Accounting Policy Officer Job at World Bank USA
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 to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
The WB Finance & Accounting (WFA) Vice Presidency is responsible for all aspects of the financial reporting and internal control framework for IBRD and IDA, and the extensive Trust Fund/Partnership portfolio of the WB entities. It supports an appropriate fiduciary control framework and administering disbursements for Bank lending and leads the client service function for the WB’s corporate expenses.
Organizationally, WFA is comprised of three departments: (1) Corporate Accounting and Reporting, (2) Trust Funds and Loans, and (3) Financial Controls.
Within WFA, Accounting Policy is the central unit for accounting policy development and advice for IBRD and IDA. This is done by monitoring and evaluating external standard-setting activities for both accounting and auditing policy and practice, as well as regulatory activity. Our team members establish IBRD’s and IDA’s position in response to proposed accounting and auditing standards, and at times, formally conveys the Bank’s views to external standard setting entities in the form of comment letters.
The Accounting Policy Unit is currently seeking a Policy Officer for its team in Washington, DC.
How your contributions will help us achieve our goals
The Policy Officer, Accounting Policy plays a lead role in assessing the impact of new and proposed accounting and auditing pronouncements on IBRD’s and IDA’s financial statements, financial operations and governance, and provides accounting policy advice on the accounting and financial reporting implications of existing and potential transactions of the Bank. The Policy Officer also serves as an external audit liaison on policy issues, including serving as an institutional focal point for the external audit policies established by the Board.
As a Policy Officer in the Accounting Policy Unit, you will report to the Head of Accounting Policy for IBRD and IDA.
What you will do:
• Monitor External Activities including the FASB, IASB, PCAOB, AICPA, IAASB, and SEC. Participate in formulating IBRD’s and IDA’s position on proposals and may draft public comment letters to external standard setting entities reflecting the Bank’s position.
• Assess Standards for the impact of and prepare policy deliverables for new pronouncements, exposure drafts, and other due process documents. Participate in implementation of applicable final accounting standards.
• Review Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for IBRD and IDA.
• Accounting Policy Advisory by providing advice and expertise to the units in WFA and to other parts of the Bank on the accounting and financial reporting implications of existing and potential transactions. Participate in the assessments of new products.
• Internal Controls Participate in maintaining an effective system of internal control over the Accounting Policy function through following protocols for documentation and communication.
• Participate in the annual assessment of the function under the Internal Control over Financial reporting (ICFR) attestation process, including preparing walkthrough materials and providing supporting documentation.
• External Audit Relationships through interaction with external auditors on accounting policies and financial statement disclosure matters.