Faculty Financial Advisors
Background
The Board of Trinity College approved in 2004 a three-Faculty structure to facilitate the devolution of budgets and financial decision making to academic units. The Dean of each Faculty has overall budgetary authority and responsibility for the totality of the Faculty budgets, including research, self-financing activities and the budgets of Research Institutes and Centres housed within the Faculties. Schools operating within the Faculty structure have financial control of their own budgets, within College guidelines. The Faculty facilitates decision making in respect of financial, staffing and strategic planning for the Faculty as a whole.
To facilitate the devolution of budgets and financial decision making to the academic units, three Faculty Financial Advisors have been assigned to assist the Deans of each Faculty.
Main Activities
The Financial Advisors assist and support their designated Faculty with the following areas:
- Financial planning, forecasting and sustainability;
- Annual budgeting, medium-term resource allocation and linking of resource allocation to strategic and operational planning;
- Identification of new sources of income and contribution analysis of new proposals (including new course proposals);
- Identification and confirmation of funding for faculty staffing;
- Analysis of new inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional initiatives;
- Monitoring of income, expenditure and reserves explaining any movements or variances from budget;
- Identification of plans to address deficits where relevant;
- Liaising with central administration and external stakeholders at both strategic planning level and on day-to-day matters;
- Setting up and budgeting of new research accounts, monitoring of financial position, and liaising with central research administration;
- Monitoring and communication regarding endowment, benefaction and philanthropic funding;
- Compliance with and assistance with the implementation of approved College financial policies;
- Compliance with and assistance with the implementation of taxation and procurement policies and legislative obligations.
- Involvement in other adhoc finance related projects as required