Operations Accountant (Finance Professional 3-Finance Generalist)

About the position

The Finance Professional 3 is a member of the Clinical Neuroscience Administrative Center's finance team which collectively supports the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, PM&R and Psychiatry. This position will be the subject matter expert providing financial accounting and analytical expertise in operational aspects of a single assigned department.

Responsibilities

• Refine and maintain the non-sponsored chart of accounts to allow for a comprehensive funds picture for assigned department.
• Prepare regular and ad hoc monthly, quarterly, annual and ad hoc reports that include projections for non-sponsored departmental and faculty chart strings. Assist with the interpretation of these reports, identify areas of concern, and provide possible solutions to departmental staff.
• Develop University budgets including planning, preparing, compiling, and reviewing while interfacing with a variety of business partners.
• Assist assigned unit with external reporting requirements as necessary.
• Be viewed by department staff as a knowledgeable, helpful source of policy and procedure interpretation related to purchasing, travel, justification preparations, p-card usability, and other financial regulatory activities.
• Monitor, audit and approve/deny expenditures on assigned sponsored and non-sponsored accounts based on administrative requirements of the University.
• Monitor spending activity on non-sponsored chart strings and reconcile activity regularly.
• Resolve accounting issues identified during regular review via journal entries, payroll distribution changes, billing, etc.
• Monitor, audit, and update changes to faculty distribution for changes to clinical effort.
• Communicate regularly with department administrators, faculty, and other staff regarding a variety of non-sponsored financial and compliance matters.
• Coordinate with Med School financial administration as necessary to support assigned department.
• Communicate with Clinical Analyst to monitor, audit, and update changes to faculty distribution for changes in clinical effort.
• Maintain positive working relationships with department staff.
• Attend applicable training and general finance meetings to stay abreast of evolving practices and policies.
• Assist Finance Director and Finance Manager with ad-hoc reporting and other duties as assigned.
• Provide exceptional customer service to assigned department.
• Represent the Center on various committees to share expertise, aid in decision-making, and communicate information back to the team.
• Continue professional development by engaging with relevant courses, workshops, seminars, and training opportunities to stay abreast of evolving practices and policies.

Requirements

• BA / BS with major in accounting, finance or business admin, at least four years of experience; or a combination of related education and work experience to equal eight years.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (formulas, Power Pivot, Power Query, tables).
• Monthly reporting, forecasting and variance analysis experience.
• Experience with information management including the ability to gather, organize and present data in a meaningful way.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with a variety of stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to learn and take on challenges.
• Strong customer service orientation.

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with University systems such as PeopleSoft HRMS, EFS, UM Reports & Analytics.
• Experience analyzing and reconciling data across multiple systems.
• Experience working with databases, including an ability to extract and manipulate data to support critical analysis and decision making.
• Ability to work simultaneously on multiple projects with fixed deadlines.
• Current or past grant-related work in an academic setting.
• Understanding of federal and University regulations governing research.

Benefits

• Competitive wages, paid holidays, and generous time off.
• Continuous learning opportunities through professional training and degree-seeking programs supported by the Regents Tuition Benefit Program.
• Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans.
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts.
• University HSA contributions.
• Disability and employer-paid life insurance.
• Employee wellbeing program.
• Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) opportunity.
• Financial counseling services.
• Employee Assistance Program with eight sessions of counseling at no cost.
• Employee Transit Pass with free or reduced rates in the Twin Cities metro area.