Accountant III

Job Description:

Accountant III

Description

Salary and Benefits

PLEASE NOTE: The starting salary placement depends on qualifications and experience and is anticipated to be in the range of $5,779.00 per month to $6,700.00 per month.

Cal State East Bay offers a broad range of benefits that includes medical, dental, vision, retirement (CalPERS), 401k, 457, 403(b), dependent and health care reimbursement accounts, life insurance, vacation and sick, 14 paid holidays, one personal holiday and tuition fee waiver.

For more information on the benefits program, please visit our benefits website. The CSU Total Compensation Calculator demonstrates the significance of our benefits package.

This position may be eligible to participate in the Cal State East Bay hybrid telecommute program subject to management approval.

Classification

Accountant III

About Cal State East Bay

Cal State East Bay's beautiful main campus is located in the Hayward hills with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay shoreline. Situated above the city of Hayward, the campus offers an ideal setting for teaching and learning and yet easy access to the many cities along the bay. The University has a satellite campus in Concord, a professional development center in Oakland and a significant presence online. Founded in 1957, Cal State East Bay is one of 23 universities of the California State University system (CSU). Cal State East Bay is recognized as a regionally engaged and globally oriented university with a strong commitment to academic innovation, student success, engaged and service learning, diversity, and sustainability.

About the Position

The Financial Services department includes General Accounting, Accounts Payable, Student Financial & Cashier Services, Bay Card/University Club Services, Accounts Receivable, and Procurement & Support Services. This role is an Accountant III within the University Accounting unit.

Reporting to the General Accounting Manager, this position focuses primarily on University-wide and Auxiliaries activities, with an emphasis on preparation and filing of various tax returns, government reporting as well as another regulatory agency reporting. In addition, the Accountant III will be heavy-handed in the preparation and coordination of year-end close. This position performs advanced professional accounting work involving the application of accounting principles and practices to the resolution of a wide variety of complex accounting problems. The Accountant III serves as a high-level individual contributor providing expertise and providing lead work direction to other professional and/or technical staff.

Responsibilities

Prepare, analyze, and interpret financial reports, statements, and records:

• Conduct extensive financial data compilation, querying and drilling on large volumes of financial data; and use integrated financial systems and/or other types of records management systems:
  • Review financial data, reports and statements
  • Identify and analyze errors (e.g. FIRMS)
  • Take corrective action
• Prepare complex financial statements, reports, and financial transactions (e.g. endowment financial activity, current use donor funds administration, University transactions).
• Analyze account balances and reconcile balances to external data:
  • Although more complex, assigned reconciliations are completed accurately
  • Reconciliations are consistently completed by the provided deadline.
  • Reconciling items are generally resolved within 30 days; 60 days for more complex issues.
• Monitor and report on balances on a Legal and GAAP basis.
• Responsible for the accurate compilation and preparation of various filings such as:
  • NCAA reporting
  • UBIT Reporting
  • Possessory Reporting
  • Foreign Source Reporting
  • 1042 Report file
  • Tax 990 schedules
  • Sales Tax
• Respond to internal and external inquiries in compliance with University policy.

Provide training, guidance and assistance to other employees and provide lead work direction to other professional and/or technical staff as assigned:

• Train and assist staff with their assignments and review their work.
• Review journal entries for completeness, accuracy, compliance and ensure there is adequate support for the entry.
• Review reconciliations for completeness, accuracy, timeliness and status of reconciliation items.
• Prepare written review notes with written responses from staff to the review notes; ensure all reconciliations have been completed by established due date.
• Provide technical advice and consultation to campus administrators.
• Respond to a variety of inquiries from all organizational levels and provide guidance and support as needed.

Assure the proper recording and documentation of financial transactions and contribute to audit process; examine documents for conformance to established policies and procedures and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP):

• Interpret financial reports and statements and identify problem areas.
• Assure that assigned accounting reporting systems and procedures are in compliance with established administrative policies and procedures and acceptable accounting standards.
• Ensure activity is appropriate to fund usage; see operating agreements, regulatory agency or governing authority for guidance.
• Represent the University to external organizations on specific issues.
• Prepare audit schedules, financial reports and perform other duties as required by both internal and external audits.
• Key accountant in the GASB implementations and other large-scale projects.
• Ensure accuracy of Lease Accelerator/EZ Lease application to conform to GAAP Lease Reporting Compliance.

Identify actual or potential problems and recommend corrective action:

• Recommend and implement changes to the documentation and maintenance of business processes, standards and procedures.
• Compute and estimate the effect of proposed changes on operating programs or accounting operations.
• Document and maintain business processes, standards and procedures.
• Analyze accounting control procedures and recommend changes or modifications.

Other Duties as Assigned:

• Perform special tasks as assigned.
• Provide initial troubleshooting of financial systems problems and participate in the design and installation of financial systems. upgrades and required testing and verification of results (i.e., system upgrades, testing and implementation of new functionality).
• Attend trainings as required by assigned duties.

Minimum Qualifications

Experience:

• Equivalent to five (5) years of professional level accounting experience.

Education:

• Equivalent to a bachelor’s degree with a major in accounting, business administration, finance or a closely related field OR a combination of education and experience which provides the required knowledge and abilities.

Abilities:

• Prepare complex financial statements and reports.
• Understand and interpret laws and rules.
• Communicate effectively with others inside and outside the unit, including conveying complex and technical professional accounting information to non-Accountants.

Knowledge:

• Extensive knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• Office methods and procedures.
• Statistical and mathematical presentation of data.
• Advanced proficiency with current word processing and spreadsheet software programs, web browsers, query tools, integrated financial systems and/or other types of records management systems.
• General knowledge of governmental accounting and internal control methods and related laws, rules, and regulations.
• Working knowledge of federal student financial aid annual reporting requirements, and quarterly grant reporting requirements.

Preferred Skills and Knowledge

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting.
• Experience with Oracle Peoplesoft Finance Application.
• Experience with Government or Higher Education.
• Advanced skill level experience in Excel.
• Higher level accounting related experience.
• Experience with providing direction/training.
• Strong customer service skills.

Condition(s) of Employment

Satisfactory completion of a background check (including LiveScan, as appropriate), that may include, but is not limited to: criminal records check, verification of academic credentials, licenses, certificates, credit history, professional references and/or verification of work history is required for employment. Cal State East Bay will issue a conditional offer of employment to the selected candidate, which may be rescinded if the background check reveals disqualifying information, and/or it is discovered that the candidate knowingly withheld or falsified information. Unsatisfactory results may also affect the continued employment of current Cal State East Bay employees who were conditionally offered the position.

All background checks are conducted through the university's third party vendor, Accurate. LiveScan is conducted through the University Police Department.

EEO Statement

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Cal State East Bay does not discriminate on the basis of any protected categories: age, ancestry, citizenship, color, disability, gender, immigration status, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran's status. The University is committed to the principles of diversity in employment and to creating a stimulating learning environment for its diverse student body.

Other Information

All California State University campuses, including Cal State East Bay, are smoke and tobacco-free. For more information, please visit our website here.

In compliance with state and federal crime awareness and campus security legislation, including The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, the Cal State East Bay Annual Campus Security Report is available here.

Sponsorship

Cal State East Bay is not a sponsoring agency for Staff or Management positions and we are not an E-Verify employer.

Mandated Reporter

The incumbent in this position may be considered a mandated reporter under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and will be required to comply with requirements set forth in the CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

Advertised: Oct 25 2024 Pacific Daylight Time
Applications close: Feb 25 2025 Pacific Standard Time

Closing Date/Time: