Sr. Grants Accountant

United Way of Greater Los Angeles; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

United Way of Greater Los Angeles is seeking a Finance Administrator to manage the financial administration of the JCOD grant, support grantees with invoicing, budgeting, and reporting, and ensure resources are invested responsibly.

You will coordinate across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams, own master trackers, and guide grantees from award to payment with audit-ready records. This role supports millions of public dollars slated for community impact in LA County.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting grantees with invoicing, budgeting, and reporting.
• Ability to coordinate across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams.
• Familiarity with grant accounting and audit readiness.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Finance point of contact for assigned programmatic teams and grantees, modeling a responsive, solutions-oriented approach.
• Build and own strong grantee relationships that drive contracting, payment setup, invoicing, reporting, and compliance.
• Lead finance-focused Technical Assistance for grantees — coaching, office hours, and templates on invoicing, budgeting, documentation, and reporting.
• Manage the grantee Help Desk for finance matters, resolving invoicing, payment, compliance, approval, and systems questions, and documenting activity for County reporting.
• Drive coordination across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams to move awards from selection through contract execution to payment.

Skills

Grantee relations

Financial analysis

Invoicing

Budget management

Accounting standards

Tools

Sage Intacct

Excel

Job description

You'll contribute to the success of our economic empowerment and sustainability work by supporting financial administration of United Way’s third-party administration contract with LA County’s Justice, Care & Opportunities (JCOD) department, managing complex financial processes, supporting nonprofit service providers with financial technical assistance, and ensuring public resources are invested responsibly and effectively.

In this role, you'll have the opportunity to do more than account for grant funds. You'll help ensure millions of public dollars reach community organizations and create meaningful economic opportunity across Los Angeles County.

HOW YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE

Grantee Relations, Technical Assistance & Help Desk

• Serve as the primary Finance point of contact for assigned programmatic teams and grantees, modeling a responsive, solutions-oriented approach.
• Build and own strong grantee relationships that drive timely contracting, payment setup, invoicing, reporting, and compliance.
• Lead finance-focused Technical Assistance for grantees — coaching, office hours, and templates on invoicing, budgeting, documentation, and reporting — and track participation and effectiveness.
• Manage the grantee Help Desk for finance matters, resolving invoicing, payment, compliance, approval, and systems questions, and documenting activity for County reporting.
• Drive coordination across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams to move awards from selection through contract execution to payment.

Grantee Onboarding, Contracting & Payment Setup

• Own a master tracker of all grantees, covering award and contract status, budget, payment structure, required documents, banking setup, and open items.
• Drive each grantee from award notification through full contract execution, ensuring all paperwork is complete before payment begins.
• Direct the collection and review of fiscal setup documents, including signed agreements, W-9s, ACH/banking details, and vendor setup forms.
• Follow up directly with grantees to resolve missing, incomplete, or inconsistent documentation.
• Ensure all contract and payment setup information is accurate and audit-ready before any disbursement is processed.

Payment Administration, Invoice Review & Budget Management

• Own the end-to-end grantee payment process, from invoice intake and review through Sage Intacct upload, AP coordination, and confirmation of disbursement.
• Review grantee invoices for completeness, accuracy, budget alignment, allowable cost support, and consistency with the grant agreement.
• Track each payment from submission through disbursement, maintaining accurate records of dates, amounts, and unresolved issues.
• Drive timely payment resolution with grantees, Finance leadership, Program staff, and Accounts Payable, escalating concerns as needed.
• Maintain detailed financial tracking by grantee, program, allocation, and balance to support quarterly, year-end, and closeout reporting.
• Ensure grant transactions are accurately coded and prepare journal entries, reclasses, and accruals for assigned grants and payments.
• Own audit-ready financial records for the assigned portfolio, retained in accordance with record retention and audit requirements.
• Track key deadlines for invoicing, reporting, compliance, and closeout, and proactively flag significant or recurring grantee delays.
• Coordinate with program and monitoring staff on grantee fiscal issues, and elevate suspected fraud, waste, or internal control concerns to Finance leadership.
• Lead improvements to financial tracking systems, dashboards, and reports while safeguarding confidential financial and participant information.

Reporting, Audit Support, Closeout & Other Duties

• Prepare financial reports, reconciliation schedules, and disbursement summaries for leadership, funders, auditors, and County reporting across all cycles.
• Serve as a key point of contact for organizational, funder, and County audits, preparing schedules, supporting documentation, and variance explanations.
• Own grant and contract closeout, including final invoice review, reconciliation, confirmation of balances, and identification of unused funds.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure final programmatic and fiscal information is complete before closeout submission.
• Drive process improvements across the grant lifecycle, participate in internal and grantee meetings, and perform other duties as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned.

WHAT 1 YEAR OF SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Successfully manage the financial administration of the JCOD grant and subgrants end to end, with accounting, compliance, and reporting running smoothly and needing little day-to-day oversight.
• Establish a reliable payment and reconciliation rhythm that gets grantees paid on time and keeps reporting deadlines consistently met.
• Lead grantee support through Technical Assistance and the Help Desk, resolving issues with a solutions-oriented approach and building grantee confidence over the year.
• Carry the assigned portfolio through audits and monitoring reviews as a trusted, well-prepared partner.
• Drive steady improvements to the