Conservation Corps Fiscal Specialist

Job Description

Job Description

CAREER DETAILS:

CAREER TITLE:  Conservation Corps Fiscal Specialist

LOCATION:  AYW Headquarters, Austin,TX

DIVISION: Conservation Corps

DEPARTMENT: Finance

POSITION REPORTS TO: Chief Financial Strategy Officer

POSITION SUPERVISES: None

CLASSIFICATION: Regular, Full-time, Non-Exempt

POSITION PURPOSE:

The Conservation Corps Fiscal Specialist is responsible for the timely and accurate billing, reimbursement, accounts receivable tracking, and fiscal administration of American YouthWorks’ Conservation Corps grants, contracts, and fee-for-service projects across all operating sites. This position translates contract terms and program documentation into accurate, supportable, and collectible revenue; maintains current grant and contract balances; prepares assigned funder financial reports; monitors fiscal performance and deadlines; and ensures billing and financial records remain complete and audit-ready.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND BASIC DUTIES:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Under the direction of the Chief Financial Strategy Officer, the Conservation Corps Fiscal Specialist performs the following duties:

1. Contract and Grant Fiscal Administration (10%)
   1. Maintain a centralized fiscal record for each active Conservation Corps grant, contract, agreement, and fee-for-service project, including executed agreements and modifications, funding periods, contract ceilings, rates, billing methodology, grant codes, cost centers, work-order numbers, reporting requirements, deadlines, and partner billing contacts.
   2. Review the fiscal and billing requirements of new and renewed agreements and identify missing, inconsistent, or unclear terms before billing begins.
   3. Coordinate with Finance and Conservation Corps leadership to establish or verify customer records, grant codes, cost centers, billing templates, and system configurations.
   4. Track contract utilization, amendments, expiration dates, remaining balances, renewal dates, and closeout requirements.
   5. Support the Chief Financial Strategy Officer and Conservation Corps leadership with financial data for project budgets, proposals, rate calculations, renewals, and contract modifications.
2. Billing, Reimbursement, and Accounts Receivable (40%)
   1. Prepare and submit accurate and timely invoices, reimbursement requests, payment requests, and draw packages for Conservation Corps grants, contracts, and project partners.
   2. Validate billing support against agreement requirements, including project logs, crew and member hours, work dates, locations, rates, equipment, materials, travel, work orders, cost centers, and required approvals.
   3. Confirm that billings do not exceed contract ceilings, approved budgets, available funding, or applicable period-of-performance limitations.
   4. Enter and maintain invoices in Sage MIP, Veoci, partner portals, and other approved systems in accordance with established procedures.
   5. Maintain complete, organized, and version-controlled invoice files with all required supporting documentation.
   6. Track invoice submission, approval, payment, aging, and outstanding balances and conduct timely follow-up with partners and internal staff.
   7. Research and resolve rejected invoices, payment discrepancies, unapplied receipts, incorrect funding assignments, and other routine billing issues.
   8. Conduct a monthly completeness review to confirm that all eligible Conservation Corps work has been billed or documented as pending and escalate internal delays that place revenue or deadlines at risk.
3. Reconciliation, Budget Monitoring, and Fiscal Analysis (20%)
   1. Reconcile invoices, payments, accounts receivable, project trackers, partner records, Sage MIP balances, and grant or contract balances.
      
   2. Identify and escalate unbilled revenue, duplicate or unsupported charges, underbilling, overbilling, aging receivables, incorrect work-order assignments, and approaching funding limits.
      
   3. Monitor budget-to-actual performance for assigned Conservation Corps grants, contracts, and operating sites and communicate significant variances or emerging risks.
      
   4. Assist with revenue projections, cash-collection forecasts, accrual support, deferred-revenue tracking, fiscal-year closeout, and grant or contract closeout.
      
   5. Prepare recurring fiscal reports or dashboards showing revenue budgeted, amounts billed and collected, outstanding accounts receivable, earned but unbilled revenue, remaining balances, upcoming deadlines, and significant fiscal risks.
      
   6. Participate in regular fiscal review meetings with the Chief Financial Strategy Officer, Conservation Corps Director, and appropriate site leaders.
      
4. Funder Reporting, Compliance, and Audit Support (10%)
   
   1. Prepare assigned financial reports and reimbursement documentation, including expenditure reports, payment or reimbursement forms, performance expenditure reports, SF-270s, SF-425s, and other funder-required fiscal forms.
   2. Coordinate with Conservation Corps and Compliance staff to obtain programmatic, participant, performance, and narrative information required for combined reports.
   3. Maintain audit-ready fiscal records for assigned grants, contracts, invoices, amendments, reports, and closeouts.
      Prepare documentation and respond to assigned requests for audits, monitoring visits, fiscal reviews, and funder testing.
   4. Monitor compliance with fiscal requirements related to allowable costs, cost allocation, match, indirect costs, documentation, reporting periods, and record retention.
      
   5. Identify fiscal exceptions or potential questioned costs and promptly escalate them to the Chief Financial Strategy Officer and appropriate program leadership.
      
   6. Support corrective actions related to assigned billing, documentation, reporting, or fiscal findings.
      
5. Expense report review and approval (10%)
   
   1. Review employee expense reports in our software for accuracy and complete information.
      
   2. Verify itemized receipts and invoices to line items to confirm proper spending.
      
   3. Enforce Policies to ensure all claims follow company travel and spending rules.
      
   4. Flag Issues including duplicate charges, missing details, and incorrect coding and hold them for review.
      
   5. Communicate with staff to fix errors or ask for missing receipt copies.
      
   6. Approve and Process reports timely to ensure expenses are included in reimbursement billings 
      
6. Systems, Documentation, and Cross-Functional Support (10%)
   
   1. Maintain and improve billing calendars, project trackers, contract logs, reconciliation tools, standard templates, checklists, and written procedures.
      
   2. Establish consistent file-naming, documentation, version-control, and retention practices for Conservation Corps fiscal records.
      
   3. Train and support Conservation Corps staff on project documentation and submission requirements necessary for timely billing and reimbursement.
      
   4. Return incomplete or inconsistent billing documentation for correction and escalate recurring or deadline-sensitive issues.
      
   5. Collaborate with Accounting, Compliance, Development, Operations, and Conservation Corps leadership to improve communication, handoffs, controls, and fiscal workflows.
      
   6. Perform other related duties consistent with the purpose and classification of the position.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Minimum Required

EDUCATION / CERTIFICATION:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, public administration, nonprofit management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and directly related experience.
  

EXPERIENCE:  

• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in nonprofit finance, grant management, contract administration, or similar roles.
  
• Experience with invoicing, budget monitoring, financial tracking, or contract compliance.
  
• Experience with Sage MIP, Veoci, funder portals, or comparable accounting and workflow systems.
  
• Experience supporting fiscal audits, monitoring reviews, grant closeouts, or corrective-action processes.
  
• Experience with fee-for-service billing, government work orders, and project-based revenue tracking.
  
• Familiarity with conservation corps, workforce development, or multi-site program operations.
  

EQUIVALENT

• 60 hours toward a bachelor’s degree with at least 12 hours in a related field and 3 years of specified work experience; OR
  
• High school diploma/GED and 6–8 years of progressively responsible fiscal, grants, or contract experience with a successful track record, OR

• A combination of education, training, and directly related experience that demonstrates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position may be considered in lieu of the formal education requirement.

Preferred

• Experience with AmeriCorps, YouthBuild, or federal grants, municipal or governmental contracts, conservation corps, workforce development, or other multi-site nonprofit programs and federal/state grant compliance.
  
• Experience preparing performance expenditure reports, expenditure reports, SF-270s, SF-425s, or similar reimbursement and financial-reporting forms.
  
• Experience preparing audit documentation or supporting fiscal reviews.
  

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES

KNOWLEDGE: 

• Federal grant administration and fiscal compliance requirements, including 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance).
  
• Nonprofit and fund accounting principles, including grant- and contract-based revenue and expense tracking.
  
• Grant, contract, reimbursement, and fee-for-service billing practices.
  
• Accounts receivable, reconciliations, fiscal closeout, and revenue tracking.
  
• Cost allocation, budget development, forecasting, and financial reporting.
  
• Contract development, administration, tracking, and reconciliation.
  
• Internal controls, audit preparation, documentation retention, and audit-support requirements.        

SKILLS: 

• Advanced proficiency with Excel and/or Google Sheets, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and reconciliation tools.
  
• Proficiency with accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Sage, or similar platforms.
  
• Strong financial analysis, reconciliation, problem-solving, and documentation skills.
  
• Ability to interpret contracts, budgets, work orders, billing instructions, and funder requirements.
  
• Strong attention to detail, accuracy, organization, deadline management, and electronic file management.
  
• Clear written and verbal communication with financial and non-financial staff and external partners.
  
• Ability to design, improve, and maintain repeatable fiscal workflows, templates, tracking tools, and reporting processes.

ABILITIES:

• Synthesize financial and program data from multiple sources into accurate invoices, reports, and fiscal documentation.
  
• Identify discrepancies, determine root causes, coordinate corrective action, and escalate material fiscal risks as appropriate.
  
• Manage recurring billing, reporting, reconciliation, and closeout deadlines across multiple programs or sites.
  
• Work independently while collaborating effectively with program, finance, and external partners in a remote environment.
  
• Maintain organized, accurate, and audit-ready financial records and systems.
  
• Maintain confidentiality, exercise sound judgment, and demonstrate integrity in handling financial information.
  

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES:

• TALKING: Speak clearly so others can understand the information being communicated, including detailed instructions or financial information communicated by telephone, video conference, writing, or in person.
  
• HEARING: Hear and understand ordinary conversations and information communicated by telephone, video conference, or in person.
  
• VISION: See details at close range and read documents, spreadsheets, reports, and information displayed on a computer screen.
  
• REPETITIVE MOTIONS: Perform frequent and regular movements of the wrists, hands, and fingers associated with computer and office work.
  
• PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Perform sedentary work and occasionally lift or move office materials weighing up to 15 pounds.
  
• EQUIPMENT INTERACTION: Use a computer, financial and workflow applications, telephone, printer, copier, scanner, and other standard office equipment.

Work Environment: Hybrid position requiring at least two days per week in the main office. Primarily works indoors in a shared, climate-controlled office, with occasional exposure to unpleasant weather or environmental conditions. This is a 40-hour-per-week position that may require occasional evening, weekend, and work-related travel.

BENEFITS: Paid personal and sick leave; medical and dental benefits, employer-paid insurance benefits, and a 403(b) retirement plan with employer contributions. Eligibility, terms, and availability are governed by current AYW policies and applicable plan documents.

EOE