(Remote) Finance Strategic Business Advisor - Division of Finance

Description

The Division of Finance at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for (Remote) Finance Strategic Business Advisor.

About the Opportunity

The Finance Strategic Business Advisor (SBA) supports unit leadership in strategic financial planning and goal setting to enhance and promote growth within the unit. The Finance SBA provides a deep functional expertise in the areas of financial planning and budgeting, ensuring unit leadership maintains a knowledge of financial activities and expectations for the unit and can be confident about financial decisions made for the unit.

The SBA frequently engages with the Division of Finance, Talent and Culture and teams in the Shared Service Center. This position manages functional projects and other initiatives. Stays informed on financial policy, plans and programs as well as state and other regulatory updates.

Provides Tier 3 inquiry support (phone, email, and chat) to employee/customers regarding unit specific financial policies, plans and processes. This position is responsible for building relationships within the college/school or unit(s) served and developing a culture centered on delivering excellent customer service

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you're ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family's, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ's.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

Strategic and Analytical Financial Responsibilities:

• Creates annual budget for the unit(s) supported and submits it to the Budget Planning office in the Division of Finance.
• Reviews variance budget reports with unit(s) leadership.
• Develops quarterly forecasting for unit; shared quarterly forecast with leadership and the Division of Finance.
• Develops quarterly unit-level financial reports and discusses them with unit leadership.
• Identifies appropriate funding for new hires and discusses hires with HR Partners.
• Reviews monthly fund and DA reconciliation reports received from the shared services center.
• Provides escalation support for transaction approvals.
• Approves State, Research and Foundation PCard applications, large purchases and limit changes on PCards.
• Approves requests for association membership dues, student awards/scholarships, Foundation backbills and expenses, direct vendor payments using Foundation funding, draws on.
• Foundation-funded capital projects and requests for depository locations as defined by financial process maps.
• Determines feasibility and initiates requests for new funds/DAs and changes to existing funds/DAs.
• Reviews the chart of accounts and updates the Service Center on changes to how funds/DAs should be used.
• Completes quarterly unrecorded assets and liability reports.
• Reviews and signs quarterly representation letter.
• Initiates cash transfers, internal loan requests, budget modifications, and capital project requests.
• Reviews and provides justification for clearing accounts and negative cash balances beyond threshold.
• Calculates and distributes returns to departments, staff, and faculty, such as Facilities and Administrative college or school distributions from the college/school to the departments.
• Supports and contributes to unit's operational goals.

Service

• Frequently engages with the Division of Finance, Talent and Culture, HR Partners, Shared Service leadership, and others to ensure complex questions are resolved.
• Provides escalated inquiry support (phone, email, and chat/IM) to employees that have contacted the shared services regarding unit specific policies, plans and processes.
• Effectively uses case management and knowledgebase tools to resolve, log, track and escalate employee inquiries escalated to the unit.
• Support and partners with the Division of Finance and Shared Service Center staff to develop information and training sessions on university financial policies and procedures and budget management techniques.
• Maintains established service levels for handling calls, emails, and transactions. Strives to exceed service goals as defined by each unit's service level agreement with the Shared Service Center.
• Understands and promotes the service link between central units, the shared service center and the unit to ensure service goals defined as part of the service level agreement are achieved.

Projects

• Works closely with the Unit Leadership on special projects. Serves as a subject matter expert for unit on financial project teams.
• Ensures project activities are planned and prioritized appropriately balancing project and ongoing support needs with project leaders, cross functionally as needed.
• As a subject matter expert, influences project decision where appropriate, to improve the customer experience and/or improve efficiency.
• Ensures project deliverables are delivered on time and are documented.
• Other unit specific activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in the following:
  • Professional-level work experience in finance, accounting, and/or fiscal management
  • Experience using a financial ERP, e.g. Oracle
  • Established expertise in Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to inspire teamwork and collaboration across functional areas.
• Ability to exercise appropriate judgement to resolve budgeting and other financial issues and determine the appropriate course of action to resolve a customer issue.
• Possesses strong customer service and communication skills typically acquired through prior work in a customer service setting.
• Demonstrated ability to research and apply critical thinking skills to resolve complex issues related to financial projections and budgeting.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with other service team members in the unit, central Finance, Talent and Culture and the Shared Services Center other campus.
• Ability to identify and address areas of continuous improvement.
• Effective organizational skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of applicable federal and state laws.
• Demonstrated experience in the use of Microsoft Office Professional software, especially Word, Excel, Access PowerPoint and Visio.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business Administration, or related field.
• CPA