Position Title: Controller

Department: Business Office

Date Prepared: September 2023

FLSA Status: Salary / Full Time

Standard of Christian Commitment

Employees must be professing Christ followers who possesses a strong commitment to the mission and core values of Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptist College, possess a clear understanding of Southern Baptist heritage and culture, and agrees to serve in accordance with and not contrary to the current edition of the Baptist Faith and Message.

Southwestern Seminary, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, is a confessional institution. While the Seminary serves the larger evangelical Christian community, employees must embrace the values and standards the Seminary represents as it fulfills its mission of shaping Christian leaders within our denominational context.

Since job duties require an employee to represents the Seminary to prospective and current students, candidates must abide by the Seminary bylaws, the Employee Handbook, and the current edition of the Baptist Faith and Message as a condition of employment.

Job Summary:

The Controller is responsible for the management of Seminary accounting practices. This is performed through satisfying compliance requirements, assessing, and communicating the financial results accurately, timely and with diligence.

Essential Job Functions / Responsibilities

• Ensure that all internal accounting processes and systems comply with generally accepted accounting principles and the Seminary’s financial plan. Supervise accounting staff including timekeeping, performance management, task delegation, and hiring. Analysis of organizations finances to assess and minimize risk in coordination with the Vice President for Financial Services/CFO. Support the planning and budgeting process for the Seminary by engaging cost center supervisors to educate and field questions.

• Coordinate and supervise the following: Daily cash receipts and disbursements • Journal entry preparation and processing • General ledger maintenance • Subsidiary ledgers for accounts and notes receivable, including delinquent account reviews • Remittance of taxes, filings, and internal reporting in accordance with state and federal law • Bank reconciliations • Cash flow and decisions for short-term investments.

• Prepare, analyze, and present periodic financial reports to the Vice President for Financial Services/CFO. Prepare reports for state and federal agencies and tax authorities and other external agencies in compliance with stated deadlines.

• Preparation of schedules, reconciliations, and reports for the annual financial audit. Assist the external auditors in formulating their annual audit opinion for the financial statements.

• Assist in preparation of annual operating budget and monitor spending throughout fiscal year.

• Possess ability to act and operate independently with minimal daily direction to accomplish needed objectives.

• Supervision of accounts payable function.

• Other duties as assigned by the Vice President for Financial Services/CFO.

Skills / Requirements

• Competencies and abilities required to accomplish tasks applicable to the needs of the organization including strong knowledge of accounting principles, practices, and regulations with exceptional attention to detail.

• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Outlook. Experience with accounting software. Ellucian Colleague a plus.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Ability to effectively communicate financial results to the Vice President for Financial Services/CFO and cost center supervisors both verbally and in writing.

• Demonstrated ability to analyze, compare, and interpret financial data including use of ratio analyses.

• Strong work ethic and initiative with high standards of integrity.

• Ability to multi-task with exceptional attention to detail.

• Good at working with people, team player.

• Remain up to date on current federal, state, and local accounting procedures and regulations to ensure company practices are in full compliance.

• Strive for personal and professional growth in leadership and general ministry effectiveness.

Qualifications / Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting from an accredited university.

• Eight or more years of accounting and management experience in private and/or public accounting with at least three years of Senior Accounting and/or Auditing experience in the not-for-profit sector.

• A Certified Public Accountant licensure in the state of Texas

• Successful completion of background check, MVR, and credit check may be required

Supervision:

• The Controller position supervises six-ten employees.

• The Controller reports directly to the Vice President for Financial Services/CFO.

Decision-Making Responsibilities:

• Extensive responsibility for department/personnel oversite and financial decisions for the institution.

Exposure to Confidential Information

• Yes; Data Steward for Accounting and Finance.

• Appointed by data trustees to implement established data policies. Responsible for overseeing the creation, management, and retention of data in their data domain and advising data trustees on matters related to their subject expertise. Data stewards are responsible for safeguarding data from unauthorized access and abuse through established procedures and training. They authorize the use of data within their functional areas and monitor this use to verify appropriate data access.

• Advises institution on matters related to Accounting and Finance.

• Responsible for creation, management, and retention of data in Accounting and Finance.

• Responsible for authorizing access to data in Accounting and Finance.

• Responsible for monitoring the use of data in Accounting and Finance.

• Responsible for drafting policies that define appropriate use of data in Accounting and Finance.

• Responsible for establishing procedures intended to safeguard data from unauthorized access and abuse.

• Responsible for training users in Accounting and Finance policies and procedures.

Physical Requirements

• Physically able to sit and/or stand for long periods of time.

• Able to use computer and move about office to interact with other staff members,

• Able to lift, up to, 10 pounds to perform tasks that may be assigned during operations.

• Visual acuity to read a computer screen and hand dexterity to use a keyboard and mouse.