Research Accountant I

Research Accountant I

As our next Research Accountant I, you will be responsible for the expense management of research grants and contracts in the Office of Research Administration (ORA). This position is key to the research team and serves as a resource to faculty and administrators regarding the financial administration of sponsored research awards. Essential duties include the set-up of new awards in the financial system, expense and account monitoring, financial reporting, financial closeout and other post-award financial analysis and support for sponsored awards. As a Research Accountant, you will interpret federal, state and School terms and advise Mines' research community on their application. This position requires critical thinking skills to apply regulatory interpretation to sponsored activity. You will also be responsible for independently compiling, analyzing, and presenting financial data. You will work with campus constituents including faculty and staff to manage and reconcile sponsored activity. This position is currently hybrid; the successful candidate must commute to campus in Golden, Colorado on a regular basis.

Primary Responsibilities

Award Set-Up and Modifications

• Transactional responsibilities include: Create new research accounts and amend existing accounts in the School's financial system and ORA's enterprise project tracking system. Utilize information obtained from the legal agreement, proposal documents and other project related documents. Decides appropriate financial codes to input into the School's financial system to accurately administer and monitor awards in accordance with federal regulations, sponsor terms and conditions, and School policy.
• Become familiar with Sponsor agreement format, financial terms and conditions to be able to perform setup appropriately.

Award Financial Monitoring

• Monitor, review and reconcile award budgets, balances and expenses. This includes deficit monitoring and expense review both pre-expenditure and post-expenditure. Expenses must be allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with grant terms and conditions, the budget limits and period of performance.
• Review, approve, and perform transactional salary redistributions and journal entries as needed to ensure proper expenditure accounting.
• Identify, investigate and resolve discrepancies or errors found within research accounts. Resolution will require coordination with the applicable faculty members, ORA staff members, other departments and/or project sponsor, as applicable.
• Assist the Property Manager in the Controller's Office to ensure all equipment is titled, accounted and tagged properly within School systems and per regulations.
• Develop and/or update ad-hoc reports using data from the School's systems or other database applications for tracking, diagnostic and financial analysis of sponsored activity.
• Become familiar with Uniform Guidance regulation to be able to perform financial monitoring appropriately.

Award Reporting

• Prepare and accurately submit required financial reports within sponsoring agency timeframes. This position will analyze the financial statements, supporting documentation and other necessary information for each research account to ensure accurate financial reports are submitted.
• Prepare and accurately submit required non-financial reports within sponsoring agency timeframes. This includes Property Reports, Patent Reports, Cost Share reports, etc.
• Utilize School systems to extract data needed for required reporting. Successfully navigate sponsor reporting systems to submit required reports.

Award Closeout

• Determines and performs all closeout actions required by sponsoring agency and School policy and procedures, including, but not limited to:
• Maintain a detailed tracking of closeout activities.
• Track all outstanding accounts receivable actions to successfully coordinate the process of financial closeout between the grant sub-ledger and the school's General Ledger
• Perform final expense review and account reconciliation

Training and Process Improvement

• Provide guidance, advice, and training in policy, procedures, and regulations related to research administration to faculty, department administrators, college fiscal officers and other administrative departments.
• Actively participate in office wide process evaluation and reengineering efforts. Critically evaluate process and procedures with a goal of efficiency and optimal resource utilization. Make recommendations for improvements to management and lead improvement efforts if approved.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business administration or the equivalent in experience

• Two or more years of accounting experience
• Working knowledge of federal and other pertinent external research regulations.
• Experience using spreadsheets, databases, presentation software, and enterprise financial systems
• Demonstrated customer service skills, the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a broad community and ability to meet multiple deadlines
• Analyzation and problem-solving skills including the ability to use independent judgment
• Effective oral and written communication skills

Salary and Benefits

$64,000 - $70,000 annual salary rate

Mines takes into consideration a combination of candidate's education, training and experience as well as the position's scope and complexity, the discretion and latitude required in the role, work location, and external market and internal value when determining a salary level for potential new employees.

Colorado School of Mines offers a robust portfolio of benefits for all employees. For this role, that includes:

• Flexible health and dental care options
• Generous sick/vacation time: 13 paid holidays per year – including a week-long winter break for entire campus.
• Fully vested retirement plan on first day of employment, with generous employer contribution
• Tuition benefits (6 credits per year for employees, 50 percent discount for dependents)
• Free RTD Ecopass

All Mines employees also have access to discount programs through the State of Colorado and free tickets for Mines Athletics home games, as well as access to the state of the art Recreation Center (fitness classes and training, swimming pool and more) and equipment rentals through the Outdoor Rec Center . We are proud to have recently opened an on campus daycare center. For more details about benefits at Mines, visit mines.edu/human-resources/benefits .