Job Description

The School of Natural Resources invites applications for the position of Business Manager. This position assists the School’s Director in overseeing and administering the fiscal, office operations, human resources, and data management responsibilities of the School of Natural Resources. As delegated by the Director, this position carries full signature authority for specific fiscal and human resource related matters. Primary functions of the position include budget and financial management, post-award management, overseeing human resources and payroll operations, and data management:

Accounting & Finance - The primary role of this position is to assure the accuracy and integrity of all financial matters of the department for each of three primary budgeting entities through the following duties:

• Approving financial accounting transactions at the school level including but not limited to: transfers, contracts, invoices, procurement cards, miscellaneous reimbursements, and travel expenditures
• Preparing annual budgets for the School of Natural Resources and review allocations with Director for each fiscal year
• Representing SNR at budget meetings
• Coordinating with three budget directors on appropriate use of funding, reimbursements and distributions throughout year
• Management and oversight of all SNR accounts including state-appropriated accounts, start-up accounts, seed accounts, endowed and non-endowed gift accounts, income accounts, and research accounts
• Create and distribute all internal SNR awarded funding (internal order numbers) to appropriate faculty and facilitate appropriate tracking of expenditures
• Ensure fiscal compliance on all transactions in and out of SNR while verifying appropriate documentation justifies expenditures
• Serving as financial policy and procedure resource
• Monthly reconciliation of principal investigator’s (PI) accounts and distribute for approvals in a timely manner
• Meet with faculty to review their accounts and make accurate spending plans for future endeavors
• Management and oversight of summer school projections as well as revenue and expenses to determine if enrollment and pay criteria have been met and to determine financial viability of the classes
• Evaluating all SNR accounts to determine need for fiscal year carryover
• Gathering financial data and preparing reports
• Ensure tuition and course fees are accurately accounted for and distributed
• Supervising and coordinating accounting/bookkeeping activities of SNR
• Preparing reports on budget expenditures & projections, research productivity, etc., for Director’s use for decision-making purposes
• Solving a wide range of financial and business-related problems
• Collecting and analyzing data necessary for annual budget preparation & reporting, and routine annual audit assessments
  

Sponsored Projects Accounting & Management - In conjunction with the research offices, this position plays an important role in assisting faculty in the formulation of research project budget submittal to assure departmental guidelines and funding agency and sponsored projects accounting compliance requirements are met, including:

• Review and approve proposals in absence of the school’s Director
• Assist faculty with proper budgeting justifications
• Meet with faculty to discuss detailed budgeted balances and projected spending plans
• Review documents in Cayuse and related systems for allowability while reviewing charges
• Review the proposed budget in Cayuse and expedite the approval process of the budget proposal and budget justification
• Review the contract requirements and verify posted budget
• Complete the advanced account form and forward to Pre-Award
• Review and amend the approved budget with appropriate paperwork
• Create initial No-Cost Time Extension Requests with PI and submit to Office of Research for processing
• Provide documentation for financial transactions
• Manage payroll for personnel on projects as directed by the period of performance
• Monitor financial reports including cost share requirements
• Process requests from Post-Award to provide budget justification and remove unallowable expenses
• Conduct subrecipient monitoring including approval of subcontractor invoices
• Work with Post-Award to ensure accuracy of final invoice and close out documentation
• Review retention polices for accurate disposal of sponsored financial information
• Assisting PIs with required financial reporting and final closeout of awarded grants and contract
• Interfacing with the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects Accounting as necessary
• Preparing research project statistical and cost analyses as required by external sponsors
  

Human Resources/Payroll Operations/Data Management

• Review and approve personnel actions for faculty, staff, and students within SNR including hiring, terminations, retirements, resignations, pay funding changes, and position transfers
• Review and approve bi-weekly time entry for all non-exempt employees within SNR
• Create and review biweekly and monthly payroll labor distribution reports
• Calculate Faculty Salary Incentive Plans (SIP) and ensure proper distribution to faculty per UT Policy
• Review and approve key and card access requests for faculty, staff and students via appropriate systems
• Act as backup parking representative for the school
• Supervise Federal Work Study student employees
• Compiles expenditures for the director’s annual submission of the Southern Forestry Schools’ comparative data survey
• Compiles information for the annual Funds and Manpower reports
• Completes the annual Self-Assessment of Controls report
• Assists in compiling information for the school’s five-year review
• Creates and maintains the school sponsored programs contract folders through project close-out
• Performs additional financial reporting as needed for the director, faculty, and budget directors
• Various other duties as assigned
  

Required Qualifications:

• A bachelor's degree in business, finance, accounting, or related field with a minimum of four years of progressively responsible and relevant experience

• knowledge of standard accounting principles and sponsored programs grant management

• communication and interpersonal skills to work with a variety of stakeholders; excellent organizational skills

• excellent writing, grammar, and proofreading skills

• decisiveness and extensive problem-solving skills

• competence with common office and database software

• ability to multi-task, prioritize, and manage multiple projects to meet required timelines.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A Master’s degree in business management with 4 or more years of financial work history at a comprehensive research university

• A working knowledge of Concur Dash or equivalent enterprise resource planning system.

Work Location

• Location: Knoxville, TN

• Onsite, Hybrid, or Remote: Onsite

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: 11

• Anticipated hiring range: $55k-$75k

• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

• Resume

• Cover Letter

About The School of Natural Resources

The School of Natural Resources is the comprehensive natural resources program in the state of Tennessee, consisting of 36 teaching, research, and extension faculty, 16 professional staff members, 9 administrative staff members, and more than 350 students. The school’s mission is to advance the science and sustainable management of natural resources to promote their health, utilization, and appreciation in Tennessee, the region, and beyond through programs in teaching, research, Extension and outreach.