Business Manager
- Employer
- Lehigh University
- Location
- Bethlehem, PA
View more
- Administrative Jobs
- Academic Affairs, International Programs, Institutional & Business Affairs, Alumni Relations & Development, Business & Financial Management
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Institution Type
- Four-Year Institution
Job Details
The Business Manager will leverage available resources to help advance the College of Arts and Sciences financial goals in a manner compliant with University policies and procedures. The successful candidate will enable the college leadership – Deans, Chairs and Directors to maximize their focus on academic success and minimize their time required to administrate financial, administrative and clerical activities. The role fulfills this purpose by managing and implementing financial overview, assessing and improving procedural challenges and opportunities, working to address solutions and serve as a critical interface between Departments/Programs/staff and service-providing centers. A good working relationship with outside units such as the Controller’s Office, legal counsel, Budget Office, Bursar, Purchasing, Payroll, LTS, and Human Resources is crucial to develop long-term excellence.
Accountabilities:- Financial management
- Work with key College administrators, Department Chairs, Program Directors and Centers to develop and build financial plans that meet or exceed targeted goals
- Provide comprehensive and standardized financial information, analysis and reporting to monitor the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) financial resources
- Manage and continually assess financial tools to provide efficient, effective and timely delivery of financial reports and information; ensure proper tools and systems are in place to carry out financial mission
- Compute, record, reconcile and verify data within Banner system is accurate
- Compile and maintain supporting documentation and record keeping for audit of payroll, budget increases and external use of funds and grants
- Track historical data to analyze trends, compare best practices and forecast future needs for solid decision making
- Prepare and submit payroll paperwork for faculty and staff hiring requests
- Manage bi-weekly, semi-monthly and monthly payroll for all work-study positions, hourly employees, staff, adjuncts, visiting faculty and student stipends
- Interface with Development and Alumni Relations; share data and strategic input for donor visits and reports on funding use
- Create appropriate financial transactions with close liaison to various departments; all transactions to be carried out in a timely manner and filed for ease of sharing information and reconciling to Banner database
- Mange equipment and material purchases through accounts payable and equipment maintenance agreements
- Liaison with the Study Abroad Office to pay faculty mentors as well as student funding
- Liaison with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to manage external grant funding
- Ensure confidential budget information is entered into Banner database properly for all Department/Program employees; meeting time sensitive deadlines
- Manage and approve reimbursements to faculty, staff and students through expense report approval process
- Manage appointment letters, payroll management of faculty, adjuncts, pre/post docs, fellowships, and TA/graders
- Strategic financial planning and historical data preservation
- Participate with Departments, Programs, Centers and Deans in the creation of long-range financial planning and commitments reflecting all critical financial issues of the college
- Provide information, make recommendations and track historical situations and strategies with Deans, Chairs and Directors, as well as other functional Centers
- Anticipate, recognize and report potential issues that may impact the financial plans
- Communicate issues to Deans, Chairs and Directors in timely manner; prepare ideas and solutions to overcome administrative concerns proactively
- Prepare budgets, gather historical data and provide thorough and standardized analysis and accurate control of salary budgets, expense budgets, revenue streams, endowments, internal/external grants and gifts
- Provide reporting to evaluate financial activities and performance measurements against budget, proactively alert Deans/Chairs/Directors of potential issues alongside of possible solutions
- Assist development and College faculty, students, staff and Centers to find funding opportunities and present possible options for future funding ideas based on needs and demands
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve business practice, procedures and processes
- Provide comprehensive financial suggestions, information, analysis and reporting to allow College Leadership to make strategically sound decisions
- Internal and external grant management
- Partner with units across campus to provide direction on process and procedures for grant management from application to back-end reporting
- Manage grant budgets, expense tracking and financial processes for internal on-going college-wide grants, as well as newly funded grants as needed
- Manage external grant as awarded; assist the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs with index creations, paper work, summer salary support, student support, as well as data analysis for final reporting
- Instruct students on ways to access their funding and manage student payroll stipends for both research projects and fellowships; guide students through the reimbursement process and approve student spending
- Collaborate with internal departments to ensure accurate financial reporting, procedural and spending compliance and to fulfill grant objectives
- Administrative and organizational effectiveness
- Maintain a leadership role in training and developing new staff members and sharing best financial practices within the CAS and with other Colleges across the University
- Provide efficient and effective delivery and integration of all administrative services to ensure operational excellence
- Serve as point of contact for Departments and Programs to assure relevant information is shared and action is taken when necessary
- Provide timely communications in areas concerning fiscal responsibility, fiscal planning, policy and procedural changes
- Connect CAS Departments, Programs and staff with the University to align priorities, initiate change and activate engagement in College and University priorities
- Effectively represent CAS Department and Program needs and challenges to overcome obstacles in achieving goals
- Identify, communicate and address issues/concerns in a timely and professional manner and explain corrective actions; inform appropriate management of escalating issues
- Compliance and risk management
- Implement and maintain strong internal controls to provide reasonable assurance of effective and appropriate resource use
- Adherence to contractual grant obligations, agreements, policies and procedures; as well as an understanding of external legal requirements if applicable
- Communicate changes in University policies, procedures and changes in financial and accounting regulations to staff and faculty as well as others affected by changes
- Liaison with various Departments to ensure compliance to internal, federal and international rules
- Provide team members and CAS staff/faculty with regular updates, including discussions and recommendations for solutions, or internal procedure improvements or changes
- Maintain an environment of compliance readiness within CAS Departments, Programs and Centers to ensure up-to-date practices are applied
- Explore new options that benefit both the College and University
- Set up shared file system for all to access and share information easily while maintaining data integrity; share policy on proper data storage with team, faculty and staff while working with Library and Technology Services Representatives
- Other duties and special projects as assigned by CAS
- At any given time, assignments and effort allocations by function may be altered to meet the changing needs and policies of the College and the University
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
- Three to five years experience or equivalent combination of education and experience providing administrative coordination and support in an institutional setting, including supervision of staff
- Relevant experience providing financial management in an institutional setting
- Comfortable working in a collegiate and collaborative environment
- Effective analytical thinking and planning skills
- Ability to establish strong professional relationships in the internal and external community
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Solid writing ability and organizational skills
- Solid computer skills with experience using word processing and spreadsheet software
- Successful completion of standard background checks including but not limited to: social security verification, education verification, county and national criminal background checks, PATCH, FBI fingerprinting, Child Abuse Clearance. Based upon the requirements of the position Lehigh may also request credit history reports, motor vehicle checks and professional license/certification verification
- This position has fiscal or financial responsibilities other than employee expense activity, such as processing or approving transactions; monitoring or preparing budgets; or generating income for University
- This position works with minors
- Periods of high volume/workload may be required
- Occasional evening, holiday or weekend hours
Organization
Founded in 1865, Lehigh University is a premier coeducational, nondenominational, private residential research university that offers a distinctive academic environment for undergraduate and graduate students from across the globe. Lehigh University’s annual report from 2013 provides an overview of the intellectual activity across campus as well as a financial report. It is posted on our website at http://www.lehigh.edu/annualreport/ .
Lehigh offers more than 90 undergraduate programs and majors featuring more than 2,000 courses in four colleges: The College of Arts and Sciences, The College of Business and Economics, The College of Education and The P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. Lehigh confers a total of 12 degrees at the undergraduate and advanced degree level. We have 482 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty and approximately 200 adjunct faculty and lecturers and 10 full-time visiting faculty. With approximately 4700 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students, a small student-to-faculty ratio allows students to work closely with professors. About 69% of all full-time faculty are tenured, and 99% of full-time tenure-track faculty hold a doctorate degree or the highest degree in their field. We have 1,215 staff members supporting the academic, research and administrative functions.
Located in Pennsylvania’s scenic Lehigh Valley, the campus is in close proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia. Lehigh is situated on over 2,300 acres on four campuses. The Asa Packer Campus, Mountaintop Campus, and Murray H. Goodman Campus are contiguous and feature more than 153 buildings with 4.3 million-plus square feet of classroom, laboratory, office and living space. The campus also has 180 acres of playing fields and half of the campus is preserved as open space.
- Website
- http://www.lehigh.edu/
- Telephone
- 610.758.3165
- Location
-
27 Memorial Drive West
Bethlehem
PA
18015
US
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