GENERAL SUMMARY
The Director, University Finance for the University of St. Augustine (USAHS) is a key leader of the finance team, reporting to the VP Finance, who will be responsible for working closely and managing the University’s academic financial reporting and university wide labor planning. The scope of responsibilities include faculty, contributing faculty (including assistants), student worker, and staff labor planning, analysis, and reporting to enhance the University’s labor productivity, establish and provide guidance on policy matters and support program specific financial analysis and reporting. In addition, the Director of Finance for Academic Affairs will work closely with campus and program directors on required investment planning (replacement of academic equipment) as well as long term planning / development of program / campus specific investments.
The Director, University Finance will ensure robust financial oversight of all governance / compliance matters (supporting compliance reporting) and shepherd / support a comprehensive strategic financial planning business planning and decision-making process, including presentation materials as required (such as for Board of Directors meetings).
This role will work closely with the senior executive team of USAHS to analyze historical results, identify business trends, assess viability of business opportunities, develop strategic plans, measuring success to provide recommendations for future business decisions.
The scope of responsibility for this high visibility position includes the full breadth of financial and compliance reporting activities for USAHS. The position requires a senior level of finance proficiency and the ability to work effectively with the accounting and FP&A functions.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibilities includes, but are not limited to the following:
- Serves as the liaison between University President/Dean and the University Finance Department.
- Coordinates and leads the annual budget process, including input and participation by academic department heads.
- Prepares, reports, and provides interpretive budget analysis; explains budget process and resource allocation to Department and Program Directors, Dean, and University President.
- Analyzes budget trends
- Provides guidance in planning budget strategies to maximize budget efficiencies and makes recommendations to solve special situations.
- Analyzes academic policy decisions to determine short term and long-range financial and organization implications.
- Recommends and implements changes in financial policies and procedures as necessary; writes policies and procedures as directed by the University President/CEO/CFO.
- Academic and Finance liaison to the University’s accounting, accounts payable, payroll, and procurement departments and ensures that all procedures are done in accordance with University policy.
- Coordinates with the University procurement department on the purchasing of academic materials.
- Reviews and analyzes major contractual obligations of the University to ensure consistency with overall financial goals, objectives, and strategic objectives.
- Remains current and knowledgeable of industry standards, trends, and emerging practice.
- Prepares high value strategic reports and develops presentation that require a strong understanding of the Campus & Departmental programs and strategic direction.
- Ensures university-wide workforce planning including full time faculty staffing, contributing faculty, student workers, and staff align with budget/forecast.
- Work with University President, Deans, Program Directors to ensure contributing faculty planning and forecasting aligns to programmatic accreditation compliance.
- Develop, modify, and execute University academic policies that impact the budget.
- Works in conjunction with University President/Deans/Program Directors on budget and forecasting cycle and leads forecasting process across the academic organization.
- Provide extensive training to department administrators, with guidance on reviewing department budgets, analyzing resources and needs, and understanding finance policies and systems.
OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
May perform other duties and responsibilities that management may deem necessary from time to time.
POSITION IN ORGANIZATION
Reports to: Vice President, Finance
Positions Supervised: Academic Financial Analyst
TECHNICAL, MANAGERIAL & PEOPLE SKILLS REQUIRED
To perform this job successfully an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Incumbents will be evaluated, in part, based on performance of each essential function. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
- Advanced skills in Microsoft Office, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the proven ability to develop and deliver financial presentations to an executive level audience.
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance; Master’s or MBA degree highly preferred.
- A minimum of 10 years of overall finance experience required, with minimum of 5 years at a supervisory experience.
- Experience in higher education and academic financial planning highly preferred.
- Strong accounting / finance acumen and analytical skills
- Proven success record and progression, responds quickly and effectively to changing business situations and demands; independently manages deadlines and required deliverables
- Position requires the ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure to meet deadlines
TRAVEL
Position will be based in Miami or San Marcos and requires up to 35% US domestic travel. Position may require local driving and/or overnight travel to other campuses.
BUSINESS COMPETENCIES
- Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Being Resilient - Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.
- Instills Trust - Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.
- Drives Results - Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
- Innovation - Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful.
- Customer Focus - Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
- Drives Engagement - Creating a climate where people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives.
- People Leadership - Leads by example when it comes to finding and developing talent, with a focus on talent acquisition strategies, setting performance targets that raises standards and development of high potential talent.
- Analytical Thinking — Job requires analyzing information and using logic and analytical evaluations to address work-related issues and problems.
- Organization – Strong organization skills, attention to detail and follow-through to resolve any outstanding issues.
- Computer Proficiency – Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook)
- Flexibility - Adapt to change and different ways of doing things quickly and positively; does not shy away from addressing setbacks or ambiguity; deal effectively with a variety of people and situations; appropriately adapts one’s thinking or approach as the situation changes.
- Ethics & Integrity – High degree of personal integrity in all business dealings.
- Execution – Attentive to detail and demonstrated ability to deliver on accountabilities in order to help the business and the team be successful.
- Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
- Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
- Communication – Excellent written and verbal communication skills; appropriately communicates at all levels of the organization. Bilingual in Spanish is a plus.
- Critical Thinking — Use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one. It is necessary to be able to effectively and efficiently support and communicate the reasoning for such choices to colleagues and superiors.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Work is performed primarily in a standard office environment but may involve exposure to moderate noise levels. Work involves operation of personal computer equipment for six to eight hours daily and includes physical demands associated with a traditional office setting, e.g., walking, standing, communicating, and other physical functions as necessary.
