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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Administrator

💰 $45,000 - $75,000

OperationsAdministrationFinanceOffice Management

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Administrator is a cross-functional operations and administrative leader who ensures efficient office operations, reliable financial processing, and clear internal controls. This role owns routine financial and administrative workflows, drives continuous process improvements, manages vendor and contract relationships, and acts as a primary point of contact for internal stakeholders and external partners. SEO keywords: business administrator, office management, financial administration, budgeting, vendor management, ERP, compliance, process improvement.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Administrative Assistant supporting finance or operations teams
  • Office Manager at a small-to-medium enterprise
  • Junior Accountant or AR/AP clerk

Advancement To:

  • Office Manager / Senior Business Administrator
  • Operations Manager / Business Operations Lead
  • Finance Manager or Operational Excellence Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Project Coordinator or Project Administrator
  • HR Generalist or People Operations Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Own end-to-end accounts payable and accounts receivable processes, ensuring invoices are processed, coded, approved, and paid on time while reconciling vendor statements and resolving discrepancies.
  • Prepare monthly and quarterly financial reports, consolidating departmental budgets, variance analyses, and explanations for leadership to support strategic decision-making.
  • Develop, maintain, and monitor departmental budgets by partnering with department heads to forecast expenditures, identify savings opportunities, and ensure budget compliance.
  • Coordinate payroll preparation with HR and external payroll providers, verify timesheets, manage deductions, and ensure timely and accurate payroll submission.
  • Manage vendor sourcing and procurement activities including issuing RFPs/RFQs, reviewing proposals, negotiating terms and pricing, and maintaining approved vendor lists to optimize cost and service quality.
  • Administer contract lifecycle activities—drafting standard agreements, tracking renewal dates, ensuring required insurance and compliance documentation, and escalating contractual risks to legal or leadership as needed.
  • Implement and enforce office policies and procedures to streamline administrative workflows, improve compliance, and maintain consistent service levels across facilities and teams.
  • Oversee facilities and office services including lease coordination, office supplies procurement, workspace allocation, vendor maintenance contracts, and health & safety compliance.
  • Act as the primary liaison for external vendors, legal, tax, and audit partners; coordinate information requests and support internal and external audit processes.
  • Maintain and optimize ERP and financial systems (NetSuite, SAP, QuickBooks, or similar) to ensure master data integrity, timely reconciliations, and efficient transaction processing.
  • Create and maintain operational dashboards and KPIs with Power BI, Tableau, or Excel to provide leadership with actionable insights into cash flow, headcount, expenses, and productivity metrics.
  • Manage company insurance, licenses, and regulatory filings—ensuring submissions are current, renewals are processed, and documentation is stored and accessible.
  • Lead invoice dispute resolution with customers and vendors, investigate root causes, document outcomes, and update processes to prevent recurrence.
  • Support month-end and year-end close activities by preparing journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and documentation to support auditors and finance leadership.
  • Facilitate onboarding and offboarding logistics for employees, including workstation setup, IT/phone provisioning, access rights, and termination checklists in partnership with IT and HR.
  • Drive process improvement initiatives using lean principles—map current-state processes, propose solutions, pilot changes, and measure outcomes to reduce cycle times and error rates.
  • Coordinate cross-functional projects such as system migrations, policy rollouts, and space planning; develop project plans, track milestones, and communicate status to stakeholders.
  • Maintain confidential personnel and financial records in accordance with company policy and data protection regulations, ensuring secure handling and access controls.
  • Prepare board and executive presentation materials, consolidating financial trends, operational highlights, and project updates into clear, professional decks.
  • Lead small teams or supervise administrative staff and temporary resources; provide coaching, assign work, and manage performance to deliver operational objectives.
  • Ensure procurement and spending adhere to company approval workflows; review expense reports for policy compliance and escalate irregularities for review.
  • Provide business continuity planning support—maintain emergency procedures, support remote work logistics, and coordinate contingency vendor arrangements.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and exploratory analysis by pulling transactional data, performing cleanses, and delivering clear tables and written interpretations to stakeholders.
  • Contribute to the organization's data and systems roadmap by providing requirements, user stories, and prioritization feedback for ERP, CRM, and reporting tool enhancements.
  • Collaborate with IT and data engineering teams to translate business reporting needs into technical requirements, validate data lineage, and test dashboards or integrations.
  • Participate in agile ceremonies or project planning sessions for operations and finance system improvements, providing domain expertise and acceptance criteria.
  • Assist in development and documentation of SOPs, internal controls, and training materials to enable consistency across remote and on-site teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Financial reporting and reconciliation (monthly close, journal entries, accruals)
  • Accounts payable/receivable processing and vendor management
  • Budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis
  • Proficiency with accounting/ERP systems (NetSuite, QuickBooks, SAP, Oracle)
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, macros) and Google Sheets
  • Experience with reporting and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker)
  • Contract administration and procurement processes
  • Payroll coordination and familiarity with payroll systems (ADP, Paychex)
  • Familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot) and integrating admin workflows
  • Basic tax, audit, and compliance knowledge applicable to business operations
  • Project management fundamentals and tools (Asana, Jira, MS Project)
  • Experience maintaining confidential HR and financial records and controls

Soft Skills

  • Strong written and verbal communication tailored to executives, vendors, and team members
  • High attention to detail with rigorous accuracy in financial and administrative tasks
  • Excellent organizational and time-management skills with the ability to prioritize competing deadlines
  • Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building capabilities
  • Problem-solving mindset with a continuous improvement orientation
  • Discretion and integrity when handling confidential information
  • Adaptability to changing priorities and fast-paced environments
  • Initiative and ownership mindset—able to drive projects from concept to completion
  • Collaborative team player who can also work independently
  • Coaching and people management skills for supervising administrative staff

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Management, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus a relevant certification (e.g., CPA, CMA, PMP, Certified Administrative Professional) or an associate degree with significant relevant experience.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Finance or Accounting
  • Management or Organizational Leadership
  • Economics
  • Office Administration / Administrative Sciences

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–7 years of progressive experience in business administration, office management, finance operations, or related functions.

Preferred:

  • 4–6+ years supporting mid-size or larger organizations with demonstrated experience in ERP systems, budgeting, vendor and contract management, payroll coordination, and leading small teams. Prior exposure to audits, regulatory compliance, and process improvement initiatives is highly desirable.
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