Finance Associate

Stanford University; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 44,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford University in Palo Alto is seeking a Finance Associate to support the Department of Art & Art History. The role emphasizes travel reimbursements, P-card purchases, and PO requests, with monthly budget reconciliation. The position is 80% FTE, non-exempt, and based on Stanford campus with a hybrid arrangement (3 days on site).

Prefer prior Stanford systems experience and finance certifications. The department values integrity and teamwork while maintaining compliance with university

Qualifications

• Knowledge of basic accounting procedures.
• Ability to operate computerized office applications and accounting systems.
• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate information to internal audiences and client groups.

Responsibilities

• Review, process, gather, and compile accounting transactions and documents for completeness, accuracy, and compliance.
• Review transactions, support documents, journal postings for accuracy, consistency, authorizations and compliance.
• Maintain data and daily reports; generate standardized financial reports.

Skills

Basic accounting

Accounting software

Clear communication

Education

High School diploma

Tools

Accounting systems

Job description

This position has been deemed critical by the School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Office and is exempt from the hiring freeze.

Work Arrangement: This is a hybrid position based on the Stanford campus – 3 days/week onsite.

Budgeted Salary: The budgeted base salary range for this position is $32.00 to $35.47 per hour.

The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the foundation of a liberal arts education at Stanford. The school encompasses 24 departments and 25 interdisciplinary programs. H&S is home to fundamental and applied research, where free, open, and critical inquiry is pursued across disciplines. As the university’s largest school, H&S serves as the foundation of a Stanford undergraduate education no matter which discipline students pursue as a major. Graduate students work alongside world-renowned faculty to pursue and shape foundational research that leads to breakthroughs and discoveries that shed new light on the past, influence the present, and shape the future. Together, faculty and students in H&S engage in inspirational teaching, learning, and research every day.

Department/Program Description:

The Department of Art & Art History is an interdisciplinary department offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history, art practice, documentary filmmaking, and film and media studies. The team of 16 staff supports the research and teaching of 25 faculty and some 30 lecturers each year. The department has approximately 145 undergraduate majors and minors and 56 graduate students. Our department’s core values include integrity, respect, inclusion, creativity, service, and stewardship. The Department of Art & Art History is committed to building an equitable, antiracist, and non-discriminatory environment that empowers all students, staff, faculty, and community members. Department courses offer opportunities for students to better understand the meaning and purpose of the arts, their historical development, and their role in society through practical engagement with various physical and digital media and theoretical and critical study. (Mediums include wood, metal, sound, photography, film, comics, virtual reality, and more). Our faculty teach various socially impactful art and media courses that grapple/unpack topics of activism, decolonization, global politics, and social identities.

Brief Position Summary:

The Department of Art and Art History is seeking a Finance Associate. The Finance Associate will work under general supervision of the Assistant Director of Finance and Operations and must possess and demonstrate a positive outlook on continuous process improvement efforts while maintaining a team-based and customer-focused mindset. It is critical that this position exhibit strong organizational skills, the abilities to practice sound judgment and decision-making, effective written & oral communication, strong attention to detail and respectful relationship management. This position must also exhibit a strong desire to continuously learn new and unfamiliar business topics, policies and procedures as they relate to managing the daily operations of the suite of sculpture rooms and art practice studios – the ability to translate this information into operational successes will be critical.

Working closely with relevant faculty and staff, the Finance Associate processes a large volume of financial transactions with an emphasis on travel and reimbursements, but also including faculty P-card purchases and Purchase Order requests. In addition, this position is responsible for monthly reconciliation of the department’s operating budgets, which requires a high level of accuracy, sound judgement, and understanding of the department’s programmatic operations. Lastly, the Accounting/Finance Associate should be resourceful and well-versed in department-specific and University-wide systems and accounting processes to be able to troubleshoot and answer inquiries from stakeholders.

This is a 80%, non-exempt, continuing position.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional highly preferred qualifications for this position includes:

• Prior experience with Stanford business systems
• Certifications or licenses in finance or accounting
• Prior experience in an academic setting

Responsibilities

Core Duties

• Review, process, gather, and compile accounting transactions anddocuments for completeness, accuracy, and compliance.
• Review transactions, support documents, journal postings, etc.for accuracy, consistency, authorizations and compliance. Monitortransactions in accounting systems for clearing and outstandingitems.
• Compile, maintain, and review data and daily reports foraccuracy. Generate standardized financial reports.
• Resolve transactional inquiries, elevate broaderissues.
• Respond to transactional inquiries from client groups.
• May be responsible for p-card administration, processing, travelcards and expendable reimbursements.
• May establish accounts in financial systems; prepareinvoices.
• Participate in new initiatives, as needed such as usertesting.
• Maintain accounting/finance departmental files and desktopprocedures and process documents for area of responsibility. Ensurecompliance with University policies, and federal regulations andrequirements.

Minimum Education and Experience

High School diploma or equivalent and two years’ work experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of basic accounting procedures.
• Ability to operate computerized office applications andaccounting systems.
• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate information tointernal audiences and client groups.