The Finance Specialist provides specialized finance services to the Global Strategy teams, colleagues and partners around the world. The Finance Specialist will provide support on all major financial operations for geographically dispersed teams with specific focus on private grant management. This position will work closely with project managers as well as Legal and Finance colleagues at the Conservancy. This position is part of a central Global Strategy Operations, Finance & People team.
There is a strong preference for this position to be based in Arlington, VA. Other locations may be negotiable.
The Finance Specialist provides specialized services in financial management and reporting, accounting and grants administration, the Global Strategy teams. They expeditiously and courteously respond to or route various inquiries from internal and external customers. They provide a high level of expertise in private grant management and reporting and will be a primary point of contact for complex grants across multiple business units within the Conservancy. They will provide financial guidance and assistance to Conservation Managers related to proposals, grants, reporting and budget management. They will prepare and monitor budgets, prepare timely and accurate forecasts and reports, and support contracts and invoice payments ensuring adherence to all Standard Operating Procedures.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Coordinates the financial requirements and internal processes for 10M+ in private award grants
- Works in multiple financial systems and relational databases
- Liaises with grant specialists to ensure alignment on process and any public awards, as needed
- Supports financial processes as they relate to contracts and data management for annual budgeting, forecasting, and reporting
- Ensures data quality and consistency aligned with business unit goals and TNC.
- Coordinates and tracks project-level deadlines for financial reporting to include coordination with various operating units, including incoming grant reporting deadlines
- Supports in preparing/processing various transactional accounting forms and reports such as journal entries, cost assignment, and cash receipts
- May coordinate data gathering, submission and review for audit
- Designs user-friendly templates to enhance data consistency and facilitate analysis for decision making
- Performs detailed review and analysis of contracts, invoices, expense reports, and transaction data for conservation teams
- Creates and distributes year-to-date budget to actual reports to conservation managers on a monthly/quarterly basis
- May coordinate processes for contract drafting, review, invoice payments and management processes ensuring adherence to standard operating procedures for multiple conservation programs
- Acts independently on assigned tasks and exercises sound judgement based on analysis and experience
- May manage special projects and/or requests that address key contract or financial issues, as assigned
- Handles confidential information with discretion and sensitivity
- Experience with relational databases
- Experience using accounting and financial reporting systems.
- Expertise with Microsoft Excel
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi-lingual skills and/or multi-cultural experience highly valued.
- Ability to manipulate, analyze and interpret data
- Strong organizational skills
- Accuracy, attention to detail and the ability to multi-task
- Non-profit accounting experience
- US government grants accounting experience
- Technical experience with spreadsheet programs, general ledger reports and financial management tools.
- Experience with GAAP and fund accounting principles, practices and regulations..
The Nature Conservancy offers competitive compensation, 401k or savings-plan matching for eligible employees, excellent benefits, flexible work policies and a collaborative work environment. We also provide professional development opportunities and promote from within. As a result, you will find a culture that supports and inspires conservation achievement and personal development, both within the workplace and beyond.