Accounting Specialist II

Job Description:

Accounting Specialist II

Description

Introduction

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.

Supplemental Questionnaire : A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Failure to submit the Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires will only be accepted on-line.

DESCRIPTION

THE COUNTY:

Established in 1853, Alameda County has a population of over 1.6 million residents making it the second largest county in the Bay Area and the seventh largest in the State. The County encompasses 14 cities including Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Union City as well as six unincorporated communities and rural areas that span a total of 738 square miles.

Alameda County employs approximately 9,000 employees working in 21 different agencies and departments and has an annual budget of over $3 billion. As a major urban County, Alameda delivers a full spectrum of services, including general government and internal services, health care, social services, public works, criminal justice, and other public safety services for its community.

The County celebrates the rich diversity of its workforce, which in large measure, reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of the community it serves. The County’s mission is to enrich the lives of its residents through visionary policies and accessible, responsive, and effective services. Its vision is to be recognized as one of the best counties in which to live, work, and do business.

THE POSITION :

Under general supervision, to provide accounting and financial support of County departments and agencies; to reconcile, maintain, monitor and control major groupings of funds, budget units, or revenue and expenditure accounts; and to do related work as required.

This is bridge class between the clerical accounting series including Accounting Specialist I and Accounting Technician and the professional-level of Accountant. This class is distinguished from the lower level Accounting Specialist I in that the former works with and is expected to show proficiency in multiple accounting systems and performs work involving county-wide financial processes and/or processes that have significant financial impact on the County. Employees are assigned the most complex, difficult, and/or specialized accounting, financial and/or budgetary work requiring analysis and evaluation of financial records to ensure accuracy and the interpretation of financial guidelines to ensure that fiscal operations are in compliance.

This class is distinguished from Accountant series by latter’s knowledge of and skill in applying generally accepted accounting principles and practices and requirement for preparing analytical, narrative, statistical, and accounting reports. The professional level classes normally involve independent decision-making, development or oversight of a program or function, the more limited availability or nature of supervision received and a greater scope and complexity of activities, regulations and guidelines.

For more information about the job classification, visit: Accounting Specialist II (#1316) .

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE:

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications below, the ideal candidate will possess the following critical attributes:

• Demonstrated expertise in analyzing data, reconciling accounts, contract billing, preparing deposit journals/transfersandrunning/preparing reports;
• Ability to put new knowledge, understanding or skill to practical use on the job;
• A keen attention to detail - vigilantly watching over job processes, tasks and work products ensuring freedom from errors, omissions or defects;
• A strong knowledge of general and governmental accounting and auditing principles and practices;
• Ability to work cooperatively with others inside and outside the organization;
• Demonstrated proficiency using Microsoft Excel;
• Ability to multitask and manage competing work priorities, time and resources; and
• Skill as a clear and effective communicator.

THE VACANCIES:

We are currently recruiting to establish a countywide eligible list that will be used by any County department or agency needing to fill a vacancy in this classification. There are immediate vacancies in the Alameda County Health , Treasurer Tax Collector, and Social Services Agency.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Either I
Experience:

The equivalent of one year of experience as an Accounting Specialist I in the Alameda County classified service. (Non-classified includes District Attorney’s Office, Hospital Authority, and the Consolidated Courts.)

OR II
Education:

Equivalent to completion of two years of college (90 quarter units or 60 semester units) from an accredited college or university in a bookkeeping or accounting curriculum. (Additional experience as outlined below may be substituted for the education on a year-for-year basis.)

AND

Experience:

Equivalent to two years of full-time bookkeeping experience at a level equivalent to the Accounting Specialist I classification and which has included some combination of document review and processing, administrative or financial recordkeeping and/or office management.

License:Specified positions may require possession of a valid California driver's license.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

• Practices and techniques of automated accounting and financial record keeping and report preparation.
• Accounting principles and bookkeeping practices
• Principles and practices of auditing and reconciling a variety of financial and accounting documents and records
• Computer applications related to the work, including spreadsheet and data base applications
• Procedures, terminology and forms related to the functional area to which assigned.
• Techniques used to reconcile subsidiary accounts, to control accounts, and to maintain books through trial balance
• Basic budgeting and cost accounting practices and procedures.
• Microsoft Excel and Access Database.

Ability to:

• Audit and reconcile financial, accounting and budgetary documents and records; maintain journals and reports.
• Read, interpret and apply rules, regulations, policies and procedures involved in fiscal recordkeeping and accounting functions
• Compile fiscal and financial data.
• Learn accounting structure, financial guidelines, systems, and procedures of the department, fiscal program or agency.
• Learn basic budgeting and funding regulations, practices, and procedures.
• Interpret, explain and apply regulations and procedures in varying situations.
• Organize and prioritize work and meet critical deadlines.
• Maintain accurate records and files.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of the work.

EXAMINATION COMPONENTS

The examination will consist of the following steps:

A review of applicants' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process. A written component that will be weighted as qualifying only (pass/fail). Candidates who pass the written test will be invited to the final step in the examination process. An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION.

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.


Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit. Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position. Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, hrs.alamedacountyca.gov .

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PLAN

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency.

TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT PLAN:

Deadline for Filing:

5:00:00 PM Monday, March 17, 2025

Review of Minimum Qualifications:

Monday, March 24, 2025
Virtual Written Examination:

Week of April 7, 2025
Virtual Civil Service Pre-Recorded Oral Examination:

Week of April 21, 2025

Notification of Results:

Week of May 12, 2025 TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:
Departmental Hiring Interviews: TBD

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes.To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date offiling. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website: hrs.alamedacountyca.gov .

BENEFITS

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being. These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

• Medical - HMO & PPO Plans
• Dental - HMO & PPO Plans
• Vision or Vision Reimbursement
• Share the Savings
• Basic Life Insurance
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
• County Allowance Credit
• Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

• 12 paid holidays
• Floating Holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Catastrophic Sick Leave
• Pet Insurance
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1 st United Services Credit Union

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement. This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

Conclusion

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @jobaps.com, @acgov.org, Noreplyalamedacountyhr@acgov.org and Noreply@jobaps.com as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the 'My applications' button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to ensure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box Noreply@jobaps.comand Noreplyalamedacountyhr@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our websi te at hrs.alamedacountyca.gov . Y ou may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the bulletin for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Tracy Gonzalez | Human Resources Analyst
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
510-272-5085 | Email: Tracy.Gonzalez@acgov.org
hrs.alamedacountyca.gov .

Disaster Service Worker

All Alameda County employees are designated Disaster Service Workers through state and local law. Employment with the County requires the affirmation of a loyalty oath to this effect. Employees are required to report to work as ordered in the event of an emergency.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Alameda County has a diverse workforce, that is representative of the communities we serve, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance and business need. Alameda County does not discriminate in employment on the basis of, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors protected under federal, state and local law. Alameda County celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive, and welcoming workplace environment.

Closing Date/Time: 3/17/2025 5:00:00 PM

Salary:

$33.09 - $40.17/hour; $68,827.20 - $83,553.60/year