Position Title: Assistant Director, Accounting

Department: Finance Office

Advertised Pay: Starting at $67,997 with additional compensation available based on applicable job experience.

Campus Location: Washburn University

The screening committee will review all eligible applications submitted by July 4, 2024

Position Summary: The Assistant Director, Accounting will serve as back-up to the Director, Accounting. Duties include but are not limited to compiling, analyzing, and developing financial reports/forecasts, as well as providing support for day-to-day financial activities including approval of bank transactions. In addition, they will directly supervise an accountant and account specialists. Accounting works with team members who wish to participate in a hybrid work schedule once they are fully trained. Schedules will be discussed and approved annually.

Essential Functions:
• Responsible for maintaining a healthy and fair work environment by promoting teamwork and collaboration. Actively promote a professional workplace culture of mutual respect and collegiality for all members of the institution. Work to build positive and cooperative relationships with staff, encouraging them to work toward individual and departmental goals. Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate the performance of assigned staff.
• Assist with developing and maintaining accounting policies, procedures and controls per sound accounting principles, applicable regulations, laws, and best practices. Oversee general accounting functions and grants. Ensure compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, and university policies and procedures.
• Serves as the backup to the Director of Accounting, and supports the oversight of the General Accounting operations for the University.
• Compile and analyze financial data and develop financial reports. Submit reports for review and modification, if necessary. Compile information/data and prepare special reports and analyses as requested. Provide financial data, reports, and analyses to faculty, staff, students, and outside parties to assist with budget management and departments’ record reconciliation.
• Coordinate preparation of schedules and reports required for the University’s annual external audit report. Participate in monthly and year-end closing procedures.
• Monitor bank account and Municipal Investment Pool (MIP) balances and make transfers between accounts consistent with cash needs to maintain positive cash balances and maximize return on cash and cash equivalents.
• Reconcile operating and payroll bank accounts monthly, investigating and correcting discrepancies as required.
• Develop and maintain a cash requirements forecasting model to ensure sufficient cash is available to allow the University to meet its financial obligations.
• Monitor and report spending on annual capital and equipment projects.
• Collect information for the annual Workers' Compensation audit.
• Manage the payment of all insurance premiums including coverage change requests.
• Determine allocation of costs to the General Fund and the Tort Liability Fund.
• Create and administer a premium allocation process to charge auxiliary departments for their portion of insurance premiums.
• Review and analyze records of capital asset purchases to ensure and verify the appropriateness of and proper accounting for such purchases.
• Create and maintain records of assets to be capitalized to facilitate tracking and other processing of capital assets.
• Run depreciation process at year-end to facilitate assessment and reporting of the University's financial status.
Employee may also perform some of the following duties based on experience and/or appropriate training. Some duties will be assigned to this position; however, cross-training will be provided for most items listed:
• Collaborate with and advise principal investigators and other faculty and staff on sponsored project budget implementation and compliance to minimize or eliminate noncompliance with project and contract financial requirements.
• Review contracts, payment vouchers, and purchase requisitions relating to sponsored projects and contracts to ensure requests comply with applicable requirements. Request funds on a timely basis to minimize the time between expenditures and reimbursements.
• Prepare journal vouchers and request payroll reallocations to transfer matching funds and/or expenses to/from sponsored projects and contract funds as necessary.
• Compile information and prepare all post-award financial reports required by sponsors or requested by University administration. Communicate with sponsoring agencies regarding financial aspects of ongoing sponsored projects and contract activities and project/contract close-out to ensure a timely and accurate close-out with the sponsoring agency.
• Work with University departments to obtain applicable amounts relative to federal financial aid programs, and prepare the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Assist with the preparation of audit work papers and respond to audit requests.
• Review outstanding checklists to identify uncashed checks; communicate with payees to identify and resolve issues of outstanding checks. Remove lost checks from the positive pay file and request the issuance of replacement checks per University policies.
• Work with appropriate staff to ensure that capital and equipment project expenditures are appropriately accounted for. Provide guidance as to which accounts should be used for various project expenditures.
• Assist with establishing fund and organization codes in appropriate software programs as needed to allow for electronic tracking and processing of all account records.
• Record, compile, and organize capital asset work papers in preparation for the annual external audit.
• Perform additional job-related duties as assigned or as appropriate.

Required Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree.
• Three years of progressively responsible experience in accounting.
• Demonstrated effective interpersonal, communication, organizational, and time-management skills.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective professional and collaborative working relationships.
• Proven self-motivation and ability to work with minimal direction.
• Proven proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
• Ability to adapt to change and work effectively in a team environment.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s or graduate degree in accounting, business, finance, or a closely related field.
• Higher education accounting, reporting, analysis, and grants experience.
• Familiarity with GASB, Nonprofit, or fund accounting and reporting.
• Experience using a large integrated ERP system such as Banner or PeopleSoft.
• Two years of supervisory experience.

Full-time, Exempt, Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm   
Background Check Required