Job Title: Accounts Receivable Manager
Reports To : Controller
Department: Business Office
Division: Business & Finance
Revision Date: July 2026
Position Overview:
The Accounts Receivable Manager oversees the daily operations of the College’s accounts receivable, post-award grant administration, student accounts, and cash management functions. This role is responsible for ensuring compliance and accurate reporting for Carleton’s federal, state, and private foundation grants. Additionally, the Manager oversees treasury management functions – including daily cash operations and bank reconciliations – while leading and mentoring a team of three direct reports to deliver exceptional service to Carleton’s students, families, faculty, and staff.
This position reports to the Controller in the Business Office and works closely with staff across several key campus offices.
Compensation:
The expected starting salary range for this position is between $88,000 and $90,900. Actual pay will be adjusted based on job-related factors permitted by law, such as experience and training; licensure and certifications; market factors; departmental budgets; and responsibility.
Essential Job Functions/Responsibilities:
Supervisory Responsibilities
This position directly supervises a team of up to three professionals in the Business Office:
- Cash Specialist and Operations Coordinator: Manages daily campus cash/check deposits, reconcile payment gateways, and serve as the primary liaison for campus cashiering inquiries.
- Staff Accountant: Handles general ledger journal entries, accounts receivable reconciliations, grant reporting and coordination, and supports month-end/year-end closing.
- Student Accounting Manager: Coordinates student billing (tuition, housing, food service, music lessons), third-party billing, 1098-T tax reporting, and loan programs.
Key Responsibilities
- Post-Award Grant Administration & Compliance
- Financial Oversight: Manage the post-award accounting, financial reporting, and compliance for all federal, state, and foundation grants, as well as sub-awards and contracts.
- Federal Drawdowns: Oversee and serve as back-up for fund drawdowns for federal grants for approval by the Controller.
- Uniform Guidance Compliance: Ensure strict adherence to federal regulations under OMB Uniform Guidance and individual agency guidelines.
- Effort Certification: Review and monitor the quarterly effort certification and budget review process for federally funded grants.
- Cost Transfers: Review grant cost transfer requests to ensure compliance and proper justification.
- Audit Prep: Coordinate and review schedules for the annual Single Audit and other external grant audits.
- Campus Collaboration: Communicate regularly with the Grants Office and individual principal investigators (PIs) regarding the financial status and spending of active grants.
- In consultation with the Controller, prepare the submission to negotiate the periodic renewal of the federal indirect cost rate (three-year cycle).
- Manage routine Workday grant configurations and messaging to ensure they support Grant Managers and Finance functionality.
- Cash & Treasury Management
- Cash Flow & Reconciliations: Collaborate with the Cash Specialist to monitor daily cash positions, coordinate bank and wire transfers, prepare cash flow projections, and oversee bank account reconciliations.
- Internal Controls & PCI Compliance: Support, document and enforce strong internal controls and procedures for cash handling and campus-wide PCI compliance.
- Software Configurations: Oversee routine Workday banking settlement configurations and automated messaging to ensure seamless financial operations; manage regular system testing to protect financial reporting integrity.
- Accounts Receivable & Student Billing Oversight
- Operational Oversight: Provide leadership to the Student Accounting Manager regarding term billing cycles, refund processing, and the application of financial aid or other credits to accounts.
- Workday @ Carleton Administration: Serve as the primary Business Office lead for Workday functionality related to grants, student financials, cashiering, and general ledger AR modules.
- Escalated Problem Resolution: Act as a resource for the team to resolve complex student billing discrepancies or sensitive collection accounts.
Additional Responsibilities
- Assist with the preparation of the College’s annual audited financial statements.
- Complete annual surveys that report on Carleton’s grant and sponsored research activity.
- Monitor emerging financial regulations and recommend proactive enhancements to internal control procedures as needed.
- Support Carleton’s emergency operations and continuity of operations plans.
- Ensure adherence to institutional document management and records retention guidelines.
- Manage regular Workday release testing to ensure Workday functionality is implemented in an effective manner that supports financial reporting integrity.
Describe Supervision Received and Exercised:
Receives general direction and routine communication from the Controller, with significant independence to develop, refine and enhance systems and reporting to meet department and College needs.
Directly supervises up to three Business Office staff members.
Works in a highly collaborative manner with the Provost’s Office, Grants Office, Science Education Resource Center (SERC), and principal investigators (PIs) across campus.
Education/Experience:
Required:
- BA or BS degree in a related field
- 5+ years of full-time professional experience in grant management, sponsored research administration, or closely related accounting role.
- Extensive hands-on experience with accounting applications and advanced Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
- Deep working knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Internal Revenue Service regulations and federal grant compliance regulations (Uniform Guidance) as they apply to higher education.
- Proven ability to communicate complex financial and compliance information effectively to non-financial audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to handle highly sensitive financial, personnel, and student data (governed by FERPA) with the utmost discretion, professional integrity, and sound judgment.
- Ability to collaborate with, train, and support co-workers in a close-knit, multidisciplinary environment.
- Excellent observation skills, an inquisitive personality, and a talent for collaborative problem-solving.
Preferred:
- Professional accounting experience within a college, university, or another large non-profit organization.
- Direct supervisory or team leadership experience.
- Hands-on experience working with Workday Financials.
Other Skills/Abilities:
- Ability to translate and communicate accounting policies, compliance rules, and procedures in a clear, easily understood manner.
- Advanced spreadsheet and data-analysis skills to quantify, illustrate, and project routine and complex financial reports, comparisons, and impacts.
- Strong foundational knowledge of finance, higher education accounting, budgeting and internal control frameworks.
- Ability to analyze complex financial data, identify trends, and prepare accurate, compliant financial statements or projections.
- Exceptionally strong time-management stills with a proven ability to prioritize competing deadlines in a dynamic work environment.
NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.
Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the hire is complete. We accept only online applications.
Carleton College is an AA/EEO Employer: We are committed to developing our staff to better reflect the diversity of our student body and American society. Members of underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
Carleton also offers a robust suite of benefits including: A generous 403(b) retirement plan with a 10% employer contribution and 2% employee contribution. Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance. Paid time-off, including 25 annual leave days, 8 paid holidays, and extra days at the end of the calendar year to make a continuous week off before New Year’s. Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for all employees. A dependent tuition program after six years of service.
Founded in 1866, Carleton College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of roughly 2,000 students located in the historic river town of Northfield, Minnesota. Carleton College occupies more than 1,000 scenic acres of campus, arboretum, over 100 campus buildings, and athletic fields. Located 40 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Carleton offers access to the cultural advantages of a major metropolitan area.
