Accountant I

Yakima County•Yakima, WA

10d•$32 - $41

About The Position

The mission of Yakima County Government is to provide accessible, responsive and responsible public service through leadership and teamwork committed to understanding and meeting public needs. Our Values: Integrity Common Sense Innovation Accountability Position Data: Accountant I-J23-U00-H Regular Non-Exempt (eligible for overtime) Overview: Pay Range: $32.25 - $40.91 per hour (Non-Bargaining Pay Plan, C41 Step 1-13) Hiring Range: $32.25-34.23 (Non-Bargaining Pay Plan, C41 Step 1-4 DOQ) Job Closing Date: February 17, 2026 There is one Accountant I opening with the Yakima County Auditor's Office. This payroll position performs professional level accounting activities and assists in developing policies and procedures to ensure compliance to federal and state statutes and regulations as it applies to the issuance processing of payroll. Benefits included in position: -Health Care Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, Basic Life and Basic LTD) -Retirement Benefits -Paid Vacation -Paid Holidays -Paid Sick Leave Note: This is a Non-Bargaining unit position. This recruitment may be used to fill future vacancies that occur within 90 days of the closing of this position. (This excludes Yakima County Sheriff's Office and Department of Corrections)

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or related field; OR the equivalent combination of education and experience, which provides knowledge, skills and abilities sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job; auditing experience; proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel/Spreadsheet computer programs.
Required: valid WA State Driver’s license and proof of insurance, if requested; and, successful completion of a financial background investigation and general employment verification.

Nice To Haves

auditing experience
Governmental accounting experience
Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or related field
Workday configuration experience

Responsibilities

Responsible for performing all accounting activities necessary to process multiple payrolls by carrying out responsibilities for payroll preparation, processing, and operations for Yakima County.
Assists the Manager with ensuring the payroll function is in conformance with federal, state, and local law, codes, and guidelines.
Supports in identifying payroll process improvements in operations, procedures, policies, and methods while leveraging industry best practices.
Collaborates with the financial division to analyze, audit, and reconcile the financial information in payroll liability accounts.
Position is responsible for confirming the balancing of payroll liability accounts within a complex accounting system and resolving payroll discrepancies in collaboration with the Finance Division.
Processes and verifies advanced and complex quarterly and year-end payroll processing for government, monitoring the latest changes in legislation and regulations that impact the close of one year and the beginning of the next within established critical deadlines to avoid significantly harsh penalties.
Generate, processes, maintains and accurately transmits advanced and complex financial reports for Department of Retirement Systems (DRS), Teamster’s Pension, Child Support (DSHS), Union Dues, employment taxes, state taxes, garnishments and levies, and other mandates within established critical deadlines to avoid significantly harsh penalties.
May transmit complex financial correction reports as required and may respond to inquiries as requested.
Analyzes and evaluates complex financial information of payroll liability accounts and performs duties including balancing and controlling earnings and deduction totals, calculating and preparing general ledger entries, calculating, preparing payroll inputs, inspecting automated system output such as registers and standard to complex reports, determining and correcting out-of-balance conditions, preparing and filing tax reports, gathering payroll data, and researching and preparing special reports for management, calculating military and jury duty pay, and processes garnishments and levies.
Balances payroll journal lines, payroll registers, payroll deduction registers, ad-hoc payments and verifies accuracy and compliance of voluntary deductions, involuntary withholdings, employee taxes and employer paid benefits.
Develops division work standards for implementation by staff.
Develops payroll accounting operational procedures, interprets, and ensures compliance with federal and state statutes and rules that apply to payroll and provides instruction to others.
Develops, tests, and implements new and/or updated system processes and improvements as assigned.
In addition, position will research new financial management system features, evaluating which ones should be adopted by Yakima County, and implementing and testing those that are added.
Represents the Auditor before governmental agencies on issues related to Payroll processing.
Acts as an ongoing liaison with other County Departments, local, state and federal government officials, private organizations and the public concerning payroll functions.
Other duties required.