Financial Assurance Manager - Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development - UTK

Sponsored Projects Accounting ranks as a high risk area of exposure for compliance for this university with managing an average of 2200 WBS elements whose expenditures totaled $297M in FY2020. The Compliance Manager position ensures financial compliance with university fiscal policies and requirements established by Federal, state, and local governments, as well as private entities in relation to sponsored projects; works with the Director and university officials to keep policies and procedures current with changing requirements;

monitors/tests the effectiveness of departmental compliance to mitigate risk; identifies potential areas of compliance vulnerability and works to develop corrective action plans for resolution of problematic concerns; develops/instructs compliance training programs for UTK; manages two compliance officers.

Research, develop and implement financial compliance monitoring program for the Knoxville campus sponsored projects:

• Research compliance programs at other institutions and Federal agencies to gather ideas for developing monitoring platforms.
• Keep current of federal regulations financial compliance.
• Collaborates with IRIS team in developing reports and programming changes to improve compliance.
• Develops, initiates, maintains, and recommends revisions to policies and procedures for general operation to mitigate risk associated with non-compliance.
• Manages outside sponsor audit requests for UTK.This includes delegating routine type requests to the compliance officers or working directly with departments in gathering documentation and generating reports for complex audit requests.
• Develops and facilitates departmental financial compliance reviews.
• Reviews departmental internal control processes to identify risk of non-compliance regarding sponsored projects and recommends changes to mitigate risks.
• Develops monthly and quarterly compliance monitoring processes.

• On-boards and trains new team members.
• Leads a team of two compliance officers. Listens, supervises, and fosters teamwork to develop talented, service-oriented professionals.
• Conducts performance appraisals compliance officers to evaluate staff and guide professional development.
  
  Develops performance improvement plans, when necessary, and manages other varied HR-related issues.
• Develops cross-training opportunities to ensure critical tasks are covered
• Communicates priorities and procedures to team members.
  
  Provides feedback and monitoring relative to team goals.
• Provides oversight and complex decision-making to staff as they evaluate allowability of costs.
• Assists in the development of departmental and individual goals.

• Develops and facilitate training modules for Department Heads, Principal Investigators and financial staff working with sponsored projects for on-line and in classroom settings.
• Develops, conducts, and tracks financial compliance training for the Division of Research Administration.

• Outreach faculty and staff
• Notify campus of changes to fiscal policy and federal regulations that impact sponsored projects via newsletters, meetings, and email communications
• Sends official notifications when financial compliance violations occur
• Represent the Division of Research Administration in various meetings or committees
• Serve as initial contact for audit requests from external auditors for UTK

• Education:
  
  Bachelor’s Degree
• Experience:
  • Six years of Sponsored Projects Accounting (Grants & Contract) experience OR eight years of related work experience with background in accounting, auditing, risk assessment or regulatory compliance.
  • Must have experience with computer systems, including spreadsheet software…