Accountant, Financial Reporting, Financial Compliance

The Senior Accountant primarily manages the accounting and compliance functions for the museum's grants, pledges, specific-purpose funds, temporarily restricted gifts, and charitable gift annuities. The role is responsible for monitoring grant and pledge receivables, reviewing expenses for compliance with grant, donor, and fund restrictions/terms, coordinating the monthly reconciliation of philanthropy activity to the general ledger, recording and monitoring releases from restriction, and maintaining supporting schedules for financial reporting and audit purposes.

The role also oversees debt interest expense tracking, supports select administrative aspects of the endowment investment portfolio, and serves as the escalation point for compliance questions arising from daily philanthropic gift processing. This role additionally serves as a cross‑trained backup across other functions within the Finance department, supporting continuity for accounts payable, vendor management, and tax‑related processes as needed.

This role requires close collaboration with the Development/Philanthropy team, and members of the Finance department, but also with other departments across the museum (education, curatorial, conservation, etc.). This role is expected to exercise independent judgment in interpreting donor restrictions and grant compliance matters, forming a well‑reasoned position based on the underlying agreement — while knowing when to raise ambiguous or high‑stakes questions to the CFO or other senior staff within Finance before finalizing a determination.

• Grants Accounting and Financial Management
  • Maintain financial records for grants and ensure revenues and expenditures are properly recorded.
  • Review expenses charged to grants for appropriate coding, allowability and compliance with grant requirements.
  • Calculate and maintain grant receivables and deferred revenue as appropriate.
  • Prepare grant financial reports and schedules.
  • Monitor grant expiration dates, reporting deadlines and closeout requirements.
  • Coordinate with program staff and grant administrators to resolve accounting and coding issues.
  • Assist with grant audits and provide supporting documentation.
• Gifts, Pledges and Philanthropy
  • Maintain/record pledge receivable schedules, calculate pledge discount values and maintain cash flow schedule.
  • Record pledge payments.
  • Review and reconcile gift and pledge activity received from Philanthropy on a monthly basis.
  • Review the financial treatment of gifts, including cash, securities and other non‑cash gifts in coordination with other Finance staff.
  • Ensure gifts are appropriately classified as unrestricted, temporarily restricted or otherwise restricted.
  • Monitor donor‑designated and specific‑purpose funds.
  • Identify discrepancies between Philanthropy records, the general ledger and bank deposits.
  • Serve as the primary Finance liaison to Philanthropy on financial gift and pledge matters.
• Restricted Funds and Endowment‑Related Activity
  • Maintain schedules for donor‑restricted and specific‑purpose funds.
  • Monitor expenditures against donor restrictions and fund purposes.
  • Determine when funds are eligible for release from restriction.
  • Prepare and document releases from restriction.
  • Review restricted fund balances and identify unusual or inactive balances.
  • Coordinate with senior Finance staff on technical accounting issues involving restrictions and net assets.
  • Provide supporting schedules for financial statements and audit.
• Other responsibilities
  • Debt, swap, and interest
    • Reconcile interest expense to lender statements; and track principal and interest payments.
    • Monitor all debt‑related fees.
    • Monitor swap valuation and make corresponding journal entries, including accruals as needed.
    • Maintain debt amortization…