Associate Director Student Accounting, Billing & Financial Operations

University of North Texas System•Denton, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The University of North Texas System is a growing university system in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, comprising the University of North Texas in Denton and Frisco, the University of North Texas at Dallas and UNT Dallas College of Law, and University of North Texas Health Fort Worth. The system employs over 14,000 individuals and educates over 49,000 students, awarding nearly 12,000 degrees annually. The UNT System fosters a people-first, values-based culture centered on excellence, curiosity, innovation, respect, belonging, access, and courageous integrity. The Student Accounting department is dedicated to providing high-quality student account and financial services, managing tuition and fee assessment, collections, waivers, exemptions, veterans' benefits, sponsorships, tuition benefits, refunds, departmental deposits, and tax reporting. This position is responsible for the management and oversight of all tuition and fee assessment, billing, and subledger accounting for over $650M annually. The role oversees a team managing UNT's largest financial subledger and revenue source (Tuition/Fees Student Accounts) from initial assessment/billing through submission to the University General Ledger (GL). The position also serves as the student finance liaison for all internal and external audits related to UNT Student Accounting. Key responsibilities include leading the request process for items posted to student accounts, establishing/updating tuition and fee items in the student financials system, and coordinating associated projects with senior leaders. The role manages the assessment of over $650M in tuition and fee transactions annually, ensuring accuracy and validation. Additionally, it provides oversight for student tax reporting processes (1098-T) for over 65,000 students annually. The position acts as a liaison between Student Accounting and the UNT One Stop center for strategic initiatives related to student billing and 1098-T reporting, involving strategic planning and coordination across divisions and colleges.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and six years of progressively responsible experience in a student accounting, billing/receivables, reporting, or related business field or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience.
Knowledge working with large scale financial transactions and accounting in a higher education environment or closely related industry.
Ability to lead financial operations involving accounting, reporting, and financial decisions.
Skill in financial, analytical and process analysis skills.
Proficient with complex reporting methodologies and functional expertise of ERP functionalities.
Strong project and team management skills.
Ability to drive to ensure student success.
Detail oriented and function well as a working manager.
Ability to manage complex workload with competing deadlines, lead a high functioning team through large scale projects and communicate effectively with students, campus partners and team members.
Ability to develop effective working relationships across team, department and division boundaries to ensure that projects and initiatives are successful.

Nice To Haves

Ability to analyze problems and develop solutions.
Strong presentation, problem solving, critical thinking and project management skills.
Strong organizational, analytical and planning skills.
Ability to effectively demonstrate initiative and productivity in the work environment.
Prior experience in a student accounts/bursars office or experience working with large scale financial transactions in a higher education setting or closely related service-provider environment/industry.
Experience developing complex reports/dashboards to support institutional decision making.
Maintain a subject matter expert level of knowledge on institutional tuition and fee rates, rules, and multimillion dollar revenue streams.
Deep familiarity with enrollment data/trends and ability to translate tuition and fee requests into efficient tuition and fee assessment methodologies that support university operations and student success.
Strong financial, analytical, and process analysis skills.
Proficient with complex reporting methodologies and maintain functional expertise in business processes and financial analysis/reporting tools.
Strong project and team management skills.
High degree of accountability and a drive to ensure student success.
Detail oriented and function well as a working manager.
Ability to maintain a complex workload with competing deadlines, lead a team through largescale projects, and communicate effectively with students, campus partners, and team members.
Ability to develop effective working relationships across team, department, and division boundaries to ensure that projects and initiatives are successful.

Responsibilities

Responsible for delivering exceptional service to all internal and external customers, including campus partners. Maintains positive interactions with others. Provides professional, clear and accurate verbal and written communication. Resolves customer issues, offers alternatives or submits them to the appropriate personnel following the chain of command. Alert Director and AVP of escalating issues, while taking action to resolve as possible.
Promotes a positive work environment for all team members. Demonstrates respect, flexibility, open-mindedness, and kindness in all interactions with students, team members, and campus partners. Demonstrates a commitment to the mission and vision of Student Accounting, the Division of Enrollment, and the University of North Texas. Serves as an example of positive engagement in the department through active participation in meetings, within committees, and by assisting others.
Must maintain a working (functional) knowledge of the EIS system, navigate the system, comprehend and explain student accounts, troubleshoot issues and understand processes which affect the student account.
Leads the efforts to complete tuition and fee validation across all student billing processes and the ongoing Tuition and Fee Continuous Monitoring/Audit framework. Functions as the student accounting liaison for all internal and external audits related to UNT Student Accounting. Partners with UNT Controller, Budget, and other financial stakeholders on all subledger to general ledger reconciliation and audit PBCs (internal and external audits).
Actively supports initiatives to engage all employees in the workplace. Provides timely communication to team members. Take actions to demonstrate care for team members and to communicate their value as part of the team. Recognizes and promotes accomplishments of team members.
Provide management and leadership for the assessment of over 650M in tuition and fees for all UNT students. Responsible for ensuring tuition and fee assessment is timely, accurate, and validated prior to posting charges to student accounts each semester.
Serves as the area supervisor for the SA Billing Operations and Financials team. Supports the overall billing operations for all enrollment related student account transactions, including the maintenance of rate tables within PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. Collaborates with the AVP Student Accounting and department leads to ensure billing and financial processes are efficient and aligned with the strategic goals of the department and UNT. Serves as the primary point of contact across the institution for Student Finance issues and collaborates with leadership on major initiatives.
Manages the overall planning and execution for all student account functions/process timing each semester from the point of tuition/fee assessment and guaranteed tuition plans. Leads the development and planning of a detailed plan for each semester go live and distributes this information to all departments across the institution.
Provides leadership and guidance for all internal and external student finance/general ledger reporting requests. Coaches and develops team members as they collaborate with internal and external stakeholders in support of financial reporting needs. Collaborate with campus partners on the completion of required reports that involve student finance data (ex: IFRS - Integrated Fiscal Reporting System/TVC/THECB reporting). Serves as the key point of contact to campus partner offices in regard to student finance data. Maintains catalog of executive level dashboards which provide insight into Student Accounting key performance indicators as well as student payment trends.
Provides leadership and guidance across the department for all third-party applications which support Student Accounting (SA) operations (ex: NextGen, Perceptive Content, Nelnet QuikPAY, etc.). Serves as a functional lead (alongside other Student Accounting directors) on projects to integrate third-party applications with Student Accounting business processes.
Serves as a member of the SA senior leadership team and works collaboratively with team members to advance the mission of the department and the university to provide the best possible service to students and their families.
Completes assignments accurately and in a timely manner with minimal follow-up required. Demonstrates initiative by taking action to provide customer service within scope of position and actively seeks additional assignments from supervisor.