanding contributions of Contracting Parties

b) Intercompany transactions
• Assist with clearing intercompany balances with IUCN related to items received, paid and recorded by and on behalf of IUCN including petty cash transactions

c) Payment process
• Daily entry of purchase requisitions and supplier invoices and follow-up of approval and processing
• Regular review and necessary adjustments to open requisitions
• Update and clean long outstanding or completed transactions for sales invoices, sales credit memos
• Keep contracts database up-to-date
• Guide and train Secretariat staff on requisitions when required

e) Travel Authorizations and Expense Claims
• Regularly review and clean up travel commitments in system
• Review expense claims for compliance with travel policy and correct coding
• Reconcile credit card account on a regular basis and manage Ramsar credit cards
• Guide and train Secretariat staff on travel authorizations and expense claims when required

f) Yearly financial statements and audit
• Assist with monthly and yearly financial closure of accounts and related transactions including accruals
• Draft monthly bank reconciliations
• Assist with preparing documentation for auditors for interim and final audit transaction testing and assist with providing analysis and process information
• Assist, when required, in implementing audit recommendations

g) Other tasks
• Improve the filing system and be in charge of daily electronic and physical filing and archiving of documents of the Finance Unit
• Assist, when required, in preparing information required by Contracting Parties
• Assist with reports and analysis
• Assist with donor reporting
• Assist with documenting procedures
• Any other tasks as may be required

The above job description contains the main duties and responsibilities for this position. However, in a small organization such as Ramsar, staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular job description. Where any task becomes a regular part of an employee's responsibilities, the job description will be changed in consultation with the employee and the IUCN Human Resources Management Group.