Budget Analyst

University Overview
The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.
Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.
The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.
Job Description Summary
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is one of the nation's oldest and most distinguished law schools. The School offers a unique approach, incorporating cross-disciplinary legal education, a distinctly collaborative environment, and an innovative curriculum to enrich student learning. The small and highly interdisciplinary faculty achieves scholarly excellence while emphasizing a shared effort to advance understanding of the law. The result is an intellectual community that bridges traditional boundaries and disciplines within a renowned internal culture of collegiality, making the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School an extraordinarily supportive academic community for all its members.
Reporting to the Budget Director, this position will provide analytical, project support on business process redesigns and technical support for Penn Carey Law School Business Affairs activities, including support, development and maintenance of various reporting and management of data sources. The Budget Analyst will assist the Business Affairs team with defining business function needs, determining the most efficient technological tools, creating the necessary applications, and documenting the financial and transactional processes.
Job Description
The Budget Analyst will be expected to master and incorporate the latest technologies into the development of routine and non-routine reports and analysis in support of internal and external financial reporting initiatives for the Law School. This often requires integrating information from various enterprise management systems such as Oracle Hyperion, BEN Financials, Workday, SAP Business Objects (data warehouse), Pennant Student (NGSS) and other systems as needed. The Budget Analyst will support the execution of the Law School quarterly budget forecast planning cycles, delivery of monthly departmental management reports, perform variance analysis reporting, and reconciliations of key business transactions. This position will maintain collaborative working relationships with the Business Affairs team, a wide constituency of Law departmental administrators, and colleagues across the university.
Responsibilities/Essential Functions:
In all tasks, the Budget Analyst is expected to take a professional service orientation approach in facilitating success of Law School leadership initiatives and unique operational goals of departments. The Budget Analyst will contribute to the Law School's success in the following ways:
Systems and Data Information Management
Develop knowledge of relevant data, how to access data, and maintain the data in a systematic form. The Budget Analyst will investigate, document, organize, and connect key financial data sources for internal and external reporting needs.

• Develop new tools and means to use data at the school level. Develop a 'Data and Report Dictionary' for relevant financial reports and associated financial input drivers.
• Identify and resolve required information flows and content issues.
• Maintain accurate and complete records and documentation in electronic filing system following guidelines for record retention, storage, compilation, coding, updating, and purging.
• Develop complex Excel and SAS macros [and/or SQL knowledge] for creating variables, cleaning, and preparing analytic datasets, reporting output, and quality assurance checks on the data.
• Lead in the design, development, and maintenance of appropriate data structures from multiple source systems.
• Implement and maintain a Law School chart of accounts database of revenue and expenses.
• Identify trends or patterns that result in data quality issues. Monitor administrative and financial data for accuracy, create audit reports. Make recommendations to improve system design, data entry and processes to ensure accurate data.

Financial Reporting and Analysis Support
Perform various financial and data analyses to support the vision and mission of the Law School. Analyses will be informed by expert use of Penn's data warehouse collections, including financial, payroll, research, and student data.

• Manage the development, maintenance, analysis, and distribution of departmental monthly budget summary reports.
• Assist with the preparation and monitoring of executive-level financial summary reports and constructively analyze operating results.
• Perform data analysis and help design complex financial models based on business or research requirements.
• Identify, obtain, and perform in-depth analysis of appropriate data relevant to budget and planning issues and processes.
• Maintain distribution of departmental monthly open encumbrances reports.
• Lead budget summary reporting review meetings with a wide constituency of Law departmental administrators.
• Assist the Budget Director in improving the budget planning and reporting processes and enhancing the analytic capacity of the Business Affairs team.

Training & Knowledge Sharing

• Develop an expert understanding of current budget system needs, document and disseminate information to the Business Affairs team.
• Work with other members of the Business Affairs office to develop and deliver training modules incorporating best practices for unit budgeting and on-going monitoring.
• Ensure that the Business Affairs team is aware of the 'Data and Report Dictionary', can access, and how best to use recommended reports to inform their work.

Business Operations Planning & Processing

• Assist in the planning and execution of quarterly budget forecast process.
• Perform monthly reconciliations, processing, and reporting of key revenue and expenditure accounts including Cvent revenue journals and Law School faculty research accounts.
• Assist Business Affairs team in completing fiscal year-end account closing procedures.
• Process financial transactions as needed.

Other Duties as Assigned

• Special projects as assigned.

Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree with 3 to 5 years of related experience in accounting or budgeting in a university/corporate environment or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and as a team member.
• High-level understanding of data structures and relationships; apply formulas to define business variables that are meaningful to the Law School; and ability to use query and reporting tools, such as SQL to navigate data from a variety of computer platforms and databases.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and professional service oriented.
• Detail-oriented and demonstrates sound judgment, with ability to manage competing priorities.
• Must project a professional image and demonstrate the ability to diplomatically handle a wide variety of highly confidential matters.
• Must possess a strong understanding of sources and uses of funds and general budget procedures.
• Possess a team player attitude.

Preferred:

• Advanced skills in Microsoft Applications and on-line systems.
• Working knowledge of accounting, budgeting, other enterprise performance management systems, and data warehouses such as Oracle Hyperion, Workday, and SAP Business Objects.
• Understand the Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) model approach to budgeting in a large university or complex organizational setting.