Principal Account Clerk

About the role

The Principal Account Clerk is the advanced level in the Account Clerk series. Incumbents perform the more difficult clerical financial and statistical record-keeping work, train and serve as a resource to both new and lower level personnel, reconcile cash and accounts, determine fees, receive payments, issue licenses, and prepare and balance invoices.

Responsibilities

• Performs the more difficult clerical financial and statistical record-keeping work
• Trains and serves as a resource to both new and lower level personnel
• Reconciles cash and accounts
• Determines fees from established schedules
• Receives payments
• Issues licenses
• Enters business license data to computer terminal
• Prepares business license bills on computer, checks for accuracy and mails
• Serves as liaison with other departments concerned with business license and permit application
• Computes penalties and interest due
• Issues and maintains records of a variety of permits
• Establishes and maintains account receivable ledgers
• Prepares invoices and maintains records of receipts and delinquencies
• Sends follow-up notices on overdue fees and accounts receivable
• Matches invoices to purchase orders, checks extensions, computes discounts, verifies and resolves account payable problems and otherwise prepares invoices for payment
• Inputs data to computer and balances with control figures
• Verifies warrants, stuffs envelopes and mails accounts payable
• Invoices for utility services
• Provides applications and receives deposits for utility services
• Provides information to the public regarding utility services and charges
• Codes and maintains records of utility services and meters
• Prepares periodic reports and statistical summaries of utility services, meters and related data
• Sells dog licenses and transit passes
• Operates cash register to receive payments
• Prepares new accounts for data entry
• Issues receipts for miscellaneous collections
• Prepares funds for deposit to bank
• Typing forms, schedules, reports, lists and general correspondence
• Fills out materials into established filing systems
• Compiles information for a variety of statistical reports, locating sources of information, devising forms and determining proper format for finished report
• Answers questions requiring a thorough understanding of policies, procedures and laws governing work
• Proofreads materials for clerical accuracy
• Operates a variety of office equipment such as a calculator and computer
• Operates computer to enter and edit standard information utilizing a variety of programs and formats, including third party software where a downloaded or uploaded interface to the financial software is used
• Operates printer to print documents stored in computer
• Copies, collates, staples and otherwise binds a variety of materials
• Performs related work as required

Requirements

• Education: Completion of the twelfth grade or equivalent
• Experience: Three (3) years of increasingly responsible record-keeping experience, preferably including experience in a municipality
• Knowledge: Computer operating methods and office software; applicable state laws, City ordinances, procedures, and other regulations governing the department or area of assigned responsibility; City revenue account codes and accounts receivable processes; correct English usage, spelling, grammar and punctuation; methods, practices and terminology used in financial clerical work; modern office equipment and procedures, including the preparation of business correspondence and reports; advanced and accurate record-keeping methods; business math; effective leadership methods

Qualifications

• Ability: To work as a team to ensure timely and accurate accounting and posting of revenues, accounts payable invoices, utility billings, business license billings and adjustments; operate a computer accurately and efficiently; interpret and apply difficult regulations and procedures to a wide variety of situations; maintain accurate interrelated financial records and prepare comprehensive, accurate reports; devise and adapt work processes and record keeping systems to meet changing organizational or specialized needs; work with considerable independence in completing work and ensuring its accuracy; receive and give information over the telephone or in public in a courteous manner; analyze situations and use judgment to develop effective courses of action; accurately code incoming receipts; make arithmetical calculations rapidly and accurately; type at a corrected rate of 45 words per minute; proofread, detect, and reconcile errors; operate a calculator by touch; understand electronic data processing methods and procedures; understand and carry out oral and written instructions; establish and maintain effective relationships with those contacted in the course of work