Responsibilities

The role of the Finance Director is central to operational and strategic planning, working closely with support organizations, department chairs, principal stakeholders, and investors to ensure that the University’s priorities are accomplished.

GW’s Finance Directors' contributions in knowledge, skill, and expertise on an array of topics and subject matter are invaluable assets to the university across many areas of responsibility.

Administration

GW’s Finance Directors disseminate information policies, regulations and reporting requirements.

They participate in meetings with senior managers, provide advice and updates on financial matters, direct and supervise, and recommend access and training for appropriate departmental staff on financial and human resource systems.

Finance Directors partner with external stakeholders, especially vendors, and supportively come together to receive relevant information and training regarding functions and responsibilities.

Financial Operations

Finance Directors assist in forecasting trends, environmental analysis, identifying and evaluating issues, exploring new opportunities, and providing the required guidance for fiscal operations to their designated school or division.

In addition, they monitor and verify all income and expenditures to ensure accuracy and compliance in annual budget calls, accounting, purchasing, payroll, human resources, and grant management.

Finance Directors recommend, establish, implement, and monitor the application of internal controls within the unit while in compliance with university policies and procedures.    

In conjunction with the Procurement and Tax Departments, they work to ensure the proper processes are in place to select, classify, register, and pay suppliers.

Finance Directors assist the Fixed Asset team with university property assessments, and are responsible for retention of important documents.

Budgetary Cycle Management

Finance Directors partner with the University Budget Office (UBO), and together they manage the complete budget cycle including spring budget call, budget monitoring throughout the year, and monthly and seasonal budget closeout.

• Budget Call - Finance Directors, Vice Presidents, department chairs, and the Deans' Offices cooperatively implement methods and procedures to develop financial business cases for new activities, programs, and annual budgets.
• Budget Monitoring - Finance Directors propose alternate spending and revenue stream strategies. They collaborate with UBO to implement required budget adjustments, coordinate salary and operating budget changes, and finalize forecast reports for the fall fiscal year.
• Budget Closeout - Finance Directors review year-end budget reports, validate reports provided by UBO, and implement required adjustments.

Contract Management

The Finance Director reviews all aspects of a contract for potential approval prior to a school or division’s agreement to contract terms and conditions on behalf of the university and before signature authorization.

The Finance Director must follow proper procedures regarding supplier selection, ensure suppliers register GW via the iSupply website, maintain a contract log, and retain contract documentation.

Human Resource Management & Development and Payroll

Finance Directors work closely with the Human Resources Client Partners (HRCP) to manage the compensation process within their school or division, including merit increases, special compensation requests, and any additional compensation changes.

They monitor personnel status to ensure compliance, including FLSA and completion of I-9 documentation. Finance Directors must confirm all GW employees are classified properly and compliant with all processes established by the GW Tax Department. They approve personnel actions, job postings, change in employee status, and hiring proposals.

The Finance Directors monitor payroll spending, timekeeping, and labor distribution with GW Payroll Services. 

Internal Controls & Oversight

Finance Directors play a key role in ensuring an appropriate internal control structure has been established and communicated to department leaders and staff.

Key department internal controls are formally documented and approved by the Dean or Division leader and distributed at least semi-annually to all employees within the unit who have responsibility for financial functions or processes. This helps to ensure transactions are executed in accordance with management's general or specific authorization.

Once internal controls are established, Finance Directors must ensure that activities are monitored in order to guarantee the reliability of accounting and/or operational controls.

Examples of monitoring include review of monthly unit reports at an account level for any unusual variances or transactions, analytical review of actual vs. budgeted results and actual vs. prior year expenses, trend analysis, and detailed review of expense reports prior to approval.

Finance Directors provide oversight of the internal controls by pointing out errors, omissions, and inconsistencies in the application of the procedures in order to ensure compliance.