Budget & Financial Accountant

Job Description

Budget & Financial Accountant | Universities of Wisconsin

The Tone:
This is a full-time salaried (exempt) academic staff position, primarily located at 780 Regent Street, Madison, WI, with hybrid work options available (minimum two days per month in-office). The Universities of Wisconsin Administration and its 13 UW universities focus on providing online and continuing education, teaching, learning, and workforce skills training. The Office of Online & Professional Learning Resources (OPLR) partners with these universities to develop and deliver degrees and credentials for adult and professional learners. This role is crucial for organizing and facilitating the division’s budget process, financial forecasting, and reporting, ensuring sound financial management and compliance with university policies.

The TL;DR
• Role: Early Career
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid – Madison, WI
• Pay: $65000–$75000 yearly
• Team: Reports to the Director of Finance & Business Services
• Mission: To organize and facilitate annual budget processes, quarterly forecasting, and financial reporting for the division, ensuring comprehensive financial management and compliance.
• Tech Stack: Workday, Adaptive budget system, ShopUW+, MS Office Suite (MS Word, Excel, and Outlook)

What You’ll Actually Do
• Budget Management: Organize and facilitate the annual division budget process, including communicating guidelines, preparing models, consolidating data, and analyzing variances for operational and budget data.
• Financial Reporting: Facilitate timely and accurate monthly financial reporting, preparing budget versus actual models, summarizing data, and providing financial analysis to business units.
• Forecasting: Organize and facilitate quarterly financial forecasting, consolidating operational and financial data, and analyzing variances against current year budgets and prior year results.
• Revenue Reconciliation: Reconcile collaborative and competency-based program revenues with student enrollments and coordinate transfers with UW partner campuses.
• Policy & Training: Ensure compliance with state and university financial policies, coordinate the implementation of financial practice changes, and train new program managers on financial operations.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field.
• Experience: At least one year of experience in a financial or business-related environment.
• Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, ability to work independently, organizational and time management skills, and experience with MS Office Suite.
• Bonus: Knowledge of generally accepted governmental accounting principles, State and University financial policies, and experience using enterprise-wide financial systems like Workday, Adaptive budget system, and ShopUW+.