Special Funds Administrator

**Job Purpose**:
The purpose of this position is to reduce the risk to the university through proactive financial management of external restricted funding in reviewing special purpose expenses for eligibility and availability of funds and maintaining accurate and up to date reconciliations of endowment tracking spreadsheets.

The position requires interpretation of Trent University and external granting agency policies as well as external contracts and related procedures. The Special Funds Administrator provides finance and compliance expertise to account holders, administrative staff, and project staff/students. A strong working knowledge of all the relevant policies must be maintained to contribute to the efficient and effective management of special purpose funds through the review of expenses as well as timely preparation and distribution of invoices and any related journal entries.

This position will liaise with staff and faculty across the University (including grant and trust account holders and the Advancement Office), will work regularly with highly sensitive and confidential information from both internal and external sources, and will be required to assist external auditors in the audit of sponsored funding and expenditures.

**Key Activities**:
**Restricted Funds Compliance**
- Reviews special purpose expenses
- Checks to ensure the expenses are eligible and documented according to the terms of the relevant funding agreements and any applicable budgets. Uses judgment on matters where the agency terms are unclear. Checks the balances of the associated accounts to ensure adequate funds are available and ensures appropriate approvals were obtained.
- Follows up with account holders, as required, to sort out any other issues that arise during the review of expenses and provides advice on potential solutions.
- Provides finance expertise and responds to queries from account holders regarding eligibility of expenses and procedures for payment from special purpose grants.
- Supports Senior Finance Accountant in providing periodic updates on funds balance and supporting account holders as needed when they are reviewing their account(s).

**Information Management**
- Manages all requests for cash advances and monitors outstanding cash advances to ensure prompt follow up and submission of expense reports.

**Accounts Receivable Management**
- Reviews restricted fund agreements/contracts to determine invoicing and HST requirements. Creates and distributes invoices to external funding agencies.
- Manages invoicing accounts receivable by updating and maintaining restricted fund accounts receivable spreadsheets; tracking invoices created and payments received. Reconciles accounts receivable spreadsheets on a monthly basis and prepares a list of outstanding receivables for follow-up with granting agencies.
- Prepares monthly accounts receivable journal entries for interfacing into the general ledger system.
- Follows up with granting agencies on outstanding receivables in a timely manner.
- Prepares year end AR and Revenue working papers for Auditors.
- Identifies incoming electronic funds and wire transfers on special purpose accounts, and provides the appropriate general ledger account numbers to credit the funds against.

**Endowment Reporting Assistance**
- Prepares monthly endowment investment account activity entry for review.
- Assists with ongoing maintenance of internal endowment allocation spreadsheet activity.
- Prepares documentation for investment purchases/sale according to requirements.
- Assists with monthly updating of Trent Lands Plans report for review.

**Communication and Team Work**
- Provides advice and compliance information with sensitivity and consideration, with the goal of understanding and responding to account holder activity, needs, and concerns.
- Works with others (in Finance, the University Grant Writer, and other departments) to provide solutions and efficient completion of transactions, tasks and reports.

**Education Required**:
Honours University Degree in Business/E-Commerce majoring in accounting.

**Experience/Qualifications Required**:

- Three (3) years of experience in a general computerized accounting environment with focus on accounting principles, creating journal entries and reconciliations.
- Experience working with fund accounting or multiple departments is considered an asset.
- Demonstrated experience in completing complex account reconciliations on a regular basis and the investigation of reconciling items.
- Demonstrated experience in working with software tools to find efficiencies in processes analyzing large volumes of data.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs with advanced knowledge of Excel.
- Ability to create documented procedures capable of permitting others to successfully execute the process with mínimal supervision.
- Strong customer service skills to communicate with internal and external clients.
- Ability to follow documented procedu