at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, United States
Job Description
Apply for Job
Job ID50578
LocationEvanston, Illinois
Add to Favorite Jobs
Email this Job
Department: Accounting Services
Salary/Grade: EXS/7
Job Summary:
The Office of the Controller is responsible for managing the general accounting and treasury operations of the University. It contains several departments that provide a wide range of financial services on behalf of and for the University community. Accounting Services strives to provide outstanding service while ensuring the financial business of the University is handled in an accurate and efficient manner.
The Accountant 2 supports the University's central accounting gifts, endowments and investments functions within the Office of the Controller. Responsibilities for this role are concentrated around the functional areas of operations, admin & general reporting, gift & endowment, and treasury & investments accounting. In FY 2023, Investment assets exceeded $14 billion and represent one of the largest university endowments in the country.
The Accountant 2:
Serves as a resource to and for the University community on policies, advises on appropriate transaction processing, and proposes policy and process improvements.
Ensures investment assets are properly recorded in the general ledger by applying GAAP accounting rules and University policies and performing analyses and reconciliations.
Manages financial operations &/or analysis in support of area/unit's mission & in coordination with central offices such as Investment Office, Treasury, Alumni Relations & Development, and Tax & Regulatory Services; responsible for endowment tracking software processing, reconciliation, and maintenance.
Implements existing policy & ensures the effective, compliant, & efficient completion of daily financial activities.
Applies industry and professional standards, interprets university policy and procedure, federal and state laws, granting agency guidelines, and other regulations (as applicable).
Supports general accounting as needed.
Specific Responsibilities:
Areas of Responsibility:
Please highlight areas of responsibility:
Accounting policy & procedure
Analysis
Bank and balance sheet acct
Chart &/or account coding
Endowment and gift accounting
Financial statements
Investment asset accounting
Journal &/or ledger
Reconciliation
Reporting
Analysis, Statements & Reporting
Creates daily, monthly, annual, &/or project end analysis & reports regarding area/unit, accounts, funds, expense &/or revenue allocation, etc.
Prepares regular and adhoc reporting from various gift data sources for University schools and departments, gift administrators, and external affiliated organizations and/or donors.
Records journal entries and creates reports.
Responsible for creating and correcting journals to appropriately reflect gift and endowment account activity
Performs financial account reconciliations, statement analysis, and transaction research.
Reconciles gift, endowment, and investment pool accounts using reports and data from respective systems to analyze activity and identify and correct transactions as needed.
Responsible for maintaining integrity and consistency of data posted between the general ledger, donor database, and endowment software
Provides support for annual audit workpapers and quarterly financial statement workpapers.
Creates audit and quarterly financial statement workpapers, including variance reviews and research into changes in activity; proposing reclassifications and adjustments as needed.
Builds updated schedule of discount and reserve for pledges receivable on quarterly basis. Reconcile and analyze write-offs trends to establish reserve rates.
Transactions
Provides review and oversight of all types of financial transactions some of which may be complex in regard to size or duration of account.
Enters individual &/or summary of transactions into journals &/or general ledger or other NU enterprise system.
Prepares journals for endowment unitholders, merged investment pools, and trust activity managed by external custodian after, balancing and reconciling transaction data.
Creates new accounts
Supports ledger chartfield account additions and endowment software account setups to ensure appropriate and consistent chart coding for gifts and endowments.
Provides financial policy interpretation to determine the validity of customer requests & ensure compliance.
Reviews status of related university accounts, transactions and processes; troubleshoots issues as needed.
Administration
Manages operation of or interaction with a computer system or system processes for endowment... For full info follow application link.
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply.
