Payroll and Accounting Specialist

JOB TITLE: PAYROLL & ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST

REPORTS TO: ASSISTANT FINANCE OFFICER

TERMS: SALARY; 12 MONTHS

SALARY: GRADE 64

FLSA STATUS: NON-EXEMPT

Job purpose

Performs skilled administrative support work involving preparing, processing, and maintaining employee payroll records, related payments, withholdings, financial transactions, files, records, and reports. Provides payroll, accounting, bookkeeping, and general administrative support to staff and assigned school sites, including maintaining accurate and confidential manual and computerized records and assisting with front-office operations as needed. Work is performed under the limited supervision of the Assistant Finance Officer and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and school system policies and procedures.

Duties and responsibilities

Payroll administration — major responsibility

• Enter and verify monthly and special payroll.
• Calculate pay for different employee categories, including 10-month, 11-month, and 12-month employees
• Handle deductions, bonuses, longevity pay, summer school, supplemental payments, etc.
• Process checks and direct deposits and resolve banking discrepancies.
• Maintain confidential employee payroll records.
• Track sick, personal, annual, paid parental, and child involvement leave
• Answer employees' payroll questions.
• Handle garnishments and court/agency withholding orders.
• Verify salary and employment information for financial institutions.
• Reconcile health and supplemental insurance deductions.
• Help process insurance termination dates when employees leave.

Accounts Payable

• Keying deposits.
• Direct-pay requests.
• Employee reimbursements.

General office/reception support

• Cover the front office when the receptionist is at lunch or absent. 
• Deal with employees, visitors, and the general public. 
• Site-level bookkeeping when another employee is out for an extended period or a position is vacant. 

Qualifications

Associates/Technical degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience preferred.

Essential Functions

• Collects, organizes, enters, retrieves, and maintains financial, payroll, personnel, and administrative information in computerized and manual systems.
• Reviews, verifies, and reconciles data, records, transactions, and reports for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with established procedures.
• Prepares and maintains records, reports, forms, correspondence, purchase orders, and other documents necessary to support departmental and school system operations.
• Processes and maintains confidential, sensitive, and restricted information in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and school system policies and procedures.
• Provides administrative, financial, and operational support to assigned staff, departments, and school sites.
• Communicates effectively with employees, coworkers, administrators, school personnel, financial institutions, agencies, and members of the public to provide information, obtain required documentation, and resolve routine issues.
• Operates computers, standard office equipment, and applicable software and information systems to perform assigned functions; performs routine care or light maintenance of office equipment as needed.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships and exercises appropriate judgment in handling confidential information and routine administrative matters.
• Performs other related tasks as required.

Physical requirements

• This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 10 pounds of force; work regularly requires sitting, speaking or hearing, using hands to finger, handle or feel and repetitive motions and occasionally requires standing, walking, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling, reaching with hands and arms, pushing or pulling and lifting. 
• Work has standard vision requirements. 
• Vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word. 
• Hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels. 
• Work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, operating machines and observing general surroundings and activities. 
• Work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g. business office, light traffic).