• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range:

Position Summary

Reporting to the Executive Director of Budget & Financial Planning, the Manager of Budget and Finance is responsible for various projects within the Dean???s Office that are focused on reporting, analysis, budgeting and financial processes.  This position will provide a wide range of reporting support and analyses for the finance team and the departments throughout the year.  The Manager???s main responsibilities will include: assisting the Executive Director with overseeing the institutional funding for graduate student population (non-federal aid), managing the endowments within the school, and supporting various Dean???s Initiatives and special projects. In this capacity, the incumbent will develop reports and maintain reports for the senior leadership; reconcile University financial statements (including current-use gifts, endowments and sponsored programs) against internal ledgers; summarize and update operating budgets and estimates, and provide analyses on financial results.   The Manager will assist the finance team during monthly, quarterly and annual close by processing financial entries such internal and general journals, generating and updating various reports, and follow up with key stakeholders and partners within the School and across the University.  This role will perform other related duties as assigned.  This position will involve advanced use of MS Excel including creation of pivot tables and use of formulas (i.e. VLOOKUP, Macros) to create reports and analyze variances on a variety of data sets.

Responsibilities

• (40%) Financial Aid Operations: With minimal supervision, oversee the intuitional funding for our graduate students and process / prepare financial aid uploads and forms.  Serve as the main liaison between the departments and SFP to ensure institutional funding is applied to students??? account on a timely basis.  Reconcile and audit student accounts frequently and identify and resolve funding issues or discrepancies.  Maintain internal schedules and statistics for senior leadership and other key stakeholders on financial aid data.  Liaise as needed with our undergraduate financial aid office to process any summer support for our undergraduate students.  Process stipends and summer aid for all graduate and undergraduate students receiving funding. Work with our colleagues in Student Affairs on tracking admitted fellows and ensuring institutional funding is applied consistently with agreements.  Assist with the implementation of the contract and ensure compliance with compensatory terms for student fellows and student officers on appointment.

• (30%) Endowment and Current Use Gifts Management: Working closely with the Executive Director, the incumbent will manage the endowment operations for the school.  The position will be responsible for updating the endowment books, various endowment trackers, developing and maintaining reports on a monthly basis and summarizing how funds are spent and reporting those results to Finance Leadership and the Dean.  The position will work with the Development team to create projects for new funds / donations, understand as well as track the terms of the funds in a comprehensive database, and provide various reports used in stewarding funding relationships with individual and institutional donors.  Lead all quarterly and closing processes associated with funding expenses from these revenue sources in a timely and accurate manner.  Audit financial expenditures ensuring that revenue accounting systems reflect program or department activity.  Regularly query and scrutinize expense data to ensure expenses are accurate and proper chartstring categorization and funding sources are used.

• (15%) Financial Analysis and Reporting: Provide a wide range of reporting support and analyses for the finance team.  This includes, assisting with the development and maintenance of reports used by the Dean, the finance team, departments, as well as other stakeholders.  S/He manages the financial reporting for the Dean???s initiatives and programs, and ensure compliance with School and University guidelines and policies.  Create, maintain and distribute reports that tracks activity against budget.

• (10%)Budgeting and Planning: Involved with development of the annual budget and strategic plan for the School as well as managing the budget on a routine basis.  Developing and loading revised financial projections for the annual budget as well as multi-year future forecasts throughout the year.  Manage the allocation and spending on the Schools endowments and current use funds, as well as allocations received from central offices.  Assist in developing school wide budget and financial reporting training materials.

• (5%) Performs other tasks, duties, and responsibilities as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor???s degree in Finance, accounting, economics, or business-related field and/or its equivalent required, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. 3-5  years of experience in financial support required.

• Excellent computer skills with extensive knowledge of MS Excel and its advanced functions (macros, lookup formulas) required.  Knowledge of access is preferred.  Ability to work with and manipulate large data sets is required.

• Ability to communicate upward (school level senior leadership) clearly and to prepare and present financial data to a non- finance leadership using visual aids such as charts, graphs, and other data visualization tools.

• Familiarity with Columbia University financial policies and systems is strongly preferred. Must be able to quickly learn university electronic processing systems for budgets and reporting (FDS, PAC) or have prior knowledge and experience with ARC. 

• Attention to detail and accuracy is essential; ability to manage multiple priorities with poise and discretion in a fast-paced environment is required.

• Positive, forward-thinking, mission-oriented attitude a must.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.