Accounting and Financial Operations Specialist

South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity•Olympia, WA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The accounting and financial operations specialist is responsible for the full scope of South Puget Sound Habitat's day-to-day accounting and transactional finance operations. This includes accounts payable and receivable, payroll processing, general ledger maintenance, bank and account reconciliations, month-end and year-end close, grant accounting support, financial statement preparation, and organizational operations tracking. This position works in close partnership with the Finance and Administration Director, who provides strategic financial oversight, grants compliance leadership, and final review authority on financial reporting and reimbursement submissions. The specialist's work is the operational foundation on which the director's financial oversight is built: accurate books, timely closes, clean reconciliations, and well-documented grant accounting records are the non-negotiables of this role. The organization's financial operations span a multi-funder environment with revenue sources that include government grant draws, retail store sales, construction contract payments, mortgage collections, home sale proceeds, and charitable contributions. Managing accounting across these diverse revenue streams—each with different recognition rules, reporting requirements, and documentation standards—requires both deep technical competence and strong organizational discipline.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or business administration preferred; equivalent professional experience in nonprofit accounting will be considered.
Minimum of five years of progressively responsible nonprofit accounting experience, including direct experience with general ledger management, payroll processing, month-end and year-end close, and financial statement preparation.
Experience with multi-fund or multi-program accounting in a nonprofit or government environment, including experience coding and tracking restricted grant funds.
Minimum of three years of direct, hands-on QuickBooks Online experience in a nonprofit or multi-program accounting environment is required.
Strong working knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as applied to nonprofit organizations, including fund accounting, restricted net asset management, and nonprofit financial statement presentation.
Demonstrated, hands-on proficiency in QuickBooks Online is required. South Puget Sound Habitat operates across residential construction, home repair, retail stores, mortgage servicing, and a multi-funder grant portfolio -- each requiring distinct accounting treatment in QuickBooks. Required QuickBooks Online competencies include: chart of accounts structure and maintenance; fund and class tracking for multi-program and multi-grant accounting; journal entry processing including recurring and memorized entries; accounts payable and accounts receivable transaction processing; bank and account reconciliation across multiple operating and restricted accounts; payroll reconciliation in coordination with Rippling or equivalent payroll systems; monthly and year-end close procedures; financial statement and custom report generation; and restricted fund coding and grant account tracking.
Proficiency in payroll processing systems (Rippling or equivalent), including benefit deduction administration, payroll tax compliance, and labor allocation across multiple cost centers or grant accounts.
Strong reconciliation skills, with demonstrated ability to identify, investigate, and resolve discrepancies in a timely and thorough manner.
Organized, detail-oriented, and disciplined in meeting deadlines—including the recurring, non-negotiable deadlines of payroll, close, and grant reimbursement cycles.
Demonstrated aptitude for documentation, process standardization, and workflow design. Able to build and maintain accounting procedures that support consistency, training, and audit readiness.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work constructively with staff across all departments and to explain accounting requirements in plain language.
Tech-savvy generally, with comfort in Excel, file management systems, and the ability to adopt and optimize new software as organizational needs evolve.
Proven ability to handle sensitive and confidential financial and personnel information with discretion.
Commitment to the South Puget Sound Habitat mission and core values.
Ability to pass a background and reference check.

Nice To Haves

QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification is a plus and may substitute for a portion of the formal education requirement.
Experience configuring or optimizing QuickBooks Online for a complex nonprofit environment -- including class and location tracking across multiple programs, departments, and grant accounts -- is strongly preferred over experience limited to simpler for-profit implementations.
Proficiency with grant accounting and reimbursement preparation in a government-funded environment, including familiarity with cost allowability concepts, expenditure documentation standards, and draw request processes.
Familiarity with construction accounting, job costing, or project-based accounting, including experience using QuickBooks Online job costing features to track costs and budgets across active construction or repair projects.
Experience with nonprofit mortgage accounting or loan portfolio management.

Responsibilities

Manage all accounts payable activities, including vendor invoice review, coding, approval routing, and payment processing. Maintain vendor records and ensure that all disbursements are properly authorized, documented, and coded to the correct fund, program, or grant account in QuickBooks Online.
Manage accounts receivable activities, including invoicing, payment posting, aging review, and follow-up on outstanding balances. Ensure that all revenue is recorded accurately and in the appropriate period, with particular attention to grant draws, home sale proceeds, store deposits, and mortgage payments.
Process bi-weekly payroll in coordination with the organization's payroll system (Rippling or equivalent), including accurate application of benefit deductions, retirement contributions, tax withholdings, and grant-related labor allocations. Reconcile payroll records to the general ledger monthly and resolve any discrepancies promptly.
Maintain the general ledger in QuickBooks Online with accuracy and consistency. Post journal entries, maintain chart of accounts integrity, apply appropriate fund and class coding across all transactions, and ensure that the ledger is kept current at all times.
Perform monthly bank and account reconciliations for all organization accounts, including operating, payroll, store, construction, and any restricted fund accounts. Investigate and resolve reconciling items within the month in which they arise.
Lead the month-end close process, including preparation of all required journal entries, accruals, prepaid and deferred revenue adjustments, depreciation entries, inter-fund transfers, and reporting. Ensure that the close is completed within a defined and consistently observed close schedule, and that the supervising director receives reviewed draft financials within an agreed timeline.
Lead the year-end close process in coordination with the supervising director and the external audit firm. Prepare year-end adjusting entries, supporting schedules, and reconciliations. Assist in the preparation of audit-ready workpapers and respond to auditor requests in a timely manner.
Maintain grant accounting records in QuickBooks, including accurate coding of all grant-related revenues and expenditures to the correct fund, program, and grant account. Apply restricted fund accounting principles to ensure that grant funds are recorded, used, and reported in accordance with award terms.
Prepare reimbursement request packages for each active grant award in coordination with the supervising director. Submit completed packages to the supervising director for review and approval prior to funder submission.
Track grant fund balances against award budgets monthly. Prepare grant budget-to-actual reports for each active award and provide them to the director in advance of the monthly financial review. Flag any awards at risk of underspending or overspending against budget categories and bring these to the director's attention promptly.
Maintain a comprehensive grant accounting file for each active award.
Support grant financial reporting by preparing financial schedules and expenditure summaries in the format required by funders for director review.
Maintain the organization's compliance tracking system, including registrations, renewals, licenses, certifications, and required reports, and ensure that relevant team members have current, accurate visibility into upcoming deadlines. Prepare draft submissions and renewal packages for director review and approval on a schedule that allows adequate lead time.
Coordinate organizational activity tracking by working with relevant team members to collect and record programmatic service counts and outputs (e.g., construction and repair production, education hours, counseling sessions, volunteer hours, trainings). Maintain a centralized tracking record and fulfill information requests as needed.
Assist in the preparation of organizational financing and project finance documentation as directed by the director, including loan draw requests, construction budget updates, and mortgage portfolio records.
Maintain a “team first” outlook, supporting the success of the team and the mission in attitude, ideas, and actions; lead by example and with active, creative input for growing and improving the organization.
Meet and endorse organization standards for record keeping and information sharing.
Contribute to organization events, helping as necessary with set up/take down, management, networking, various tasks, etc.
Participate in intentional learning efforts, including events relating to understanding institutional racism and building cultural competency.