Senior Associate (Nonprofit Financial Management Consultant)

JOB TITLE:Senior Associate
JOB TYPE: Full-time, salaried
REPORTS TO: CEO
POSTED: February 16, 2024
CLOSING: When filled

ABOUT ADVISORS FOR CHANGE:

Mission

Advisors for Change (AFC) implements Financial Management systems that allow mission-driven nonprofits to have greater insight into their financial health. The goal of every engagement is to build a system that can grow with the nonprofit and transfer ownership of it to its internal team. Our clients are organizations that work to improve the lives of individuals and communities through direct services, advocacy, and the arts.

Core Values

Transparent, Accurate, Timely, and Useful: Successful finance systems are built on transparent, accurate, timely, and useful information.

Good, Better, Best: We are committed to life-long learning and work to better ourselves and the nonprofits we serve. We work to make our good better and our better best.

Meet people where they are: We are committed to joining our clients both organizationally and individually where they are without judgment. We work as a team to support each other and allow each team member to work at their own best level. We value diversity and strive to provide a work environment that supports each team member’s individuality.

Courtesy is Contagious: We strive to do our work with a positive approach that lifts up the talents of others.

NATURE OF THE WORK: Our team is passionate about how we work with our nonprofit clients in the process of financial transformation. We are on a quest to help nonprofits expand their Financial Management capacity. Our work involves developing and maintaining Financial Management systems for our clients and then empowering them to gradually take ownership of these systems. We also teach our clients how to use financial information in a meaningful way. Our consulting engagements require deep work with both Financial Management systems and the people who manage them. The joy, and sometimes the challenge, involves switching gears frequently to work with a diverse set of missions and people to maximize their potential. We work to influence our clients to improve their systems without being in full control of the internal inputs to success. This is a rewarding position for a person who finds delight in software solution design and implementation, problem-solving, and the development of people who may be new to Financial Management concepts, softwares, and skills.

REMOTE WORK STRUCTURE: AFC is legally headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, and operates 100% virtually. Team members are required to attend multi-day team retreats outside of their home office locations with expenses paid by the company. These retreats are scheduled no more than twice per year with substantial notice to all employees of the dates and travel arrangements.

POSITION OBJECTIVE: The Senior Associate’s primary objective is to deliver custom Financial Management solutions and support to our clients. The overall responsibilities include accounting work for multiple nonprofit partner organizations; consulting and training staff at client organizations; and coordination of work with client staff and AFC team members to meet client needs efficiently and effectively.

WHAT ARE THE DAILY ACTIONS FOR THE POSITION?

Financial management tasks - The Senior Associate will have direct work which includes month-end closing, developing financial report formats, preparing financial reports, supporting audit preparation for clients, budgeting, presenting budgets and financial reports to multiple audiences including Boards of Directors, as well as special projects.

Meet with clients - AFC establishes standing meetings with clients which can be as often as twice weekly when starting on a new project and as in-frequently as monthly or quarterly with an established client. Each client project is assigned an “owner” who ensures that the standing agenda for the meeting has been updated prior to the meeting and that follow-up items from the prior meeting have been addressed or updated. The meetings often include more than one AFC team member with the Owner taking the lead for AFC.

Review task assignments - AFC uses Smartsheet for task assignments. The Senior Associate will review task assignments and coordinate any changes with the rest of the project team.

Monitor communications - The Senior Associate will use email for communicating with clients and Slack for communicating with other AFC team members. These communications may involve problem-solving or process updates as well as general work coordination.

Meet with AFC team members - AFC team members meet in “working groups” weekly with a standing agenda to address any complex issues that arise and benefit from discussion. The working group meetings are also an opportunity for AFC team members to share progress on professional development goals and updates on life outside of work.

Assessment tasks - The Senior Associate will work with other team members to support AFC’s assessment process which includes interviewing stakeholders at nonprofit organizations, reviewing financial policies and procedures, reviewing general ledger structure and workflow, preparing, and presenting recommendations, and implementing identified solutions.

Monitor progress - The Senior Associate will use AFC’s tools to monitor progress based on the objectives set out in the scope of work for each client.

WHAT SKILLS ARE NEEDED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE POSITION?

Required Experience - A qualified candidate for this position will have CFO and/or Finance Director level experience in a nonprofit organization with an annual budget size of $3 million or greater and have hands-on general ledger accounting skills and experience working in QuickBooks (Desktop or Online).

Core Competencies - AFC has identified 4 core competencies that are essential for success in our work. The Senior Associate is expected to have excellent skills in these 4 areas: Leadership, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, and Learning Agility.

Other Competencies - The Senior Associate should be a self-directed worker who can work independently to move projects forward while collaborating with AFC team members and clients. They need to be well-versed in most, if not all, of the following areas:

• Understanding the full accrual accounting cycle from transaction to monthly close to annual audit
• Ability to analyze the internal control and workflow structure of an organization to make recommendations for improvements
• Preparing internal financial reports appropriate for the report audience
• Understanding federal grant requirements including single audit compliance, federal grant management, and indirect cost rate proposals
• Developing, presenting, and implementing organizational budgets
• Annual audit and 990 preparation for external CPAs to conduct audit and prepare 990
• Ability to set up a chart of accounts structure that meets multiple objectives (i.e., program and grant tracking)
• Awareness of payroll processing compliance issues

Technical Skills - The Senior Associate is expected to have a strong working knowledge of the fundamentals of double-entry bookkeeping and GAAP accounting as it applies to nonprofits.

The Senior Associate must have experience managing a general ledger software product. Experience with implementing new accounting processes and/or software solutions is a plus. The Senior Associate will benefit from having a working knowledge of the following systems. AFC will provide training on the following specific systems if needed.

• QuickBooks Online and apps that integrate with QuickBooks Online such as SaasAnt, and Reach Reporting,
• Excel, including the use of tables, pivot tables, and lookup functions
• BILL (formerly bill.com)
• BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy)
• Smartsheet
• Payroll and time tracking software such as ADP, Paylocity, Paycom, Gusto

OUR ASSETS:

• Earn competitive pay ($80,000‐$100,000) while engaging in mission‐driven nonprofit work
• Benefits include health insurance, PTO, retirement, and life/disability insurance, home office allowance
• In addition to 11 paid holidays, AFC is generally closed on the last Friday of each month (except for January)
• Opportunities to lead, learn, and grow – we thrive on supporting our team member’s professional and personal goals
• A casual working environment that takes the work seriously

OUR HIRING PROCESS:

• All resumes will be screened by an HR contractor who will redact all identifying information to provide AFC screeners with identity-blind applications
• We will read your cover letter first and are interested to know why you might be a good fit for this position. We will read your resume next and are looking for skills and experiences that match the responsibilities of this position
• We will begin to review applications as they are received
• Qualified candidates will be contacted to interview with our Operations Associate for a 30-minute screening interview. Interviews will be scheduled beginning on February 26, 2024
• Selected candidates will be invited to interview with a panel of AFC team members
• Final interviews will be conducted by AFC’s CEO
• Finalists may be asked to provide sample work products
• We will ask for job-related references who can provide a personal account of your work
• We will present a job offer verbally and in writing to the successful candidate
• All offers are made contingent on completing a background check which we will only do after requesting specific permission
• When we remove candidates from consideration, we will notify them via email

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Completion of Indeed's application questions is required for consideration for this position.

Please include a cover letter with your resume when applying for the Senior Associate position.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $80,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and Long-term disability insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance

Schedule: Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm in Eastern or Central Time zones

Work Location: Remote

AFC offers accommodations for alternate abilities, upon request, during the application, interview, and hiring process. If you require an accommodation during the interview process, please let us know. We would also like to know if you have preferred pronouns so that we can address you as you wish.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $80,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work setting:

• Remote

Application Question(s):

• Are you based in the US and legally authorized to work in the US?
• How many years of work experience do you have with not-for-profit organizations?
• How many years of experience do you have working in: QuickBooks Online? QuickBooks Desktop? MIP Fund Accounting?
• What other online accounting software or apps do you have experience with?
• Name three words that your colleagues would use to describe you?
• What is it about AFC and this particular opportunity that leads you to believe you would be a good fit for this position?
• Why are you interested in remote work?

Work Location: Remote