Finance Officer

Overview:
PRIMARY PURPOSE: The Finance Officer is accountable to the Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services for financial and management reporting of philanthropic & campaign gifts, and has a dotted line accountability to the Vice-President Advancement for the consolidation, reporting and oversight of departmental operating and campaign budgets within the Office of Advancement. The incumbent is the primary contact with Finance, and ensures acceptable financial controls and audit practises are maintained with all cash-handling processes across Advancement and is the central person responsible for providing tax advice and interpretation of CRA tax issues in relation to donations.

**Responsibilities**:
Financial Management and Internal Control
- In collaboration with the Associate Director, Advancement Operations, verifies that all CRA guidelines pertaining to the receipting and reporting of donations are met
- Conducts periodic audits on financial processes within the office evaluating the adequacy of financial controls and compliance with established financial procedures while improving the effectiveness of risk management
- Identifies the need for and develops strong internal controls
- Acts as primary contact with Finance and Faculty Finance Officers in the initial stage of gift agreement set up (including setting up new fund codes on Raiser’s Edge) and other areas to ensure accountability in spending and reporting on impact to donors
- Reviews complex financial histories for donor stewardship reporting; may offer input to donor agreements being developed; ensures signed terms and donor agreements are received, details are recorded, and are held in a central repository
- Handles reconciliation and disbursement of gifts received/receipted from the Friends of the University of Waterloo Foundation, and the Hong Kong Foundation, to the University of Waterloo, performs monthly bank reconciliations and works with agents in these countries regarding banking and business matters
- Works with and liaises with Finance and both internal and external auditors to complete scheduled audits and as need arises
- Receives, consolidates and analyzes summary information for annual budget planning and forecasting, for multi-year campaign budget planning and tracking, and provides regular budget and expense reporting to management. Advancement has a combined operating budget of over $9.5 Million
- Monitors, audits and clears suspense accounts (unearned revenue) in collaboration with gift processing manager and according to University policy and GAAP
- Identifies, recommends, and implements efficient and effective process improvements-may review business processes across the office to examine workflow, and control measures

Management and Philanthropic reporting
- Prepares a variety of reports for both internal and external audiences which may be routine, or ad-hoc in nature, statistical or narrative, complex or simple, and from a single or a variety of sources from both Advancement and the broader University
- Applies generally accepted accounting principles to reporting of financial data and related information
- Prepares and develops management reports for the Office of Advancement including monthly and annual reporting packages
- Ensures philanthropic reporting follows relevant internal and external guidelines including CCAE, CASE, etc. Manages the preparation of financial information for summaries the University participates in such as peer surveys, VSE, CASE, etc.
- Philanthropic reports include fiscal results by gift designation and donor constituency; gifts received by category: to endowments, scholarships, buildings, professorships; special government matching programs; donations through the USA Friends of the University of Waterloo Foundation, and the UW Hong Kong Foundation; gifts/pledges to specific fund-raising appeals, etc.
- The incumbent works closely with Advancement Information Systems to develop comprehensive financial reporting systems. The Finance Officer will be expected to use creative analysis, and develop an excellent working knowledge of Raiser’s Edge and Business Intelligence reporting
- The Finance Officer regularly compiles and distributes reports to the VP, AVP’s, Managers, Development Officers, Deans, Department Heads, Senior University Management, and Board of Governors on a routine basis
- Oversees financial procedures to ensure the accurate and consistent recording and reporting of all financial matters including budgeting, external financial reporting, internal financial reporting, capital funds tracking, project cost accounting and analysis, periodic reports to the Board of Governors, internal cost per dollar raised calculation and analysis
- Provides year-end reporting documentation for government charity returns

Strategic Planning and Advising
- The Financial Officer provides strategic input to senior management regarding financial matters and coordinates the financial plann