Finance Director (Financial Admin Leader), Auxiliary Business Services

Department Information

Auxiliary Business Services is a diverse group of organizations that provide essential services to students, faculty, and staff, in support of the university's academic mission on the Bloomington campus. Our Shared Service Center focuses on providing efficient and effective administrative services to help these organizations achieve their goals. The Shared Service Center provides services related to finance, purchasing, and payroll.

Job Summary

The Finance Director will be the lead accountant and budget strategist for Indiana University's largest auxiliaries: housing and hospitality on the Bloomington campus. This individual will lead a finance and accounting team and serve as a thought leader for the organization. The Finance Director manages an annual operating budget of approximately $175M and ensures financial practices align with organizational goals.

Department Specific Responsibilities

• Analyzes various rates and pricing practices submitted by departments, interprets financial implications, and recommends pricing and general financial strategies.
• Facilitates analytical studies as requested, including room rental determination, maintenance labor utilization, labor cost studies, and dining services cost studies.
• Conducts research, analyzes data, identifies trends, and coordinates the development and preparation of various annual and long-range financial reports.
• Projects year-end financial balances and prepares reports.
• Performs ratio and variance analysis of financial data.
• Monitors and forecasts cash balances and analyzes debt service and bond sinking fund accounts.
• Reviews general ledger postings and monthly financial reports to ensure accuracy of entries completed by employees both internal and external to the auxiliary units.
• Compares actual to budgeted financial data and explains material deviations.
• Collaborates on significant variances to provide explanations and recommend process changes to support fiscally sound policies.
• Conducts audits to evaluate the efficient utilization of resources and makes recommendations for improvements when appropriate.
• Oversees budget preparation for housing and hospitality organizations with an annual budget of $175M.
• Analyzes prior year budgets, revenue projections, and other relevant factors.
• Evaluates scenarios to account for changes in operational needs and goals, making informed budgetary recommendations.
• Provides guidance and oversight throughout the budget preparation process.
• Assists in developing and implementing divisional financial policies and procedures by identifying areas of risk.
• Collects and analyzes financial data related to debt reserves, major repairs, revolving and projected budgets, data systems, and other relevant areas.
• Researches and evaluates accounting models and practices and formulates recommendations for improvement.
• Oversees the development, maintenance, and revision of the organization's accounts and systems for monitoring financial activities, including reviewing the accounting structure for housing and hospitality.
• Provides leadership and mentorship to the finance and accounting team, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented work environment.
• Encourages professional development through training, workshops, and continuing education opportunities.
• Fosters a collaborative work environment by promoting open communication, teamwork, and cross-departmental partnerships to ensure alignment with organizational strategies and goals.
• Develops and motivates staff to perform their roles efficiently and effectively.
• Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned, including work in other functional areas, to cover absences, equalize peak work periods, or otherwise to balance the workload.

General Responsibilities

• Directs the daily and long-term financial and/or administrative operations of multiple institution organizational units or a multi-faceted academic research and teaching unit within a school or college.
• Responsible for accuracy, timelines, and the general integrity of the Financial Administration family.
• Controls all expenditures and statements of accounts to ensure regulatory compliance and fiscal integrity.
• Manages complex revenues including internal and external sources.
• Directs the management of general appropriation, endowment, federal and non-federal grants and contracts, and gift funds.
• Prepares operating and project budget drafts. Creates annual revenue and expenditure budget for school or support unit.
• Monitors functional area budgets and reports any significant deviations from approved budgets. Develop budgetary policies and procedures.
• Responsible for supervising business support personnel.
• Develops, plans, and directs special projects, which may include space renovations, space allocations, staffing, equipment purchases, long-range plans, leasing of off-campus space and services.
• May oversee and direct a variety of human resources activities including employment, labor relations, benefits, training, and classification for functional area.

Qualifications

Combinations of related education and experience may be considered. Education beyond the minimum required may be substituted for work experience. Work experience beyond the minimum required may be substituted for education.

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor's degree in finance, business, or related field

Preferred

• Master's degree

WORK EXPERIENCE

Required

• 4 years related functional experience
• 1 year of management experience

Preferred

• 4 years of financial experience in a large industry or organization with an emphasis on activity-based costing or managerial accounting

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATES

Preferred

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license strongly preferred

SKILLS

Required

• Proficient communication skills
• Maintains a high degree of professionalism
• Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills
• Demonstrates a high commitment to quality
• Excellent organizational skills
• Excellent collaboration and team building skills
• Effectively coaches and delivers constructive feedback
• Instills commitment to organizational goals
• Demonstrates excellent judgment and decision-making skills
• Effective conflict management skills
• Builds and manages effective teams
• Experience using large-scale financial platforms in and/or for a variety of financial operations
• Advanced ability to interpret financial documents from an accounting, policy, and practice perspective
• Experience in project management, user-testing, and implementation and/or development of financial structures, policies, and procedures
• Intermediate accounting skills and an understanding of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• Ability to mine data from multiple sources and integrate into usable formats
• Ability to clearly present material and make it accessible to a variety of audiences
• Ability to understand and interpret financial policies, regulations, and pertinent state/federal laws
• Advanced knowledge of financial statements and different budgetary models; ability to apply in different situations
• Knowledge of human resources laws and procedures as related to managing staff; Knowledge and understanding of the importance of mentors and mentorships
• Demonstrates ability to create workable solutions from broad concepts and ideas, projections, forecasting, and long-term planning