Research Accountant III

Engineering a world of possibilities. Bring your Research Accounting skills to Colorado School of Mines! Colorado School of Mines is seeking an Accountant III – Research to lead the expense management of research grants and contracts in the Office of Research Administration (ORA). The role is a key member of the research team and serves as a resource to faculty and administrators in the financial administration of sponsored research awards.

Essential duties include set‑up of new awards in the financial system, expense and account monitoring, financial reporting, financial closeout and other post‑award financial analysis and support for sponsored awards.

The Accountant III – Research interprets federal, state and Mines’ terms and advises the research community on their application. This position requires critical thinking, regulatory interpretation, independent financial data analysis, and collaboration with campus constituents. It requires regular campus presence in Golden, Colorado; the current arrangement is hybrid with at least two days per week in the office.

• Create new research accounts and amend existing accounts in Mines’ financial system and ORA’s enterprise project tracking system.
• Recognize gaps and develop, improve best practices and SOPs as new policies, terms, clauses arise to better perform award setup.
• Monitor, review and reconcile award budgets, balances and expenses, including deficit monitoring and expense review pre‑ and post‑expenditure.
• Work with the ORA team to review deficit spending requests and determine financial risk under current policy.
• Review, approve, and perform salary redistributions and journal entries to ensure proper accounting.
• Identify, investigate and resolve discrepancies or errors in research accounts, coordinating with faculty, ORA staff, other departments or sponsors.
• When allowed by agreement terms, approve faculty requests for no‑cost time extensions, budget deviations and pre‑award spending.
• Assist the Property Manager to ensure all equipment is titled, accounted and tagged properly.
• Develop and/or update ad‑hoc reports using data from Banner, Cognos or other database applications for tracking, diagnostics and financial analysis.
• Create templates to improve acceleration of financial administration of awards (e.g., tuition proportionate to salary calculations, re‑budgeting, closeout workbook).
• Serve as subject expert on financial monitoring and provide training in financial and non‑financial reporting applications.
• Prepare and submit required financial reports within sponsoring agency time frames.
• Analyze the financial statements and supporting documentation for each research account to ensure accurate reports.
• Prepare and submit required non‑financial reports within sponsoring agency time frames (property reports, patent reports, cost share reports).
• Use Banner, Cognos, and ORA’s project software to extract data needed for reports.
• Navigate sponsor reporting systems to submit required reports.
• Determine and perform all closeout actions required by sponsor and Mines policy.
• Maintain a detailed tracking of closeout activities and all outstanding accounts receivable actions to coordinate financial closeout.
• Perform final expense review and account reconciliation.
• Act as subject expert of award closeout and provide training to staff.
• Act as reviewer of award setups and pull quality control reports to ensure accuracy.
• Act as approver for journal vouchers and salary redistributions performed by the Post Award team at ORA.
• Lead and provide staff training on policies and procedural changes that impact sponsored awards.

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration or equivalent experience.
• Five or more years of sponsored research accounting experience.
• Ability to serve as subject expert in research accounting and post‑award administration.
• Experience with a high‑volume portfolio of diverse sponsors.
• Ability to lead strategic initiatives and improve standard practices.
• Working knowledge of federal and other research regulations.
• Proficient with spreadsheets, databases, presentation software, and enterprise financial…