Sr. Accountant (Sponsored Projects Shared Services)

Johns Hopkins University • Baltimore, MD

35d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Sr. Accountant who will utilize advanced, in-depth knowledge and understanding of a wide range of grants and contracts and serve as the subject matter expert for grants management accounting at the university. Sponsored Projects Shared Services is responsible for the fiscal administration of all awards (grants, contracts and cooperative agreements) made to the university by governmental and private agencies. Additionally, the department is responsible for the related compliance of all divisions of the University. Functions of the department include sponsored award setup, sponsored award financial reporting, and sponsored award closeout.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Business, Finance or related field.
• Three years of progressively responsible related experience.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced knowledge of grants and contracts and Federal regulations.
• Advanced knowledge of the laws and regulations that apply to accounting functions and those required to ensure compliance.
• Advanced knowledge in the use of financial software applications, relational databases, spreadsheets, and/or word processing.
• Ability to use various software applications, such as spreadsheets, relational databases, statistical packages, and graphics packages to assemble, manipulate, and format data and/or reports.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage the full life cycle of complex research awards from NIH and other federal agencies, e.g. P50 (program projects).
• Responsible for the most complex departments which are more challenging due to a higher volume of research awards, and/or more complex awards.
• Independently interact with department administrators, external agencies, and senior management.
• Apply strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain customer service relationships through positive interactions.
• May represent the department at university-wide meetings.
• Communicate effectively at all levels.
• Review the notice of award that is received from Research Administration in the document management system (Oculus) for terms and conditions in order to establish the award in the ERP accounting system.
• Establish master data by interpreting the terms and conditions from notice of award in order to comply with laws, regulations, policies and procedures.
• Establish budget data based on information from the notice of award to provide a level of control over revenues and expenditures charged to the award.
• Routinely execute reports by utilizing standard formatted reports to identify reports and prioritize own workload. Develop new reports as needed.
• Generate reports by award to obtain revenue and expenditure information in order to begin the financial reporting process.
• Analyze reports by comparing revenue and expenses to information in the notice of award and previous financial reports to complete the financial report accurately.
• Interpret financial transactions and events for users who must make economic or business decisions.
• Collaborate with departmental personnel by sending draft financial reports to the department in order to obtain department approval before submitting financial reports to the sponsoring agency.
• Verify documents for completeness and compliance with government and private agencies.
• Submit financial reports to the sponsoring agency per the terms and conditions of the award.
• Update master data due to changes in the terms and conditions of an award in order to comply with laws, regulations, policies and procedures.
• Update budget data due to changes in the terms and conditions of an award in order to maintain the level of control for revenues and expenditures being charged to the award.
• Communicate with departmental personnel to obtain documentation necessary to support expenditures or revenues required as a result of an audit inquiry.
• Monitor costing compliance on research grants and contracts; perform various procedures on sponsored awards to maintain compliance with applicable regulations and award terms (e.g. appropriate treatment of administrative costs, unallowable costs, rebudgeting restrictions, etc.)
• Analyze the award's revenues and expenditures by executing a data report to ensure that the AP data matches the financial report submitted to the sponsor.
• Communicate with departmental personnel to resolve outstanding encumbrances that need to be removed to formally close the award.
• Update master data, including the budget to formally close the award from accepting any further revenues or expenditures.
• Utilize interpersonal communication skills to address a wide range of questions from departmental personnel regarding sponsored awards in order to ensure compliance with laws, regulations, policies and procedures.
• Respond to inquiries from internal and external sources and review accounting transactions to locate and resolve discrepancies.
• Advise departments on compliance issues and the interpretation of applicable regulations (e.g., effort, cost allocations, allowability, etc.)
• Guide and support newly hired staff by teaching, advising and counseling on sponsored projects processes in order to promote professional development for all staff members.
• Develop course materials to be used in the training of sponsored projects processes by the user community.
• Train the user community on sponsored projects processes.
• Train and advise staff on best practices, policies and procedures.
• Assist in developing policies, processes, and procedures to ensure consistent operations.
• Other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Educational Services
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees