Accounting Manager

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 320,000 students in 500 schools and employing over 44,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of the Controller is responsible for the financial operations of Chicago Public Schools, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Internal Accounts, and Corporate Accounting

Job Summary:

Under the general direction of the Controller and reporting directly to the Director of Account, the Accounting Manager, Accounts Receivable (AR) is responsible for the accounts receivables operations for the District and manages the day-to-day activities of the Accounts Receivables team. This AR Manager maintains the integrity of the Accounts Receivable (AR) Module and provides oversight to both the Grants, Gifts, and Donations (GGD) Module and Grants Maintenance Table (GMT). In addition, the AR Manager is responsible to provide financial transparency and alignment with mandatory financial reporting requirements through compliance with Board policy and procedure as well as federal, state, and local regulations. This is a full-time exempt position that will be paid for time worked on a salary basis.

This position will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Monitors daily posting activity and ensures all AR transactions transferred from the AR subledger are accurately posted to the GL; resolves discrepancies; and communicates results to General Accounting through reconciliation analysis.
• Manages all month end closing activities related to AR and ensures all cash receipts are identified and applied properly prior to close.
• Hire, train, provide performance evaluations and professional development opportunities to assigned staff.
• Responsible for the accurate recording of all cash receipts, invoices, credit memos, etc., and timely posting of receivables transactions to the General Ledger (GL).
• Prepares monthly bank reconciliation to ensure all cash receipts for the respective period have been entered and subledger balances match the bank statement.
• Plan and recover all sources of revenue issued to the CPS from governmental entities, including, but not limited to income issued from City, State, and federal funding agencies, rental properties, non-residential tuition, and tax collections.
• Manages invoicing, billing collections and refunds, resolves disputes, and implements corrective action for resolution.
• Manages the appropriation and annual carryover of non-governmental and programmatic revenue streams; coordinates with the Office of Budget and Grants Management on the budget process and leads the budgeting of all special income programmatic and grant funds.
• Tracks and monitors all special income revenues delivered to the District and prepares a monthly report of all acceptance of grants, gifts and donations that exceed $50K and of all refunds that exceed $5K.
• Coordinates with the General Accounting team to resolve complex financial issues related to financial reporting and regulatory compliance.
• Reviews processes annually or as needed to ensure existing processes are streamlined and provides recommendations to improve process efficiencies.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators to achieve team and department objectives.
• Participates in the compilation and analysis of fiscal data for inclusion in the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), as well as other related duties as required.
• Participate in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation for the Accounts Receivable Department.
• Other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, this position must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, accounting, finance or related field
• MBA or Certified Public Accountant (CPA) highly preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years of professional accounting experience with increasing levels of responsibility
• Experience leading teams as an AR, Finance, or Billing Manager or in a leadership role overseeing accounting processes is required
• Experience in school or public sector field highly preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong analytical skills and time management.
• Ability to lead and develop high performing teams.
• Takes Initiative, driven and is committed to public service and education.
• Possess and use critical thinking skills, pays attention to detail, highly organized and has sound judgment.
• Works well under pressure, maintains a positive attitude, and sense of humor at all times.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to interact positively and professionally at all times with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work well in a fast-paced professional environment with limited direction and operate with a sense of urgency in accomplishing goals and objectives while maintaining a strong customer focus.

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.

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