MacArthur Foundation
Job Description
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur invests in solving some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., revitalizing local news, expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence, and strengthening the well-being of Native communities. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. The Foundation also maintains offices in Nigeria and India.
The Finance Department is responsible for all accounting, banking, payroll, internal control, tax, audit, budget, forecasting and financial reporting & analysis for the Foundation. Finance is also responsible for maintaining the financial enterprise systems as well as end user support and training.
The Grants Accountant is a key member of the Finance team, responsible for managing the grants payment process, ensuring compliance with all policies and procedures. This person will analyze grant payments and provide information as required to program managers, grantees, external funders as well as execute tax reporting to demonstrate accountability and transparency in grants and impact investments-related financial management.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities Grant Accounting & Financial Management
Process all grant payments, invoices and approvals in a timely manner; verifying that payments are correct, properly authorized and coded in the grant management system (GMS) and Workday
Manage upload of grant and trade ACH/wire payments ensuring to resolve bank payment issues including re-issuance of wires and wire payment instruction issues
Maintain and update grant supplier records in Workday including confirmation of grantee electronic banking information
Manage account reconciliations for all grant-related general ledger accounts
Process grant amendments (transfers, returns, rescissions, etc.). Researching and correctly recording complex grant transactions; reconciling grant accounting applications
Reporting & Analysis
Monitor payments, out-of-corpus requirements, blacklisted organizations, and donor advised funds, and report them on the annual tax return
Participate in the grant budget process, including variance analysis and future legal commitments, monitoring funding sources on an ongoing basis, processing funding source transfer requests, and working with staff to create or restructure funding sources and program codes
Review expenditure responsibility (ER) reports, elevate issues as necessary; prepare all ER reporting, including tax and audit schedules; clearly communicate complex grant and ER policies and regulations to employees and grantees
Conduct all grant accounting and analysis for grants to support reporting financial statements, tax return and forecasting schedules
Impact Investment Accounting
Manage all aspects of accounting for Impact Investments, including tracking loans and equity investment valuations, analyses of bad debt reserve and PRI receivables aging, external communication with borrowers on payment issues, and ensuring the data integrity of the transfers across systems
Serve as Finance subject matter expert in collaboration with Legal, Grants Management, and Impact Investments teams on system implementations and updates to policies, procedures, workflow, and system design changes related to Program-related Investments (PRIs) and Mission-related Investments (MRIs)
Business Partnering
Collaborate with key internal stakeholders (i.e. Legal, Grants Management, Impact Investments, etc.) to update expenditure reporting procedures, checklists, and workflow within the GMS
Ensure timely responses to confirmations from grantees’ auditors as required
Partner with programs to monitor grant payouts for the calendar year
Other Duties And Responsibilities
Participate in special projects and working groups; engage in professional development
Perform other duties as assigned
Qualifications
A bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance; CPA preferred, at least five to seven years of finance experience
Knowledge of current and emerging technology; uses technology and systems effectively to support daily activities; looks for new ways to apply technology to promote efficiency and improve quality
Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, accounting systems and applications, ERP systems, and other business-related software
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
Able to work with discretion and maintain confidentiality
Must be able to work in harmony with all levels of the organization
Experience in implementing accounting interfaces, and in report writing and building queries
Able to exercise professional judgment and assume responsibility for decisions which have an impact on people and quality of service
Able to assemble information from diverse sources and develop a logical solution
Able to simultaneously juggle several tasks or responsibilities
The position is hybrid and based in Chicago, Illinois.
Annual salary for this role will start at $98,800. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.
Physical Requirements And Work Environment The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Requests for reasonable accommodations will be considered to enable a person with disabilities to perform the job. Reasonable accommodations are also available during the interview process.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur invests in solving some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., revitalizing local news, expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence, and strengthening the well-being of Native communities. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. The Foundation also maintains offices in Nigeria and India.
The Finance Department is responsible for all accounting, banking, payroll, internal control, tax, audit, budget, forecasting and financial reporting & analysis for the Foundation. Finance is also responsible for maintaining the financial enterprise systems as well as end user support and training.
The Grants Accountant is a key member of the Finance team, responsible for managing the grants payment process, ensuring compliance with all policies and procedures. This person will analyze grant payments and provide information as required to program managers, grantees, external funders as well as execute tax reporting to demonstrate accountability and transparency in grants and impact investments-related financial management.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities Grant Accounting & Financial Management
Process all grant payments, invoices and approvals in a timely manner; verifying that payments are correct, properly authorized and coded in the grant management system (GMS) and Workday
Manage upload of grant and trade ACH/wire payments ensuring to resolve bank payment issues including re-issuance of wires and wire payment instruction issues
Maintain and update grant supplier records in Workday including confirmation of grantee electronic banking information
Manage account reconciliations for all grant-related general ledger accounts
Process grant amendments (transfers, returns, rescissions, etc.). Researching and correctly recording complex grant transactions; reconciling grant accounting applications
Reporting & Analysis
Monitor payments, out-of-corpus requirements, blacklisted organizations, and donor advised funds, and report them on the annual tax return
Participate in the grant budget process, including variance analysis and future legal commitments, monitoring funding sources on an ongoing basis, processing funding source transfer requests, and working with staff to create or restructure funding sources and program codes
Review expenditure responsibility (ER) reports, elevate issues as necessary; prepare all ER reporting, including tax and audit schedules; clearly communicate complex grant and ER policies and regulations to employees and grantees
Conduct all grant accounting and analysis for grants to support reporting financial statements, tax return and forecasting schedules
Impact Investment Accounting
Manage all aspects of accounting for Impact Investments, including tracking loans and equity investment valuations, analyses of bad debt reserve and PRI receivables aging, external communication with borrowers on payment issues, and ensuring the data integrity of the transfers across systems
Serve as Finance subject matter expert in collaboration with Legal, Grants Management, and Impact Investments teams on system implementations and updates to policies, procedures, workflow, and system design changes related to Program-related Investments (PRIs) and Mission-related Investments (MRIs)
Business Partnering
Collaborate with key internal stakeholders (i.e. Legal, Grants Management, Impact Investments, etc.) to update expenditure reporting procedures, checklists, and workflow within the GMS
Ensure timely responses to confirmations from grantees’ auditors as required
Partner with programs to monitor grant payouts for the calendar year
Other Duties And Responsibilities
Participate in special projects and working groups; engage in professional development
Perform other duties as assigned
Qualifications
A bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance; CPA preferred, at least five to seven years of finance experience
Knowledge of current and emerging technology; uses technology and systems effectively to support daily activities; looks for new ways to apply technology to promote efficiency and improve quality
Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, accounting systems and applications, ERP systems, and other business-related software
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
Able to work with discretion and maintain confidentiality
Must be able to work in harmony with all levels of the organization
Experience in implementing accounting interfaces, and in report writing and building queries
Able to exercise professional judgment and assume responsibility for decisions which have an impact on people and quality of service
Able to assemble information from diverse sources and develop a logical solution
Able to simultaneously juggle several tasks or responsibilities
The position is hybrid and based in Chicago, Illinois.
Annual salary for this role will start at $98,800. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.
Physical Requirements And Work Environment The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Requests for reasonable accommodations will be considered to enable a person with disabilities to perform the job. Reasonable accommodations are also available during the interview process.
#J-18808-Ljbffr