Budget Analyst

Job Description

Budget Analyst | Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services

The Tone:
This is an entry-point role within the Finance Department’s Budget Division at Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services, an organization dedicated to providing essential fire and emergency services to the community. In this critical position, you will play a vital part in managing the county’s financial resources, ensuring fiscal responsibility, and supporting the operational efficiency of assigned departments. Your work will directly impact the ability of public safety services to meet the needs of Cobb County residents.

The TL;DR
• Role: Early Career
• Location: In-person, Cobb County

• Team: Finance Department’s Budget Division, reporting to a supervisor
• Mission: To prepare, submit, and monitor budgets for assigned departments, ensuring financial compliance and operational efficiency.
• Tech Stack: Excel

What You’ll Actually Do
• Budget Development: Develop, recommend, and publish assigned sections of the county’s biennial budget, involving the review of departmental operating requests, analysis of revenue and expense trends, identification of funding alternatives, and assistance with budget presentations.
• Compliance & Monitoring: Conduct monthly reviews to monitor budgetary compliance, comparing actual spending against approved budgets, identifying potential problems, recommending solutions to department heads, and compiling related reports.
• Fiscal Studies & Research: Design and conduct fiscal studies, research, and operational analyses to assess operations, analyze expenditures for forecasting total year-end projections, and propose recommendations to increase efficiency and accuracy in financial processes.
• Financial Processing: Execute a range of financial transactions, including processing budget transfers in the Financial System, creating funding statements, approving departmental purchases for accuracy and correct object codes, and performing monthly standard reserve entries and biweekly fund balancing.
• Reporting & Data Management: Prepare diverse financial reports, correspondence, expenditure trends, budget allocations, and variance analyses, while also maintaining the Account Dictionary and Revenue Manual, and generating ad hoc reports for open record requests.

The Must-Haves
• Background: A Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance, or a related field, serving as the entry point to budget management within the Finance Department.
• Experience: A minimum of two years of hands-on experience in budget preparation.
• Skills: Demonstrated proficiency in budget development, financial analysis, compliance monitoring, and utilizing financial systems and Excel for data management and reporting.