Financial Analyst

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range:

Position Summary

Reporting to the Sr. Director of Service Administration with a dotted line to the Director of Finance, the Financial Analyst will play an integral role in supporting financial planning, analysis and budgeting for the Academic, Emerging Technologies and Research Services department at Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT).

This highly visible position will leverage multiple systems and resources, both within and outside of CUIT, in order to ensure efficient and accurate planning, month-end, ad-hoc financial analysis, recoveries and reconciliation activities for the Academic, Emerging Technologies and Research Services teams. You must have a solid understanding of P&L, various finance/accounting concepts, variance analysis and financial modeling. You must have the ability to operate and work across functional groups in a matrixed organization. To support the positions of various organizations partners effectively, you must be comfortable interacting with all levels of the organization including senior leadership and key stakeholders. Effective communication of analysis, building strong relationships and building executive-level presentations are essential in this role.

Responsibilities

• Support the billing operations, evaluating and issuing chargeback, and analyzing the financial transactions of the services.
• Regularly review Payables and Receivables to ensure that recoveries reflect the current cost of the service.
• Assist in preparation of weekly, monthly, and quarterly financial analysis schedules of actual versus budget variances.
• Design and administration of key performance metrics.
• Report on financial performance and prepare for regular leadership reviews
• Provide financial analysis support for department managers.
• Analyze past results, identify trends, and make recommendations for improvements
• Analyze financial data and create models for decision support
• Work closely with the Finance team to ensure accurate financial reporting
• Work closely with Service Management on developing automation and increasing efficiencies for billable services. Identify areas for improvement in the existing service management processes and work to implement those changes.
• Manages and tracks billing tickets via ServiceNow system and generates monthly reports.
• Review data to identify patterns, discrepancies or additional funds within the organization’s finances.
• Identify risks, record financial data or create a budgeting plan.
• Ability to work in an environment that is rapidly changing, where processes and procedures are in development
• Understanding of basic finance concepts, including concepts related to time value of money
• All other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent required.
• Minimum 3-5 years’ related experience as a budget analyst, financial analyst, business accountant, or similar
• Proficiency with spreadsheets, databases, and financial software applications
• Demonstrates excellent financial and quantitative skills
• Experience in Microsoft Tools usage – Excel, SharePoint, Teams, PowerPoint
• A mindset towards process improvement and automation is a plus.
• Intellectual curiosity with a willingness to learn and develop new skills and processes.
• Awareness and reliability of timelines for the timely and accurate reporting of financial performance.
• Good judgment and excellent verbal and written communication skills are essential.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated understanding of GAAP accounting.
• Knowledge of ERP Systems, preferably Oracle NetSuite.
• Experience in a higher education and/or information technology environment.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.