Grants and Drawdown Accountant

About the Role

The Grants & Drawdowns Accountant is responsible for the financial administration, accounting, compliance, and reporting of grants and other restricted funding received by ACTS Career Center. This role manages grant-related financial activity from award through closeout, ensuring expenditures are allowable, adequately supported, correctly recorded, and compliant with grant agreements, ACTS policies, and applicable regulations.

Responsibilities

• Grant accounting and financial management: Maintain accurate accounting records for federal, state, local, foundation, and other grant-funded programs; establish grant accounts, funding sources, cost centers, and project codes; prepare journal entries and reconciliations; and support monthly and year-end close activities.
• Budget monitoring: Monitor grant budgets, expenditures, remaining balances, spending periods, match requirements, and funding restrictions; identify overruns, underspending, questioned costs, and approaching deadlines early.
• Drawdowns and reimbursements: Prepare and submit timely drawdown and reimbursement requests through applicable systems and portals after verifying that costs are allowable, properly approved, documented, paid when required, within budget, and eligible for reimbursement.
• Drawdown support and tracking: Maintain a clear audit trail for every request, including invoices, payroll records, contracts, approvals, proof of payment, general-ledger detail, and other required support; track submitted, approved, rejected, outstanding, and received amounts.
• Reconciliation and cash receipts: Reconcile drawdowns, grant receivables, deferred revenue, restricted funds, cash receipts, grant reports, and general-ledger balances; investigate and resolve discrepancies promptly.
• Grant compliance: Review awards, budgets, amendments, and financial requirements; support compliance with applicable federal, state, local, funder, and ACTS requirements, including 2 CFR Part 200 for federal awards when applicable.
• Financial reporting and forecasting: Prepare monthly, quarterly, annual, and grant-specific financial reports; provide variance analysis, spending-rate information, available balances, cash-flow forecasts, and deadline updates to program managers and leadership.
• Budget development and amendments: Support grant budgets, revisions, renewals, amendments, and applications by preparing accurate financial information and coordinating with responsible program and grant staff.
• Internal controls: Maintain appropriate segregation of duties among expenditures, approvals, drawdowns, receipts, and reconciliations; safeguard assets and records; and recommend improvements to accounting, reimbursement, and documentation processes.
• Monitoring, audits, and closeout: Maintain organized, audit-ready files; support monitoring visits, financial reviews, annual audits, and Single Audits when applicable; and complete final reconciliations, drawdowns, financial reports, and closeout documentation.
• Records and confidentiality: Maintain grant financial records according to ACTS and funder retention rules and protect confidential participant, employee, donor, vendor, banking, payroll, financial, and grant information.
• Mission and values alignment: Perform all responsibilities with professionalism, accountability, equity, integrity, and stewardship while advancing ACTS’s workforce-development mission and core values.
• Other responsibilities: Perform other related accounting, grant, compliance, or organizational duties as assigned.

Financial-Control and Decision-Making Expectations

• Do not submit a drawdown or reimbursement request unless the amount reconciles to the accounting records and required support is complete.
• Immediately escalate suspected fraud, misuse of funds, unsupported costs, data-security incidents, material control weaknesses, or grant noncompliance to the Executive Director or designated finance leader.
• Do not materially change grant budgets, cost allocations, coding, match calculations, drawdown methods, or financial reports without required organizational and funder approval.
• Maintain independence between transaction initiation, approval, payment, drawdown preparation, cash receipt, and reconciliation to the extent staffing permits; document approved compensating controls when full separation is not practical.
• Disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest in writing and recuse from related transactions or decisions when required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field; equivalent directly relevant education and experience may be considered.
• At least three years of progressively responsible accounting experience, preferably including grant, fund, governmental, or nonprofit accounting.
• Strong working knowledge of general-ledger accounting, reconciliations, financial reporting, budgeting, internal controls, and audit support.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple grants, funding sources, deadlines, reporting requirements, and detailed supporting records simultaneously.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and proficiency with accounting, financial-management, document-management, and grant-payment systems.
• Ability to analyze financial information, investigate discrepancies, communicate clearly with financial and nonfinancial staff, and exercise sound professional judgment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience preparing federal, state, local, or foundation drawdowns and reimbursement requests.
• Working knowledge of 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Guidance) and federal grant compliance requirements.
• Experience with grant-payment portals, reimbursement systems, monitoring reviews, grant closeouts, and Single Audits.
• Experience in a nonprofit, workforce-development, community-based, or faith-affiliated organization.
• CPA, CGFM, CGMS, or another relevant accounting or grants-management credential.

Core Competencies

• Grant financial management and regulatory compliance
• Drawdown and reimbursement processing
• General-ledger reconciliation and audit trails
• Budget monitoring, forecasting, and variance analysis
• Financial reporting and data integrity
• Internal controls and segregation of duties
• Accuracy, organization, and deadline management
• Confidentiality and professional judgment
• Cross-functional communication and problem solving

ACTS Core Values

• Empowerment: Equip programs and leaders with reliable financial information needed to serve participants effectively.
• Lifelong Learning: Maintain current knowledge of accounting standards, grant rules, systems, and funder requirements.
• Community Connection: Support strong, transparent relationships among ACTS, funders, employers, partners, and the community.
• Equity: Apply financial policies and grant requirements consistently and support equitable access to program resources.
• Integrity: Maintain transparency, accuracy, accountability, confidentiality, and responsible stewardship of funds.
• Innovation: Improve financial processes, controls, reporting, and technology as organizational and funder needs evolve.

Key Performance Indicators

• Drawdown timeliness: Drawdown and reimbursement requests are submitted by internal and funder deadlines.
• Drawdown accuracy: Requests reconcile to the general ledger and contain complete, eligible, and approved supporting costs.
• Reconciliation quality: Grant expenditures, receipts, receivables, deferred revenue, restricted balances, and cash activity reconcile timely.
• Compliance: Grant budgets, agreements, organizational policies, and applicable regulations are followed; questioned or disallowed costs are minimized.
• Budget oversight: Variances, underspending, overruns, match concerns, cash needs, and approaching deadlines are identified and communicated early.
• Audit readiness: Files provide a complete audit trail and requested support is produced promptly for monitoring reviews and audits.
• Reporting: Required financial reports, forecasts, and closeouts are accurate and delivered on time.
• Control effectiveness: Segregation of duties and documented compensating controls operate consistently; material exceptions are escalated promptly.
• Stakeholder service: Program and leadership teams receive clear, useful, and timely financial guidance.

Working Relationships

The Grants & Drawdowns Accountant works collaboratively with Finance and Accounting staff, program and grant managers, department leaders, executive leadership, payroll and human-resources staff, external auditors, funding agencies, financial institutions, vendors, and other partners to ensure responsible stewardship of grant and restricted funds.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements

The position generally operates in an office environment and requires sustained computer use, review of detailed financial records, frequent communication, and occasional travel to program, partner, audit, banking, or funder sites. The employee must be able to move throughout office and records-storage areas and occasionally lift or transport files or materials weighing up to 20 pounds. Reasonable accommodations will be provided in accordance with applicable law.

Confidentiality and Compliance

The Accountant may access confidential participant and employee records, payroll and banking information, vendor data, donor information, contracts, financial statements, and grant records. Access is permitted only when necessary for assigned duties. The employee must use approved, secure methods to collect, store, transmit, retain, and dispose of information and may not disclose it to unauthorized persons or use it personally. These duties continue after employment ends. The employee must complete required training and follow ACTS policies, accounting standards, internal controls, grant conditions, and applicable law.