Assistant Vice President, Central Budget

Pay Grade : 36E

Context of the Job :

The Assistant Vice President Central Budget plays a pivotal role in financial management and strategic planning of the University. Working closely with campus partners, the budget office prepares the total university annual all funds budget for presentation and approval by the Board of Trustees. This role involves developing high-level, actionable financial summaries as well as complex analyses that provide critical insight and direction to university leadership, supporting the organization’s comprehensive, multiyear operating and capital budget planning process.

In this position, the Assistant Vice President will take direction from the Sr. Associate Vice President Chief Budget Officer to ensure the development, implementation, and management of the University’s annual operating and capital budgets as well as long-range financial plans. Responsibilities include collecting, reviewing and consolidating budget submissions from the President, Provost, Chief Financial Officer / Senior Vice President (CFO-SVP) and Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer (EVP-COO), and units, analyzing budget and actual results and forecasting future trends, creating financial reports, and presentation materials to inform senior leadership and the Board of Trustees.

The role also oversees the daily activities of the analysts supporting the Chief Financial Officer / Senior Vice President (CFO-SVP) Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer (EVP-COO), and President units, guiding them to maintain high standards of financial analysis and reporting.

Major Responsibilities :

• With oversight from the Sr. Associate VP, coordinate the timeline and preparation of the operating and capital submission packages, including State of Delaware special line submissions and summarization of allocation for campus notification and board presentations.
• Ensure that requirements for information, such as employee counts and financial aid data, are met as outlined in the State epilogue.
• With oversight from the Sr. Associate VP, coordinate the creation of the University’s operating and capital budgets and long-range financial plans.
• Work with campus partners to develop operating, research and capital budgets. Ensure independent information provided by campus partners is validated for all line items, including but not limited to tuition and fees, financial aid, auxiliary services, gifts, endowment income, sponsored activities, employee salaries and benefits and all other non-personnel expenses.
• Primary lead to develop a process which automates the total university and unit budgeting and projection process by transitioning workflows from Excel to Anaplan (or similar system), ensuring improved efficiencies, scalability, and accuracy. Develop and implement dynamic scenario-building capabilities within Anaplan or a similar system to support strategic decision making and enhance flexibility.
• Lead process improvements to enhance efficiency and the quality of financial analysis by creating accurate, reproducible, and actionable reports. Translate analyses and reports into clear, understandable presentations and communications, including website content and emails.
• With oversight from the Sr. Associate VP, establish timelines for the completion of unit budgets to be developed and submitted to the budget office.
• Develop and coordinate the budgets for units without budget expertise, including but not limited to Internal Audit, Government Relations, Legal, university-wide activities, and President’s Office.
• Coordinate the process of translating approved budgets into system loads : the “budget turnaround” (BTA) process from beginning to end including the load into the appropriate financial systems.
• With direction from the Chief Budget Officer, coordinate and develop quarterly board presentations and accompanying internal slides.
• Partner with Finance and Human Resources to ensure accurate personnel projections including benefits analysis for the operating budget.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the budget office and finance office on efforts related to financial reporting improvement and reconciliation.
• Partner with Finance and campus partners on the fiscal year-end budget closeout process, ensuring deficits are resolved in accordance with approved policy.
• Work with the data warehouse and finance teams to ensure that reporting analyses are updated and available for strategic and local decision making.
• Collaborate with Enrollment Management and Institutional Research and Effectiveness to align budget projections with enrollment targets and ensure accurate and timely financial projections.
• Supervise, lead and mentor employees who support the President, EVP-COO and CFO-SVP units.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications :