Accounting Associate IV

About the role

Great opportunity in the Office of Sponsored Programs for a dynamic candidate with exceptional multi-tasking and organizational skills. The Accounting Associate IV in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) advances the research mission of MSU by coordinating key aspects of the pre-award and post-award functions at OSP. As an accounting associate, the incumbent will provide direct financial and accounting support to a fast-paced central office within an exciting environment.

Responsibilities

• Extensive knowledge and understanding of federal, state, private and university regulations governing research funding is required.
• Coordinating set-up of new grant awards and related matching funds; create electronic and paper records for new grant awards and maintain those records through the life of the grant utilizing Banner and electronic OSP applications. Includes managing award notification email process, reconciliation, file closeout and archiving.
• Review and monitoring of institutional expenditures on sponsored programs funds to ensure budgetary compliance.
• Oversight in processing a wide variety of administrative and financial approvals required by OSP.
• Accounts payable processing including pre-audit review and release payment via BPAs, Smart Buy, and Chrome River on all research related funds in accordance with federal, state and private rules and regulations, with specific emphasis on federal acquisition regulations and procurement laws to ensure financial compliance.
• Verify and process in Banner all payroll correction forms submitted by the MSU departments for all activity on sponsored project and facilities and administrative (F&A) funding.
• Application of Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAF) in Banner on sponsored programs and facilities and administrative (F&A) funded positions.
• Conduct detailed reviews and exercise independent judgment of subrecipient invoices to ensure costs are reasonable, allocable, allowable, and consistently treated in accordance with federal regulations, sponsor requirements, university policy, and the terms and conditions of the subaward agreement.
• Analyze invoiced expenditures for alignment with the approved budget and variances, period of performance, indicators of financial risk, overspending, appropriate calculation of F&As, and authorized scope of work, identifying potential compliance concerns and escalating issues as appropriate.
• Verify supporting documentation and certifications required under the subaward agreement, including cost share commitments, necessary for payment approval.
• Collaborate with principal investigators, department administrators, subaward managers, and subrecipient personnel to resolve financial discrepancies, invoice questions, report deficiencies, and payment issues.
• Maintain detailed financial records and monitoring documentation to support audit readiness and demonstrate compliance with Uniform Guidance, sponsor regulations, and institutional policies.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• Progressively responsible experience in accounting or related field.
• Demonstrated experience using personal computers and various software such as word processing (Word), spreadsheets (Excel), databases (Access), presentations (PowerPoint), Outlook and Internet.

Qualifications

• Experience with fiscal software in a large organization (i.e. SCT Banner software, Banner Web and Financial Reports).
• Experience complying with Higher Education auditing procedures, operating procedures.
• Familiarity with state and federal regulations including OMB Uniform Guidance Circular.
• Experience working effectively with a broad range of constituencies such as university administrators, faculty, staff, students, and funding agencies.

Skills

• Excellent customer service skills for various customers, both internal and external to the organization.
• In-depth understanding of accounting procedures, to gather, analyze and summarize data and make recommendations.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in