Accounting Specialist

Position Overview

The Accounting Specialist administers day‑to‑day finance activities and business service processes in Housing & Residence Life (HRL) at the University of Kansas. HRL houses about 5,500 students on the Lawrence campus in residence halls, apartments, and cooperative houses known as scholarship halls and manages an auxiliary budget of over $50 million. The role requires accounting skills to perform financial support functions, provide accurate and timely information, and ensure efficient transaction processing for student accounts and vendors.

The Accounting Specialist works closely with other areas within HRL to ensure accuracy of charges, maintains records, and processes transactions efficiently and accurately.

• Processes daily and monthly billing of room and meal charges to KU Enroll & Pay, including account adjustments, payments, and credits after review and analysis of financial details.
• Accesses information in the housing database (Star Rez) used for room assignments, billing, and applications to review and maintain student accounts.
• Completes account maintenance by reviewing for payment, adjustment, etc. to ensure accuracy of financial accounts.
• Responds to email, telephone, and in‑person requests from residents, families, and sponsors for student account information by reviewing Mercury and/or Enroll & Pay details.
• Understands and follows all relevant compliance rules and regulations (FERPA, PCI, Clery, NCAA, Endowment, etc.) and maintains privacy with respect to student information and other requirements.
• Authorizes temporary release of student record/enrollment financial holds as authorized or assigned by the Financial Analyst Senior.

• Coordinates and manages scholarship hall food, supplies, and equipment ordering, ensuring that internal budgets are followed through budget reconciliation, generating budget reports to staff and students, and processing all invoices for payment within established parameters.
• Manages reconciliations for SOFAS accounts for all communities, and for assigned suppliers for services within HRL communities.
• Creates and submits DARBI requests for SOFAS, camps and conferences, and other campus partner billing as needed.
• Reviews and submits invoices, P‑Card receipts, travel, SOFAS with funding to the Shared Service Center (SSC) for payment.
• Processes purchase requisitions through university financial systems and provides appropriate funding cost centers for purchases for HRL while ensuring purchasing guidelines are followed, including programming supplies for student governments and Residence Life staff; office supplies; orders for furniture, equipment, and services; custodial supplies; kitchen, household, and recreational items for housing units; locksmith materials; and services such as shred, printing, furniture rental, cell phones, etc.
• Prepares details for SSC to process deposits for laundry commissions, food rebates, trust fund allocations, miscellaneous deposits, refunds, travel requests and reimbursements, invoices for payment, Journal Request Change forms, and other miscellaneous transactions.
• Coordinates departmental purchasing cards and ensures timely processing of receipts.

• Communicates regularly with other campus departments including but not limited to KU Dining, Student Accounts & Receivables, Financial Aid & Scholarships, and Shared Service Center.
• Attends regular meetings, training sessions, and professional development.
• Ensures that records retention policies are followed related to housing financials.
• Provides back‑up support for co‑workers in HRL finance area.
• Engages in special projects and other duties as assigned by the Financial Analyst Senior, including serving on department‑wide or campus‑wide task groups or committees.

• High School diploma or GED equivalency and three years of relevant experience or bachelor’s degree in accounting, business administration, or a related field.
• Experience with Microsoft Suite of software tools including Word, Excel, and Outlook as demonstrated by application materials and previous experience.
• Excellent written communication skills and attention to detail as demonstrated by application materials.

• Experience using a financial ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system), such as Oracle Financials (FITC), Concur, Maximo, Central Square (One Solution), etc., as evidenced in application materials.
• Work experience requiring analytical and problem‑solving skills, as evidenced by application materials.
• Experience managing multiple tasks and assignments in a deadline‑driven environment, as evidenced in application materials.