Financial Assistant

Department: MED-Mesulam Ctr Cog Neur & Alz
Salary/Grade: NEX/11

Job Summary:

The Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center is a multi-departmental component of the Feinberg School of Medicine. We specialize in the clinical care and scientific study of neurological diseases that interfere with cognition and behavior. Areas of emphasis include age-related memory impairments and dementias. We are focused on Alzheimer's disease, Primary Progressive Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia. Our three interacting missions are to investigate the causes and clinical characteristics of neurodegenerative diseases, to ensure that our patients are the beneficiaries of the latest research advances, and to explore the neural foundations of behavior and cognition in health and disease.

Provides day-to-day financial & accounting support using an advanced knowledge of applicable skills, methods & practices & some innovation, analysis, & reasoning to choose appropriate alternatives from among pre-defined policies & procedures to complete work that includes successive steps & involves some non-routine problems &/or decisions. Applies industry and professional standards, university policy and procedure, federal and state laws and other regulations. Provides administrative &/or clerical support.

* Accounting policy & procedure

* Accounts payable

* Accounts receivable

* Additional/special pay

* Analysis

* Appropriation charges

* Audit

* Balancing

* Bank deposits

* Budget

* Business continuity planning

* Chart &/or account coding

* Cost accounting

* Creating new accounts

* Endowment and gift accounting

* Expense reimbursement

* Financial StatementsForecasting

* Grants &/or awards

* Inventory

* Investment asset accounting

* Journal &/or ledger

* Payroll

* Petty cash

* Plant, debt & loan acct

* Procurement card program

* Purchase orders

* Reconciliation

* Reporting

* Salary administration

* Transfer charges

* Wire transfers

Please Note: Supervisor provides objectives & deadlines. Work is reviewed for fulfillment of objective & deadlines & overall compliance with policy & procedures. EE completes some activities without direction, informing supervisor only of potentially controversial matters, &/or far-reaching implications.

Specific Responsibilities:

Budget:

* Maintains & tracks individual budget accounts.

* Coordinates annual budget process including tasks associated with the open/close processes.

* Updates calendar, spreadsheets, templates & forms; monitors submissions.

* Completes reconciliation procedures.

* Creates summary reports.

* Coordinates &/or provides information for annual salary review process.

* Prepares yearly proposed budget for the Staff Relation Committee

Analysis, Statements & Reporting:

* Prepares account, budget, cost, expenditure &/or funds analysis.

* Provides reports to managers/PIs in tracking payment status & notification when balances & activities do not comply with policy, procedures or are inadequately prepared.

* Creates reports & queries; reviews for incomplete records, data entry errors, &/or accounting mistakes.

* May analyze open encumbrances that are no longer valid & recommend appropriate modifications to ensure smooth processing of financial transactions.

* Maintain all financial records for the Staff Relation Council, including the preparation of a monthly budget report to be presented and approved at monthly Committee meetings.

Transactions:

* Completes & maintains transactions in enterprise systems.

* Provides review and oversight of all types of financial transactions some of which may be complex in regard to size or duration of account.

* Reviews; ensures approval based on alternatives regarding practice & policy.

* Troubleshoots problems.

* Performs vendor/account research as needed.

* Obtains additional information from or provides instruction & guidance for customers/vendors; corrects or escalates.

* Accesses multiple banking systems to process transactions, retrieve information, &/or initiate wire transfers.

* Provides financial policy interpretation to determine the validity of customer requests & ensure compliance.

* Contacts outside agencies, banks &/or banking systems to obtain clarification of rules &/or regulations.

* Enters information into database.

Grants &/or Awards:

* Provides assistance regarding grant financial administration such as preparing financial information for grant submission.

* Completes post award accounting.

* Sets-up sub-contracts &/or start-up research accounts.

* Modifies grant budgets.

* Closes grants.

* Approves expenditures on travel, consulting &/or equipment, along with various forms, such as Intra Institutional Vouchers, Requests for Accounting Corrections, the Research Assistant and Scholarship Appointments, &/or payroll adjustments, in accordance with granting agency guidelines & University policies & procedures.

* Processes subcontract payments according to rules & regulations of granting agencies.

* Reconciles subcontract payments.

* Verifies payroll funding entries.

* Corrects charges to various accounts.

Administration:

* standard questions regarding status of requests, policies and procedures for processing transactions, &/or instructions for completing paperwork.

* Instructs & advises regarding options and appropriate courses of action & follows-up inquiries to ensure customer satisfaction.

* Provides administrative support in regard to HR matters such as hiring, onboarding, benefits, compensation, etc.

* Completes other administrative &/or clerical activities such as organizing meetings; reserving AV equipment.

* Coordinates office, lab &/or building repairs & maintenance.

* Maintains inventory and office supplies.

* Answers phones, routes callers, takes messages.

* Greets visitors, responds to inquiries, requests & provides routine information.

* Contacts repair personnel as requested for copy machine, lab equipment, etc.

* Coordinate mail and packages.

* Coordinate conference room calendars.

Training:

* Assists with training of new staff members

* Creates & provides financial training on practice, procedure, policy &/or laws & regulations to customers.

Supervision:

* Provides guidance to junior employees.

Miscellaneous

Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

* High school diploma or the equivalent.

* 3 years accounting &/or bookkeeping or other relevant experience.

Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities.)

* Excellent computer skills including proficiency in the use of spreadsheet, database and word processing software.

* Familiarity with financial reporting.

Preferred Qualifications:

* Bachelor's Degree in finance, accounting, business, or a related field

* Financial management experience

* Operation/programmatic management experience

Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities)

* Organization, time management, detail oriented

* Multi-tasking, communication

* Self-starter, diplomatic, pro-active, manage stress

* Managing people

* Provide leadership by cooperatively anticipating, coordinating, strategizing

* Action oriented - Willing or likely to take practical action to deal with a problem or situation.

* Coachability - Receptive to feedback, willing to learn, embracing continuous improvement.

* Collaboration - Facilitates open and effective communication, cooperation and teamwork within and outside of one's own team.

* Collegiality - Helpful, respectful, approachable; builds strong working relationships and a positive work environment.

* Initiative - Exhibits energy and desire to achieve; sets ambitious goals and acts decisively; takes action that no one has requested to improve or enhance job results and avoid problems.

* Meets deadlines - Displays consistency and success in adhering to deadlines.

* Multi-tasking - Demonstrates ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.

* Organization - Plans, organizes, and schedules in an efficient, productive manner; anticipates contingencies and pays attention to detail.

Target hiring range for this position will be between $19.31-$24.14 per hour. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Benefits:
At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful, competitive, high-quality health care plans, retirement benefits, tuition discounts and more Visit us at to learn more.

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