Business Manager

Position Overview

The Business Manager for Study Abroad & Global Engagement (SAGE) is responsible for the management of over $5 million annual spending. Key responsibilities of the position include: strategic fiscal analysis; planning and management of the fee-supported administrative unit; review of over 40 KU Endowment Association accounts for scholarships and development; budget development, revenue/expenditure reconciliation and financial planning for 180 programs annually;

management of debit cards for faculty-led programs; and oversight of payments, billings, and student fee revenue.

The Business Manager works independently and exercises significant discretion in the area of financial management. This is a full-time regular appointment subject to review and reappointment. This position reports to the Director of Study Abroad & Global Engagement.

• Manages approximately $4 million in program fee revenue and expenditures across approximately 180 study abroad program accounts;
• In collaboration with Program Coordinators, develops individual study abroad program budgets that set student participant program fees for approximately 80 semester and academic year programs and 70 faculty-led or short-term programs annually, applying standardized budgeting practices across programs to ensure consistency within expense categories;
• Ensures the financial feasibility of each study abroad program through strategic budget planning and management, assessing and weighing variables such as potential student participant pools, program staffing, individual and shared costs, historical cost data, special concerns of the academic department, and foreign currency exchange rates.
• Identifies university tuition and housing increases for exchange program budgets ensuring sufficient funding to cover imbalances in inbound/outbound student mobility annually and over time;
• Informs faculty directors on KU and State of Kansas fiscal regulations regarding international travel and appropriate use of program advance funds; assists faculty with debit card usage and available balances; provides travel request details to facilitate KU's travel requests in the Concur system;
• Manages over 50 faculty debit cards and related bank account, and manages travel advances for faculty directors per University processes; collaborates with KU central offices to streamline business processes; evaluates new banking products for fit with SAGE operations; and audits program advance reconciliation reports upon conclusion of each program to ensure legitimate use of funds;
• Manages institutional agreements with two international currency providers for international vendor payments made by wire transfer; solicits exchange rate quotes of major currencies to determine fluctuations and monitors variations of rates between providers;
• Develops annual financial reports, assesses long-term sustainability, and provides strategic models to achieve or maintain financial feasibility for future iterations of each program.

• Submits all transactions via KU TDX ticket system for the following: invoices and pcard receipts, new vendors; internal budget transfers and payment corrections; invoices for external customers and internal KU departments;
• Processes all deposits of miscellaneous funds received in the office;
• Approves transactions keyed by the SSC from TDX requests to include Pcards, Invoices, Travel Request/Authorizations and Travel Reimbursements;
• Maintains oversight of departmental P-Card managing usages, providing receipts for reconciliation process and managing the necessary credit limit;
• Manages assignment of codes for cost centers (Rev & Exp) and Item Types (student account charges) to align with related study abroad programs;
• Manages the reallocation of administrative fees from the appropriate program cost centers.
• Reviews student fee payment data reports by academic term for each study abroad program;
• Creates reports from faculty director receipts, encompassing a wide variety of foreign currencies and foreign languages and monitoring the appropriate use of program funds.
• Reconciles financial activity for each program, maintaining detailed accounting of revenue/expenditures on a per program basis to support future budget planning;

• Develops detailed current and continuous financial analyses for the SAGE Director to support planning and strategic unit decision-making;
• Recommends strategies or actions on the part of the unit to maintain fiscal health and adjust to shifting budgetary models or regulatory landscapes;
• Collaborates with KU Budget Office, Controller, Financial Accounting and Cash Control, Student Accounts and Receivables, Procurement, Payables, and International Affairs to ensure compliance with university and state regulations;
• Stays abreast of changes to university fiscal policy and provides expertise to SAGE…