Senior Accounting Specialist

About the role

The Senior Accounting Specialist shall be responsible for overseeing accounting operations, preparing financial statements, providing accounting support and analysis, assisting with the budget process, internal and external audits, billing functions, and financial reporting for the Intermediate Unit.

Responsibilities

• Supports all accounting operations of the Business Office.
• Captures budget development, reviews, monitors and provides reporting of identified grants.
• Affords assistance with Intermediate Unit financial schedules, including payroll reconciliations, for the annual CLIU financial audit.
• Affords assistance with the Final Expenditure Reports for federal and state grants.
• Prepares quarterly cash reconciliations for state and federal grants, as required in the eGrants system.
• Maintains the Grant Master listing.
• Prepares, coordinates, or reviews reports required by PDE and other federal, state, or local agencies, as required by identified grants.
• Maintains the Chart of Accounts in compliance with PDE and accounting standards.
• Maintains the Budget Code Changes file for staff changes (i.e. hires, resignations, position changes, etc.).
• Maintains the Cumulative Benefits file, processes copay journal entries, and communicates required corrections to Human Resources.
• Researches and communicates new accounting issues or changes that impact Intermediate Unit operations.
• Develops ad-hoc financial reports as needed.
• Maintains detailed and accurate filing per departmental guidelines.
• Posts bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly payroll-generated transactions to Fund Accounting.
• Calculates and uploads monthly benefit, administrative fee and indirect cost, and other recurring journal entries, as required.
• Reconciles balance sheet accounts monthly in accordance with departmental guidelines.
• Reviews and processes all departmental journal entry requests and maintains journal back-up archive files.
• Maintains employee payout dates in the Human Resources database and maintains the annual severance file used for compensated absence calculations.
• Monitors purchases of equipment for fixed asset additions, collects documentation, and updates the fixed asset software.
• Reviews asset disposal to identify tagged assets and notes the disposal, in accordance with department guidelines.
• Updates the PSDLAF Flex Account daily with transaction/invoice information and balances the PSDLAF Flex Spending account monthly during the bank reconciliation process.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or other Operational/Business related field required.
• Relevant professional experience in accounting, budget analysis, and/or fund accounting strongly preferred.
• Experience working with financial reporting, reconciliations, and budget monitoring preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and accounting software required.
• Experience in school business operations or governmental fund accounting preferred.

Skills/Knowledge

• Demonstrates knowledge of fund accounting.
• Demonstrates mastery with financial and numeric data.
• Demonstrates advanced proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office Suite and accounting software.
• Demonstrates the advanced ability to work collaboratively with external and internal stakeholders.
• Demonstrates the ability to maintain complete confidentiality.
• Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills, demonstrated by patience, understanding, and congeniality.
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrates organizational and time management skills in carrying out all duties, tasks, and responsibilities with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrates the ability to prioritize assigned tasks.
• Demonstrates attention to detail and accuracy to use reasonable judgment for estimates if defined elements are not known.
• Demonstrates the ability to work independently and maintain departmental deadlines.
• Demonstrates the ability to make professional decisions.
• Demonstrates the ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Demonstrates skills to provide the highest level of customer service, with patience and knowledge of the department's services.
• Ability to attend work regularly at assigned work hours subject to lawful leave rights and responsibilities.

Physical Ability

• Ability to stand, bend, stoop, sit, lift, reach, communicate (vision, hearing, and speech), and carry or convey sufficient weight to safely and effectively carry out functions, duties, and responsibilities.
• Ability to independently ambulate in and around work locations.
• Ability to travel to and from assigned work locations without employer support.
• Ability to travel in and drive a CLIU #21 vehicle.
• Ability to exhibit appropriate manual dexterity to effectively carry out functions, duties, and responsibilities.