Accounting Specialist - Payroll

State of Illinois•Springfield, IL

2d•$59,175 - $92,065•Onsite

About The Position

The Illinois Office of the Comptroller is seeking applicants for the position of Accounting Specialist for Payroll. The Comptroller is the chief fiscal control officer for the Illinois government, charged by the Constitution with maintaining the state’s central fiscal accounts and ordering payments into and out of the appropriate funds. The office processes more than 16 million transactions annually and serves as a “fiscal watchdog” to ensure that all state payments meet the requirements of the law. The Comptroller’s office provides meaningful and timely fiscal information to help state policymakers adopt effective policies. The office continually seeks new ways to improve how it serves the public. The Comptroller has updated and streamlined the Comptroller’s website and has led the process of updating the state’s payroll and accounting systems. Comptroller Mendoza is committed to running the Office of Comptroller as a financial watchdog for the interest of Illinois citizens and to installing the most modern and transparent systems to make the state’s financial information available to all.

Requirements

Requires knowledge, skill, and mental development equivalent to completion of two (2) years of college and one (1) year of technical accounting experience.
OR Requires four (4) years of related clerical bookkeeping experience.
Requires knowledge of office practices, procedures, and programs.
Requires working knowledge of electronic data systems, the operation and use of a personal computer, and a variety of software.
Requires ability to apply established accounting methods and techniques.
Requires ability to operate commonly used manual and automated office equipment.
Requires ability to use analytical and fact-finding techniques.
Requires ability to follow written and oral instruction of moderate complexity.
Requires good written and oral communication skills.
Requires ability to maintain satisfactory working relationship with other employees and the general public.
Requires working knowledge of accounting techniques and procedures.
Requires ability to analyze routine accounting records and documents.

Nice To Haves

Prefers a minimum of one (1) year experience in state government payroll, accounting, or auditing operations and systems.

Responsibilities

Processes retirement system payments.
Downloads retirement files.
Reviews vouchers and files for errors.
Balances files to vouchers.
Releases for processing once it has passed all pre-audit requirements.
Balances all reports after processing completes.
Determines State Agency and State Employee liability for FICA and Medicare and assists State agencies with reconciliation of FICA and Medicare accounts.
Assists in maintaining the overall workload of the payroll unit.
Validates authorized signatures on payroll vouchers.
Sorts and distributes mail entering the payroll unit and answers the phones.
Assists with filing duplicate tax statement requests, data entry, mailing tax statements, and filing the request documentation.
Reconciles end of month tax accounting reports to balance with Federal and State taxes, FICA and Medicare accounts.
Maintains the statewide position classification number files.
Reviews and responds to CMS back-wage information requests.
Provides assistance with incoming phone and/or mail inquiries for state agencies, state employees and retirees as necessary.
Acts as a back-up for processing, balancing, auditing lottery files, and vouchers.
Acts as a back-up to reviewing and entering incoming payroll vouchers and files.
Acts as a back-up to other payroll unit staff as necessary.
Performs other duties as assigned which are reasonable to the duties defined above.