Expense Compliance Specialist I, Accounts Payable - UT System Administration

The Expense Compliance Specialist I plays a vital role in auditing and analyzing financial transactions across the University of Tennessee System. This position supports a highly specialized central team responsible for reviewing approximately 63,000 expense reports annually, totaling over $115 million in travel expenses, procurement card transactions, AP invoices, and out-of-pocket reimbursements. The team serves multiple UT campuses and institutes, including UT Knoxville, UT Institute of Agriculture, UT Southern, and the Institute for Public Service. It also manages system-wide contingent worker reviews and administers the UT cash advance program.

This team is instrumental in maintaining financial integrity across the UT System. By auditing high-volume, high-value transactions and supporting ERP functionality, the team helps safeguard university resources and ensures compliance with complex regulatory requirements.

TWO POSITIONS WILL BE FILLED FROM THIS SEARCH

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Audit & Compliance

• Perform pre-payment audit of expense reports for UTK, UTS, UTSI, IPS, UTIA, and UTSA to ensure policy and tax compliance.
• Conduct system-wide post-payment audits to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse across various expense types.
• Review contingent worker expense reports for adherence to US tax laws and UT policies.
• Audit travel-related payables invoices for policy compliance.
• Audit all manual expense reports as needed and route for appropriate entry and payment in ERP once approved.
• Review, evaluate, and approve or deny cash advance requests for all campuses and institutes based on policy, business purpose, and risk exposure.
• Ensure compliance with IRS regulations, federal and state statutes, and UT policies across all campuses and institutes.
• Process special handling requests as needed, coordinating with AP and Treasury teams.

Additional Duties

• Perform key administrative tasks including phone support, expense report corrections, and mail handling.
• Research and appropriately resolve returned check payments for expense reports.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Successful candidate will hold a high school diploma or equivalent and 1-2 years of AP or Expense management experience; 1-2 years of customer service experience as well as experience using financial systems or ERP platforms to enter, review, approve, correct, track, or report transactions. Experience managing detailed, high-volume work while meeting deadlines and maintaining accuracy. Experience handling confidential financial, tax, payroll, or personally identifiable information with discretion.

Additional knowledge, skills, and abilities required:

• Knowledge of financial-records management, confidentiality requirements, and the importance of accurate, complete, and timely documentation.
• Skill in reviewing high volumes of financial transactions accurately while meeting established processing deadlines and maintaining consistent application of policy.
• Skill in using ERP systems, spreadsheet software, email, and other business applications to review transactions, track work, correct errors, and communicate results.
• Ability to apply policies consistently across multiple campuses, departments, and transaction types while exercising sound judgment in situations that require interpretation or escalation.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a centralized compliance team and provide responsive customer service while upholding institutional requirements.

Preferred education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Associate's degree
• Experience in higher education, government, nonprofit, or another complex, highly regulated organization.
• Experience auditing travel and entertainment expenses, procurement card transactions, accounts payable invoices, or out-of-pocket reimbursements.
• Experience with an ERP expense-management system, such as SAP Concur, Oracle, Workday, Banner, PeopleSoft, or a comparable platform.
• Skill in researching complex or unusual transactions, interpreting policy requirements, and documenting clear, defensible audit conclusions.
• Knowledge of ERP-based financial processes and the relationship between expense-report review, approvals, payment processing, corrections, and reporting.
• Ability to recognize potential indicators of financial risk, policy violations, duplicate payments, inadequate support, improper tax treatment, or misuse of University resources.

Application Process
For full consideration, applications should be accompanied by a letter of interest, a resume, and three professional references. Review of applications will begin immediately.      

Benefits and Compensation
Compensation for the position is budgeted for $21.63 to $26.44 / hour ($45,000 - $55,000 / year)

The University offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits and much more. Additionally, Tennessee residents do not pay a state income tax. For more information on the University of Tennessee's benefits, visit https://hr.tennessee.edu/benefits/