Accountant, Financial Reporting, Accounting Manager

With minimum direction and latitude for initiative and independent judgment, performs professional accounting work in the Department of Environmental Medicine, a basic science research department, with over $14 million in sponsored research funding. Working closely with the finance team in Environmental Medicine, the Accountant I is part of a highly effective administrative team and will be directly responsible for the management and oversight of post-award sponsored research activities for a variety of accounts (research grants, foundation, institutional, endowment, etc.).

Knowledge of and adherence to institutional and sponsor policies is a critical component in the management of sponsored research projects and is essential to the functional responsibilities of the Accountant I position. Excellent organizational skills is a must in order to be proactive and meet deadlines.

• Generate, review, and analyze monthly ledger/departmental accounting reports using UR GEMS and UR Financials/Workday, and reconcile charges with URGEMS.
• Identify problems or errors and correct with appropriate central administrative or service department.
• Prepare monthly URGEMS encumbrance reports of expenditures and balances and prepare detailed spreadsheets as necessary.
• Analyze reports for accuracy, spending projections, salary efforts, reasonableness and adherence to agency guidelines. Work closely with Principal Investigator (PI) and lab manager 2-3 months prior to account close to avoid deficits and/or overages.
• Prepare and review reports with Senior Accountant and Administrative Director before sending to investigator for their review.
• Working with the Senior Accountant, assist in the financial oversight of large, complex grants including a P30 Center grant, a T32 training grant, two U54 grants, and a large FDA contract.
• Prepare annual final financial reports for ORACS to enable them to submit timely final closeout reports for grants that have ended or those that require annual closeouts.
• Ensure final close-out materials and all supporting documentation will withstand audit.
• Be conscientious in following up on closed accounts to monitor accuracy of pending charges.
• Assist senior accountant with managing the UR Space Inventory Database for Environmental Medicine.
• Update the on-line inventory on a monthly basis, in preparation for the annual reporting and ultimately for base year calculation, ensuring that space is designated appropriately in the database in accordance with PHS guidelines.
• Responsible for UR Equipment database for Environmental Medicine.
• Work with the PI of each lab and laboratory personnel to manage equipment property forms which have the UR property tag.
• The information on these forms needs to be accurate, and in compliance with University policy on the room location of this equipment.
• Frequent interaction with the Space Planning Department or other departments on changes of room ownership issues and other space reporting requirements.
• Prepare forms, and NIH salary cap forms, using the Workday for personnel in assigned accounts obtaining appropriate signatures for approval of payroll changes and effort reporting.
• Set up accounts in URGEMS using ORPA’s Notice of Award (NOA).
• Review NOA for accuracy based on sponsored award letter and contact ORPA and ORACS with corrections.
• Compare proposed budget to awarded budget and notify PI of any major differences.
• Review and input data into URGEMS from various payment mechanisms for all department accounts, double-checking appropriateness of expenditures and FAO spend category designations.
• Share responsibility for the payroll process for departmental personnel, including either data entry or approval of payroll using Workday.
• Process requests for payment (SIR), requisitions, and expense reports for research related expenses as needed to support research.
• Provide guidance to lab technical staff on purchasing methods and processes.
• Prepare accounting journal entries (AJEs) to correct “grant out of award” and other errors.
• Prepares and submits personnel forms/salary distribution changes for processing.
• Updates effort projection workbooks on a routine basis and notifies research and finance administration of upcoming payroll changes required.
• Attend and participate in post-award related user groups such as URGEMS, UR Financials, or Research Administrators/Research Accounting (RARA) meetings to maintain CLASP certification.
• Provide backup for senior accountant and administrative director during their absences.

Other duties as assigned

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting Required
• 1 year of experience in a professional accounting setting or equivalent combination of education and experience. Required