Research Job Opportunities

Position Overview

Under general supervision, the position performs a range of detailed, moderately complex professional accounting functions. Work assignments at this level typically include: examination, analysis, maintenance, consolidation and reconciliation of financial records; creation and interpretation of financial statements and reports; participation in the development of budgets; may be assigned responsibility to provide training, supervision and/or assistance to other employees.

Duties may include:

• Analyze accounting records for accuracy and completeness
• Research and resolve accounting problems and/or discrepancies
• Research and apply new accounting standards
• Research and apply relevant local, state and federal regulations; prepare, review or approve required returns and reports
• Generate standard and custom financial statements and other reports
• Oversee proper classification and coding of income and expenditures
• Analyze and forecast revenue and expenditure trends
• Assist in calculation of various departmental and university rates
• Analyze expenditures charged for appropriateness and compliance with university policy and procedures
• Interact with internal and external auditors and participate in auditing projects
• Recommend improvements in workflows, procedures and processes
• Conduct financial analysis of projects and prepare special reports
• Oversee and monitor accounting processes, schedules and databases
• Perform complex reconciliation functions
• Other duties as assigned

Job Duties

Ensuring Financial Compliance of Sponsored Project and Service Center Activity (Estimated effort: 80%):

• Assessing risk and performing reviews of sponsored projects and service centers to ensure compliance with federal and sponsor regulations, and university policies and procedures
• Communicating with university personnel on expenses and compelling removal of any expense determined to be non-compliant
• Providing guidance to OSP staff on monitoring sponsored project data, expenditures, sub-recipient expenditures and adjustments completed in the university’s financial system
• Assessing and enforcing current policies and procedures associated with fiscal compliance of sponsored research activity and recommending changes as needed to comply with university and sponsor guidelines and regulations
• Assessing federal regulations and changes in such regulations as they arise for integration into the university financial systems
• Reviewing and approving sponsored project journal entries, NSF queues, labor redistributions, cost transfers, service agreements, sponsor funded job descriptions to ensure compliance with federal and sponsor regulations and university policies and procedures
• Generating semi-annual effort reports for distribution, monitoring the completion of certified effort reports per federal regulations and assisting certifiers with questions
• Conducting risk assessments for potential subrecipients and performing risk assessments for active subrecipients annually in accordance with federal regulations
• Reviewing subrecipient invoices approved by the PI for reasonableness and allowability in accordance with the executed subaward agreement and submitting approved subrecipient invoice to accounts payable
• Reviewing interim salary changes for allowability that affect sponsored projects
• Reviewing Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Exemptions on proposed sponsored projects and determining allowability
• Performing a desk review of fixed-priced sponsored projects with residual funds of greater than 10% and making a determination of reasonableness based upon the supporting documentation submitted by the PI

Ensuring Accurate Application of Sponsored Project Payments (Estimated effort: 10%):

• Preparing daily deposits for ACH bank deposits and physical checks received for sponsored projects
• Researching incoming payments for potential application to sponsored projects
• Performing a quarterly reconciliation of the grants and contracts accounts receivable fund 220029 and identifying the appropriate sponsored project that payments should be applied to

Advance Knowledge of Research Administration and Professional Skills (Estimated effort: 5%):

• Representing OSP at meetings or on committees within the university and at professional meetings external to the university
• Providing training to other OSP employees on unit policies and procedures
• Attending training and professional development activities as identified by the assistant director of Sponsored Accounting or the director of the Office of Sponsored Programs

Contribute to the Cost Accounting Unit (Estimated effort: 5%):

• Assisting the assistant director of Sponsored Accounting as needed with other Cost Accounting Unit responsibilities
• Assisting the assistant director of Sponsored Accounting in the development of unit strategic goals
• Providing support and guidance to the Cost Accounting Unit staff and coverage of tasks as needed
• Performing special projects for OSP as assigned by the assistant director of Sponsored Accounting or director of the Office of Sponsored Programs

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in accounting, finance or equivalent OR Master’s Degree in accounting

Experience

• Two years of progressively responsible accounting experience in a computerized accounting system

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a complex, decentralized accounting environment
• Experience with governmental fund accounting
• CPA, CMA, CGFM or other accounting certification
• Experience working with the Banner Financial System
• Experience working in an area of Grant and Contract financial accounting or sponsored research administration
• Establishing and monitoring internal controls
• Interpreting, explaining and applying laws, regulations and policies
• Assisting in the education of individuals in policy and procedures
• Assessing risk and conducting audits to ensure compliance
• Monitoring and evaluating account activity

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page.
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on June 10.

Position Overview

The Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI) is a multidisciplinary, collaborative unit that creates the intellectual, cultural and physical environment to foster research synergy at University of Idaho. IMCI reports to the Office of Research and Economic Development and works with multiple units to manage a portfolio of grants and awards and oversee two core facilities. The Program Manager will actively contribute to the leadership team as the administrative-level decision maker to develop and advance strategic IMCI goals and objectives. The position is self-directed and reports to the IMCI Director to accomplish a wide variety of tasks critical to the success of the institute.

This position serves as the administrative lead for educational, outreach and professional programs or directing complex business operations in support of the program. The program manager formally plans, assigns, directs and coordinates the work of the program. The position will represent the program to administrators, faculty, staff and students within the university and external contacts.

Duties may include:

• Design and develop or assist with the design and development of program(s) or project(s)
• Manage and oversee the administrative and daily operations of a program
• Ensure compliance with university, state and federal policies and regulations
• Oversee the supervision of personnel for the program
• Manage contract, grant and/or state funding; approve and monitor budget expenditures; prepare budget revisions; provide interim status reports on all accounts; oversee, coordinate and/or assist with proposal writing to develop additional funding
• Participate in the development of annual operating budgets and provide fiscal direction to the unit
• Oversee and/or coordinate the collection, compilation and analysis of program activity data; develop, write and present program reports
• Other duties as assigned

Job Duties

Provide institute leadership by (Estimated effort: 25%):

• Maintaining updated knowledge in pertinent laws, regulations and standards concerning and affecting finance procedures and operations; reviewing new and existing agency requirements and adjusting institute process to ensure compliance with changing regulations
• Reviewing financial transactions for compliance; identifying errors; alerting responsible parties to financial discrepancies or problems and taking appropriate corrective actions as necessary; ensuring expenditures remain within the allocated amounts; monitoring budgets and spending to ensure alignment and compliance with program and project goals and requirements; responding to requests of information in response to internal and external audits; assess, develop and implement processes and procedures to mitigate audit risks
• Ensuring effective systems are in place for accurate record keeping
• Initiating allocations, adjustments and transfers; coordinating the budget development for IMCI-funded projects, initiatives and proposals submitted through the institute; maintaining proper fund balances for meeting fiscal priorities
• Evaluating and assessing institute financial needs and opportunities; making recommendations to the Director; and developing new policies to address needs and opportunities
• Annually develop service center billing rates in compliance with APM for the Image and Data Acquisition Core (IDAC) in collaboration with the IDAC Manager and Director. Provide financial management support for the IDAC to ensure compliance with federal cost principles for educational institutions

Provide grant proposal development and award management by (Estimated effort: 30%):

• Providing guidance to Principal Investigators in the development of proposals that includes interpretation and communication of agency funding announcements and a variety of regulations including the federal 2 CFR 200, cost accounting principles and federal, state and university policies
• Acting as a liaison between Principal Investigators and the Office of Sponsored Programs
• Providing specifically tailored proposal checklists to Principal Investigators for each proposal
• Leading submission requests to the National Institutes for Health for new Center for Modeling Complex Interactions research projects and pilot grants ensuring internal and external policies and procedures complianceProviding guidance and expertise in developing budgets ensuring that all proposed expenditures at the University of Idaho and subcontracted institutions are allowable and well-justified
• Ensuring internal and external documents required for grant applications are properly prepared including subawards and cost share; providing access to agency forms/templates and instructions; notifying Principal Investigators of regulatory compliance documentation needed
• Ensuring documents are uploaded to the proper proposal interfaces prior to OSP and agency deadlines
• Initiating early budget setups; advance funding requests; sub-awards; service agreements; sponsor pre-approvals (NCTEs, PI changes, re-budgets, carry- forward and transfers/relinquishments); budget transfers; cost transfers, including determining and recommending corrective actions when necessary
• Managing cost-share, approval queues, expenditure compliance review, subaward monitoring and project closeouts
• Providing specialized post-award grant support by overseeing and monitoring the complete life cycle of awards and preparing comprehensive fiscal reports that include budget projections
• Maintaining data on grant extensions, terminations, completions and new awards utilizing a variety of databases

Provide human resource management by (Estimated effort: 10%):

• Overseeing, in partnership with ORED’s Affirmative Action Coordinator, IMCI employment position searches; coordinating new IMCI employee offers and onboarding of new IMCI employees, including any needed background checks, I- 9 compliance and visa applications
• Coordinating IMCI employee terminations with employees and supervisors
• Coordinating directly with university departments and colleges on Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAF) ensuring budgetary guidelines and restrictions are being met
• Managing IMCI funded summer salary including coordinating with individual faculty, departments and colleges
• Supporting IMCI supervisors with coordinating performance reviews, non-faculty exempt non-renewal, change in employee compensation (CEC), mandatory trainings and other human resource activities
• Supervising the IMCI administrative staff including hiring, training, mentoring, corrective actions and performance evaluations

Lead coordination of institute reporting b (Estimated effort: 10%):

• Using project management skills to coordinate the annual reporting effort for complex grants (e.g. the National Institutes of Health COBRE annual report)
• Developing reporting data collection tools and timelines
• Managing reporting data collection of participants across the university and maintaining records
• Reviewing, editing, compiling, analyzing, entering and ensuring accuracy of data
• Preparing sections of reports and entering information into agency reporting programs
• Managing, monitoring and ensuring publication compliance with NIH Public Access Policy

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree; four additional years of experience in program coordination (for a total of eight years) may substitute for a Bachelor’s Degree

Experience

• Four years of program coordination or program management experience
• One year of supervisory experience or delegating work to others
• Participation in the development and management of operating budgets

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in business or accounting

Experience with:

• Exercising judgment in a fast paced, dynamic, team environment while fostering positive relationships, teamwork and cooperation among students, faculty, staff and administrators across campus
• Submission and administration of grants and contracts or other complex programs.
• Interpreting and applying laws, regulations, policies and procedures at the university, state or federal level
• Establishing internal financial systems with audit controls and making decisions regarding authorization or rejection of expenditures/disbursements
• Working in higher education and a working knowledge of University of Idaho administrative policies and procedures
• Using computer software and applications for word processing, spreadsheets, email, internet searches and data organization
• Compiling accounting information in spreadsheet software; preparing summaries, financial reports and budget projections
• Proficiency with Banner, VandalWeb, Argos, VERAS and other university systems; experience with Grants.gov, Research.gov and other grant agency input platforms
• Editing and writing business correspondence using proper grammar and punctuation as demonstrated in the application materials

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page.
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on July 26.