Financial Analyst

Starting Pay: $76,453 - $83,199/Annually

$2,940.50 - $3,199.97/Biweekly

I. Purpose of Job

Under limited supervision, performs and/or reviews Finance functions and provides financial analysis.

II. Essential Job Duties

A. Financial analysis and reporting

• Analyzes Balance Sheet and Income Statement accounts to monitor and evaluate departmental spending and purchasing patterns.
• Assists departments with general ledger coding for payments and receipts.
• Performs a variety of financial tasks, which may include posting financial data, balancing accounts, tracking fund activity, and maintaining financial ledgers.
• Prepares various financial reports and records including journal entries, payment documents, and other financial statements.
• Performs budget and financial analysis and evaluates results to enhance completeness and accuracy of performance measures.
• Updates and maintains budget in City’s budgetary and financial systems.
• Prepares weekly and monthly financial/budget reports for departments.
• Performs cash monitoring and makes projections regarding cash requirements.
• Responsible for bidding investments and renewing investments; and maintaining a subsidiary. Oversees the collateralization of the City’s investments to ensure compliance with state laws.
• Reconciles general ledger accounts and creates journal entries to adjust or correct previous transactions.
• Monitors budgetary expenditures for departments and answers questions pertaining to same.
• Responsible for recording journal entries for various revenue/receivables and expenditure/liabilities activity (including property tax/industrial development district, local and state shared taxes, customer service/utility billing, deposits, bond payments, etc.).
• Assists with audit and preparation of Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
• Responsible for recording journal entries for interdepartmental billings and inter-fund transfers.
• Provides grants financial information to departments.

B. Financial administration

• Administers various grants, with regard to payments, compliance, and audits. Ensures compliance with federal and state grant requirements. Prepares required quarterly or annual financial reporting. Prepares or assists departments with grant financial reporting.
• Ensures proper close-out of grants. Monitors usage of grants before end of grant period.
• Updates and maintains Capital Assets in the Financial System. Evaluates purchases to assure compliance with the City’s Capital Asset Policy. Communicates with departments to obtain purchase and disposal information in a timely manner. Compares Financial records to reports and/or inventories maintained at the department level.
• Administers the City’s debt service (bonds/loans), with regard to payments, compliance, and audits. Monitors spending of bond proceeds to ensure arbitrage spending deadlines are met. Prepares outstanding debt service reports.
• Administers the City’s leases, with regard to payments, compliance, and audits. Prepares outstanding lease reports.
• With financial managers, reconciles and evaluates the City’s bank accounts, revenue and expenditure accounts, and asset and liability subsidiary ledgers.
• Administers performance maintenance bond and evidence trust bank accounts.
• Ensures that cost and depreciation information for capital assets are available for audit, for departments and other interested parties, and for insurance purposes.
• Performs periodic capital asset inventories
• Ensures that cost information for financial inventory is available for audit, for departments and other interested parties, and for insurance purposes. Monitors and observes the annual physical inventory in applicable departments.
• Records financial entries generated from the billing and receipting of Utility Billing, Payroll processing, Accounts Payable, and electronic (ACH) payments.
• Creates and maintains vendor records in financial system, including information for tax purposes.

C. Internal Controls

• Responsible for Financial Systems Internal Controls including monitoring the Utility Billing Systems, the Court System and the Investment System.
• Responsible for Payroll Internal Controls including backup preparer, reviewer, and recorder purposes.
• Responsible for AP Internal Controls including backup preparer, reviewer, and recorder purposes.
• Responsible for Unclaimed Property Internal Controls including ensuring accurate amounts, notifications and timely submittals to the State.
• Responsible for Journal Entries Internal Controls including recording Purchasing Card transactions, Interdepartmental Billing, Wires and Deposits.
• Responsible for General Ledger Setup Internal Controls including requesting and setup general ledger accounts in the billing system and financial report system.
• Responsible for Bank Account Reconciliation Internal Controls including reconciling bank statements within 30-days of receipt.
• Responsible for Investments Internal Controls including bidding and recording investment activities.
• Responsible for Budget Compliance Internal Controls including budget tracking and reviewing.
• Responsible for Grant Compliance Internal Controls including review and ensures grants receivable, revenue, and expenditures are accurate at each month-end.
• Responsible for Bond Compliance Internal Controls including post issuance continuing disclosure and arbitrage rebate requirements.
• Responsible for Lease Compliance Internal Controls including review and ensures lease receivable, revenue, and expenditures are accurate at each month-end.
• Responsible for Financial Inventory Internal Controls including quarterly inventory balances.
• Responsible for Capital Assets Internal Controls including quarterly capital asset balances.
• Responsible for Quarterly Report Preparation Internal Controls including reconciling funds and accounts for quarterly reporting.
• Responsible for Audit Preparation Internal Controls including answering audit inquiries.
• Responsible for ACFR Preparation Internal Controls including grants, bonds, leases and other activity.
• Complies with the 60-day deadline for closing the financial period and completion of financial statements, as required by the State.

D. Auditing

• Responsible for assisting external auditor with the audit of financial management systems; provides information to auditors as requested.
• Performs internal audits as appropriate and timely.

E. External Reporting

• Responsible for submission and monitoring of any State or Federal grant received
• Assists in preparation and review of the ACFR
• Responsible for Continuing Debt Disclosure for the ACFR and Bond Issues

III. Other Job Duties

Performs other job duties as assigned, including:

• Performs related duties and responsibilities to assist other employees in the department as needed.
• Gathers and analyzes financial information to assist Management with expenditures and budget tracking, financial analysis, and other areas as needed.
• Advises on problems and suggest improvements to minimize risk.

IV. Primary Job Challenges

Primary challenges of this position include understanding financial documents and effectively communicating financial information to different departments as needed.

V. Equipment Operated

Computer and other office equipment such as printers and fax machines

VI. Key Competencies Required

• Job Content Knowledge: Has thorough knowledge of the policies, procedures, and activities of the City and accounting practices as they pertain to the performance of duties relating to the position of Financial Analyst. Is very knowledgeable of accounting practices as necessary in the completion of daily responsibilities. Is capable of reading and using ledgers, bank statements, billing invoices, and insurance forms. Is familiar with bidding procedures. Perform word processing and data entry functions. Is knowledgeable of personnel rules and regulations and principals of supervision. Has comprehensive knowledge of the terminology, principles, and methods utilized within the department. Is knowledgeable and proficient with computers.

• Language Skills: Read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents. Respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community. Write speeches and articles for publication that conform to prescribed style and format. Effectively present information to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.

• 
  Mathematical Skills: Calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, area, circumference, and volume. Apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry.

• 
  Reasoning Ability: Define complex problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

• 
  Teamwork: Develops constructive and cooperative working relationships with others. Encourages others to express their ideas and opinions. Provides input into identifying and solving problems. Anticipates need of others for information about job tasks and work environment and provides it to them in a timely manner. Willingly assists others with job tasks when appropriate.

VII. Physical Demands and Work Environment

Physical Demands: Performance of the essential duties of this job requires the incumbent to:

• Remain in a stationary position 50% of the time.
• Occasionally move about inside the office/building to access file cabinets, office machinery, the public, etc.
• Constantly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, copy machine, computer, printer, and telephone.
• Regularly positions self to maintain office area and items needed to complete daily tasks.
• Regularly communicates information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• Occasionally moves/transports up to 10 pounds.

Work Environment: Performance of the essential duties of this job requires:

The work environment is moderately noisy (examples: business office with computers and printers, light traffic).

VIII. Qualifications

Education and Experience: The required knowledge, skill, and abilities to satisfactorily perform job duties are normally acquired through obtaining a bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, finance, or business administration, plus a minimum of four (4) to six (6) years related experience and/or training; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Preferred Certifications/Licenses:

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Certified Municipal Finance Officer (CMFO)

Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) certification