Financial Controls Manager (Research) - #2102401

2yr Contract (likely to extend)

Job Purpose
The University of Edinburgh's research activity is central to its Strategy 2030, accounting for approximately £400m in income annually across 6,500 research accounts.
This role is dedicated to enhancing the financial control framework for research across the University, by identifying and strengthening the relationships between the various research stakeholders (Edinburgh Research Office (ERO), schools and finance) and provide robust assurance on research balance sheet reconciliations, project suspense accounts and the preparation of research accruals and provisions.

Main responsibilities

1. Advanced Research Reconciliations & Analysis

• Lead the improvement of the Research Deferred Income Account reconciliation process, moving beyond simple categorisation to a comprehensive reconciliation between the General Ledger portfolio codes and the Projects Ledger.
• Establish monthly controls to identify and resolve discrepancies where transactions are posted to the General Ledger but fail to interface with the Projects Ledger, preventing the risk of underclaiming income from funders.
• Oversee the reconciliation and clearance of research-related clearing accounts and the Research Debtors Adjustment account.

2. Management of Research Project Lifecycle & Backlogs

• Work with ERO to manage a project to clear the backlog awards that are past their expected close date but remain "active" on the finance system.
• Lead the financial closure of "legacy codes" (projects ending before 31 July 2022), ensuring final reconciliations are performed and remaining balances are appropriately released or written off.
• Collaborate with the ERO and Schools to clear aged salary.

3. Financial Provisioning & Accruals

• Work with colleagues and advisors to regularly assess and record an aged debt provision specifically for the research debtors ledger.
• Work across Finance, ERO, and Schools to streamline the monthly Research Partner Accrual process, ensuring a reliable estimate is reached efficiently for year-end reporting.

4. Governance and Process Improvement

• Act as a key liaison to establish a formal Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (RACI) framework between the finance team and ERO, defining clear accountabilities for research accounting and financial control.
• Investigate and implement system-level controls in finance system to prevent inappropriate postings to awards once they have been financially closed.

Knowledge Skills and Experience

• Professional Qualification: CCAB qualified accountant with significant post-qualification experience in a large, complex public sector or higher education environment.
• Technical Research Finance Knowledge: Deep understanding of Research Accounting, Full Economic Costing, TRAC rates, and the complexities of research overhead recovery.
• Systems Expertise: Proficient in Oracle P&M (Projects and General Ledger modules) and Worktribe.
• Complex Data Analysis: Advanced Excel skills and experience managing high-volume reconciliations involving thousands of unique portfolio codes.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to work across departmental boundaries (Finance, Research Offices, and Academic Schools) to resolve systemic process issues

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