WHAT DOES A FINANCE SPECIALIST DO?
Published: Mar 20, 2025 - The Finance Specialist manages day-to-day system administration, including the setup of new GL accounts and updates to procurement approval hierarchies. Streamlines financial reporting by developing new reports and supports system improvements in collaboration with IT. Facilitates user training, maintains accounting policies, and contributes to regulatory compliance and audit preparations.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Finance Specialist
1. Finance Specialist Duties
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure compliance with contract and subcontract documents to include clauses, terms and conditions, funding requirements, and any other administrative requirements.
- Interdepartmental Coordination: Interface with the Accounting Department regarding cost reporting issues, deliverables, and other reporting requirements; review contract invoices.
- Financial Monitoring: Monitor budget expenditures authorized, track monthly financial execution, and analyze financial information to determine present and future financial performance; identify budget and execution trends and recommend improvements accordingly.
- Financial Evaluation: Evaluate operating records, prepare studies, reports, and analyses in areas such as budgets, forecasts, financial plans, governmental requirements, statistical reports, cash flow projections, and business forecasts.
- Data Management: Develop spreadsheets and databases of pertinent information for use in analyzing future contract plans and forecasts.
- Strategic Coordination: Coordinate with all levels of management to gather, analyze, summarize, and prepare recommendations regarding contract and financial plans, trended future requirements, government requirements, and operating forecasts.
- Expense Review: Review staff expense reports to ensure compliance with corporate and contract policies, approved travel plans, and travel cost estimates; review expense reports to ensure that all supporting documentation and invoices are included.
- Audit Assistance: Assist in government-requested and internal audits of travel expenses.
- Training Support: Assist in expense report training, and the identification and sharing of lessons learned and best practices.
- Financial Reporting: Work with the Asset Manager/Team to deliver month-close and forecast submissions, ensuring that information is accurately prepared, reviewed, and approved at appropriate times to meet internal Hess reporting deadlines.
- Analysis Coordination: Coordinate monthly review and provide detailed analysis to the Business Unit for Production, Capex, Revenues, and First Spend.
- Joint Venture Management: Work with OBO operators and Hess JV Accounting to review and understand the monthly billings, cash calls, and forecasts, and ensure that the consequences of operations are appropriately captured in the monthly close and forecast processes.
- Forecasting Support: Support Cost Center Owners with monthly forecasting and accrual activities; review financials for accuracy and report out.
2. Finance Specialist Details
- Accounts Management: Process all accounts payable, match purchase orders to purchases using appropriate USAS coding, ensure items have been received (match pack slips), contact vendors, and clear statements.
- Financial Review: Review daily credit card, cash, and checks income, and ensure accounts and funds are correctly aligned.
- Deposit Preparation: Prepare and make deposits when needed, according to guidelines set forth by auditors and ensure appropriate backup is on file.
- Documentation Management: Compile, code, and submit credit card backup and log for credit card purchases and achieve a zero balance credit card balance monthly.
- Vendor Communication: Review outstanding checks that have not been cashed and follow up with vendors for a resolution.
- Data Analysis: Analyze purchases across the network to maximize savings through data-driven decision-making and trend analysis, and increased alignment across the network.
- Budget Tracking: Create, populate, and update department budget trackers with data from the main budget file.
- Budget Management: Update department budget trackers with all expense and revenue information at all schools.
- Payroll Oversight: Oversee all components of payroll processes including payroll allocations, special payments, and unpaid leaves.
- Payroll Processing: Process payroll and hourly timesheets, allocating correct amounts to designated funds, and ensuring proper accounts are being used.
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure supporting board approval and letters of acceptance are accurate and on file for all payments.
- Purchase Order Management: Manage all purchase orders using appropriate USAS coding.
- Order Review: Review open purchase orders for available balances, update and renew as needed, and track the use of all regular and open purchase orders.
- Expense Allocation: Conduct Network and school bill back for any shared expenses.
- Funds Solicitation: Manage the Solicitation of Funds process including filling and logging approved forms and income tracking.
- Income Coding: Code and submit credit card machine income and maintain the overall digital system.
- Policy Management: Maintain a strong knowledge of finance, pay, and PTO policies in order to easily disseminate information and uphold policies.
- Relationship Maintenance: Maintain a strong relationship with the contracted accounting team.
3. Finance Specialist Responsibilities
- Administrative Support: Support the department manager and the team with all issues.
- Data Entry: Input country-specific data for LGBS.
- Payment Processing: Process emergency bank payments.
- Conflict Resolution: Act as a final escalation point for the account reconciliation process.
- Quality Assurance: Carry out quality control checks (incl. IKS, KPI), issue relevant reports and analysis, and carry out corrections.
- Reporting: Produce relevant reports and statistics.
- Information Provision: Provide information to internal & external customers.
- Communication Management: Deal with internal and external communication.
- Technical Support: Provide technical guidance and support to colleagues with difficult work situations.
- Process Optimization: Monitor and optimize processes in Finance, Treasury & Accounting.
- Transaction Processing: Process accounts receivable transactions in a complete, accurate, and timely manner.
- Financial Analysis: Perform financial analysis and make suggestions to improve performance.
- Business Communication: Draft business communication, ensuring knowledge is shared and colleagues are informed about any changes to processes and procedures.
- Compliance Verification: Check all transactions to verify compliance with fiscal and internal control requirements.
- Control Testing: Participate in internal control testing and help prepare all relevant documentation.
4. Finance Specialist - Revenue and Systems Accountabilities
- System Administration: Support day-to-day system administration (setup of new GL accounts, projects, cost/profit centers, etc.)
- Procurement Management: Maintain up-to-date Procurement Approval hierarchy and implement any process changes.
- Reporting: Develop and implement new reports capturing financial and non-financial metrics.
- Training & Support: Assist in user training and provide ongoing user support to both finance and non-finance users.
- System Integration: Support finance system improvements and work closely with IT and external stakeholders to create efficiencies.
- Documentation: Ensure any system changes are documented and fit for purpose.
- Project Management: Support internal, external, and cross-functional ad-hoc projects to drive automation.
- SOP Development: Assist in preparing Standard Operating Procedures and ensure these are kept up-to-date.
- Policy Management: Assist in preparing, maintaining, and distributing accounting policies.
- Business Support: Provide ongoing support to the wider business in relation to finance queries.
- Audit Preparation: Prepare schedules and supporting documents for the auditors.
- Regulatory Compliance: Assist in completing regulatory information requests (Ofgem).
- Financial Analysis: Prepare detailed analysis of cost and revenue and provide insight into business performance.
- Credit Management: Prepare and analyze Sales Ledger data and work closely with Credit Control Team to support the collections process.
- Cash Management: Prepare in-depth analysis of customer cash receipts.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare month-end financial analysis for inclusion in the month-end pack.
5. Finance Specialist Functions
- Reconciliation Skills: Claim settlement & reconciliation of Distributors.
- Fund Management: Channel Development Fund – Partner Spend, Payout & reconciliation of distributors.
- Claims Validation: Validation of claims and coordination with the finance team for timely settlement.
- Maintenance Oversight: Ensuring the BG of the distributors is well-maintained.
- Compliance Monitoring: Ensuring that distributors are paying all claims to retailers on time.
- Account Management: Retail Account Management – Quarterly NDC; Distributor Account Management – Monthly NDC.
- Reporting Skills: Preparation of Monthly Finance related MIS & Adhoc reports.
- Process Improvement: Identifying the Process improvement opportunities and implementing them at the regional level.
- Audit Assistance: Assist in External / Internal / Group Audits.
- Team Collaboration: Work closely with the Central finance team and assist them in driving core initiatives.
- Support Coordination: Support to Distributor and Sales Team & Coordination with different Departments.
- Data Reconciliation: Reconciliation of monthly billing data to Retail.
- Account Verification: Account/Ledger confirmation from the Distributor.
- Financial Analysis: Quarterly ROI & ITR cum balance sheet study.