Accounts Receivable Coordinator

About the Opportunity

This position supports the functions of the Research Finance office under the NU-Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) by ensuring that the University maintains compliance with applicable federal regulations, sponsor requirements and university policies with a focus on fiscal compliance.

The Accounts Receivable Coordinator (ARC) assists in managing the overall business operations of the research finance team and provides targeted support for the department’s cash management and invoicing functions.

Reporting to the Manager, Cash Accounting, the ARC supports processing of electronic payments and check deposits, and identifying, assigning, and applying incoming research payments in Banner Finance.

Reviews payment discrepancies and reconciles payments for grant closeout; maintains the payment log and assists in the reconciliation of the log, research clearing accounts, and research Bank account.

The ARC monitors and triages the research accounting departmental email accounts, logs incoming requests, and issues, and follows up with responsible parties through resolution.

Supports monthly billing operations by assisting with the distribution of monthly invoices and management of billing schedules.

Aids during audits, both internal and external, by obtaining supporting documentation for review by Director, Research Accounting prior to submission to auditors.

Prepares reports after monthly financial close to leadership team. Assists the NU-RES Finance leadership team with various projects as needed.

The ARC is expected to work in various electronic platforms and systems and must be technologically savvy. Must be able to use VPN and work completely electronically.

The ARC must be able to navigate through the financial system (Banner) as well as the various grants systems and portals (various federal and non-federal sponsor Portals, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, etc.

as required to perform their role.

The position is expected to foster consultative relationships as well as support a professional environment, providing award support and training when needed.

The ARC works with the Cash Accountant, Manager, Director, and Executive Director regarding fiscal compliance of cash management, AR monitoring and invoicing at Northeastern.

The ability to create and maintain a culture of service, accountability and timeliness is essential. As a collaborative team member, the ARC supports the other members of NU-RES, interfaces with colleagues across organizational units such as NU-RES Administration, Accounts Payable, Procurement, Treasury Services, University Advancement, and Student Financial Services, and performs other duties as assigned.

A key success factor for this role is being current with respect to federal regulations as well as the ability to train others on the application of these regulations.

This role must treat effective compliance as an equal priority, stay abreast of sponsor rules, regulations, and policy changes, as well as institutional best practices in research administration and finance.

Participate in sponsored research initiatives and projects as assigned, as well as lead the adoption of best practices to promote continuous improvement making sure that the highest quality standards are met.

Minimum Qualifications

Strong technical skills with MS Office 365 including Excel, Word, SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, as well as Adobe Acrobat and other analytical tools.

Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment

Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a high attention to detail and organization

Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to interact with management and senior leadership

Proven customer service skills

Basic accounting skills

Knowledge and skills required for this position are normally obtained through completion of a BS / BA degree plus at least 1-2 years or work experience, preferably in B2B accounting, accounts receivable, and working with Local and Federal agencies.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Cash management support - 55%

Process cash applications of federal LOC (letter of credit) draws and other incoming payments, perform check deposits, assist with payment identification and assignment, and management of the payment logs.

Prepare journal entries for incoming ACH and wire payments, Advancement cash reclass and internal NU-KRI invoice processing.

Coordinate and track NU-KRI billing and invoice approvals, ensuring compliance with internal controls. Prepare reports and assist the Cash Manager with the reconciliation of the research AR clearing account.

Assist the team with researching payments and open AR follow-up.

Invoicing operations support - 25%

Distribute monthly invoices to sponsors on standard university template and respond to sponsors when appropriate. Pull backup documentation as needed to support costs for invoices.

Prepare preliminary drafts of monthly federal LOC draws including extracting reports from various federal portals, distribute to analysts for further analysis and submission.

Maintain the data source for internal trackers for basic operations of the team such as monthly RAA tracker and analyst portfolio assignment log.

Assist the team with maintaining data integrity of the Banner financial system including management of project billing schedules in Banner AR and fund termination dates, and complete data entry as needed.

Communications - 15%

Monitor and triage the Research Billing and Accounting email accounts, assign to and follow up with responsible parties through to resolution.

Track issues and requests and escalate appropriately. Navigate various internal and sponsor systems to troubleshoot issues and pull documents and records to assist in analysis and review.

Assist with collections and respond to sponsor inquiries as appropriate.

5% - Support management with ad hoc assignments and reports as needed.

Position Type

Finance