Community Development Financial Analyst 1,2

State of Louisiana•Baton Rouge, LA

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Division of Administration/Office of Community Development has a vacancy. The goal of the Office of Community Development is to improve the quality of life of the residents of Louisiana by administering state and federal grants. The Community Development Block Grant Program helps communities provide a suitable living environment and expand economic opportunities for their residents, particularly in low- to moderate-income areas. The Louisiana Government Assistance Program is designed to fill the gaps where there are no federal or other state funds available to assist local governments with an identified high priority need. The Community Water Enrichment Fund provides funding to aid units of local government in rehabilitating, improving and constructing projects for community water systems to provide safe, clean drinking water. The Division of Administration is the state government’s management arm and the hub of its financial operations. Division offices perform a wide variety of activities including overseeing the state’s capital construction program, working to provide state and federal grants for community development, development of the state budget, providing technology services, giving agencies guidance in the state purchasing and contracting process, and administering a program that provides federal funds to help Louisiana residents recover from a series of devastating hurricanes.

Requirements

Four years of experience in accounting, auditing, financial operations, economics, or contracts or grants management; OR Six years of full-time experience in any field plus twenty-four semester hours in accounting, finance, or economics plus one year of experience in accounting, auditing, financial operations, economics, or contracts or grants management; OR A bachelor’s degree with twenty-four semester hours in accounting, finance, or economics plus one year of experience in accounting, auditing, financial operations, economics, or contracts or grants management; OR A bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, management, economics, or statistics plus one year of experience in accounting, auditing, financial operations, economics, or contracts or grants management; OR An advanced degree in accounting, finance, business administration, public administration, management, economics, or statistics; OR Possession of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license.
Every 30 semester hours earned from an accredited college or university will be credited as one year of experience towards the six years of full-time work experience in any field. The maximum substitution allowed is 120 semester hours which substitutes for a maximum of four years of experience in any field.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of program areas relative to each grant in order to efficiently and effectively manage the grants on the state level.
Working knowledge of all applicable state and federal rules and regulations governing these program areas, while providing technical assistance and guidance to CDBG funded municipalities, parishes, and other grant related professionals.
Knowledge of procurement procedures governed by state and federal bid laws and related contracted activities.
Knowledge of financial management requirements of the recipient’s contract which include reviewing requests for payments and corresponding budgets and invoices, budget revisions to the recipient’s contract and approval of these reports.
Knowledge of public facility bid document requirements, contractor bonding requirements, and the determination of whether projects, as built, conform to the recipient’s original application.
Knowledge of environmental requirements as related to the National Environmental Policy Act.
Knowledge of acquisition requirements as related to the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1970.
Knowledge of labor standards which govern prevailing wage rates.
Knowledge of fair housing and equal opportunity requirements as required by federal civil rights legislation.
Knowledge of U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, GAGAS, Uniform Administrative Grant Guidance (Part 200), and other related state and federal laws and regulations.
Knowledge of Sections 3 and 504.
Knowledge of national objectives.
Knowledge of public facilities.
Knowledge of record keeping.
Knowledge of citizen participation.
Knowledge of disclosure.
Knowledge of acquisition, displacement, citizen participation, handicap accessibility, procurement.
Knowledge of citizen and fair housing complaints, procurement of construction and professional services, recipients’ and construction contractors’ hiring practices.
Knowledge of financial statements, credit history, management and business background, earnings projects, and business plan review.
Knowledge of diverse circumstances and problems encountered during the review and negotiation process.
Knowledge of pertinent business and market data and issues.

Responsibilities

Management of 30 to 40 local governments’ (cities, towns villages, parishes) LCDBG projects funded for various activities.
Maintain assigned grants’ status on in-office database tracking system.
Process requests for payments for assigned projects.
Review close out documents and complete in-office close out of assigned grants.
Create and amend all grant agreements, and prepare corresponding letters to grantees.
Correspond with OSRAP to obtain appropriate vendor numbers and to ensure correct set-up of grantees’ banking information.
Enter all LCDBG projects into LaGov system upon execution of grant agreement and possession of proper vendor number.
Make changes as needed to LaGov setup throughout project and at closeout.
Perform backup duties for Requests for Payment LaGov checks and for split funding breakdowns to OFSS.
Analyze and provide assistance and guidance in interpreting the various programs’ financial policies and regulations to LCDBG professional staff members as well as local governments in the area of financial management systems.
Review and approve financial management certifications from grantees.
Review all financial reports from grantees to identify expenditures of LCDBG funds.
Work with CPAs, local government officials, Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, etc. in order to ensure financial reports are accurate and identify expenditure of funds as appropriate.
Conduct briefings and make presentations at LCDBG sponsored workshops to aid local governments in their administration of the financial management tasks relating to their grants.
Provide both on-going and periodic technical assistance to local governments, including assistance in the establishment of or improvements in financial management systems and internal control procedures in compliance with U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, GAGAS, Uniform Administrative Grant Guidance (Part 200), and other related state and federal laws and regulations.
Participate in researching backgrounds of grantees to be monitored, examining previous audit reports and reviewing the grantees’ grant applications and contracts with the state; interpret laws, regulations, policies and procedures and legal documents to identify obligations and limitations on a grantee’s expenditure of grant funds.
Analyze findings to identify problems such as mismanagement and noncompliance relative to policies and procedures, laws, regulations, and/or accounting principles.
Make recommendations to management regarding financial policy.
Revise and update financial management portion of the Grantee Handbook to ensure that grantees are properly informed on accounting standards, internal control procedures, cash management, and other financial management duties.
Coordinate the reconciliation of audit findings of local units of government in relation to the use of LCDBG funds.
Make recommendations to other staff members regarding the ultimate resolution of such findings.
Monitor funded projects of all grant types including all programs under the LCDBG program and make monitoring visits to review performance of projects and ensure that contractual obligations are being carried out by recipient.
Obtain application revisions; financial management certifications; process requests for payments; review and approve or deny requests for budget changes and program changes; monitor on-site to determine recipients’ compliance with program rules and regulations; monitor construction site/project area; process and issue closeout.
Meet with chief elected officials (mayors, police jury presidents) city managers, city clerks, city treasurers, police jury secretary-treasurers and professional consultants and engineers to review and discuss recipients’ records and performance in various program areas.
Review recipients’ records for compliance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations and in-office policies.
Determine capacity of recipients; record keeping practices and identify any questioned costs or conflict-of-interest issues.
Conduct entrance and exit conferences with chief elected officials to discuss negative findings and possible consequences and remedial action(s) which might be imposed on or required of the local governments.
Write monitoring reports to chief elected officials of non-compliance with state and federal regulations or guidelines and/or findings of merit.
Mandate the course of action which recipient must take to correct any deficiencies in their management of the grant and grant funds.
Calculate and assess dollar value of questionable and/or disallowed costs identified through review which recipient must refund to the State of Louisiana and/or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Evaluate local government responses to monitoring findings and make a determination as to the adequacy of the response(s).
Responsible for all compliance monitoring functions.
Use knowledge obtained from on-site monitoring visits to assist in devising and formulating new or amended compliance requirements for recipients.
Respond regularly to written and telephone inquiries from local officials and professional consultants and engineers regarding their administration of the LCDBG Program and their expenditure of grant funds.
Advise local officials of proper courses of action and possible consequences of improper or illegal actions carried out with Community Development Block Grant funds.
Work with and provide advice and technical assistance to local governments in most all aspects of the LCDBG program.
Monitor and administer current LCDBG loan portfolio.
Participate in pre-application meetings and explain the financial requirements of the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG) Economic Development (ED) Program to meeting participants.
Review applications for ED assistance for compliance with basic program requirements.
Conduct a detailed financial analysis of each application, which includes but is not limited to, verifying the small or medium enterprise (SME) owners credibility through interpretation of financial statements, credit history, management and business background, earnings projects, and business plan review.
Coordinate review with a myriad of other local, state, or federal agencies, commercial developers, and private lending institutions.
Forward analysis and funding recommendation to LCDBG management.
Conduct site visits to all projects for which funds are requested and frequently meet with project applicants and participants at the Community Development office.
Clarify any unresolved financial questions in order to make further assessment of project feasibility.
Analyze and ascertain accuracy and consistency of the review process.
Ensure that ED guidelines and policies established by the state and federal governments are followed.
Analyze results of the application review and award process, incorporate diverse circumstances and problems encountered during the review and negotiation process, consider pertinent business and market data and issues.
Contribute recommendations for formulation or revision of policies to be included in the LCDBG Annual Action Plan and recommendations for creation and implementation of rules and regulations for the application package and process.