Accounts Payable Associate

Exponent Inc. • Phoenix, AZ

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Exponent is seeking an Accounting Associate to join its Finance/Accounting team in Phoenix, Arizona. The role processes accounts payable transactions and manages employee expense reports, serving as a primary Finance/Accounting contact for vendors and employees across engineering and corporate departments. It includes reviewing vendor accounts and payments, preparing Excel data-import templates, supporting audits, and contributing to financial projects and process improvements.

The position supports procure-to-pay activities by processing invoices and payments, reviewing expense reports, maintaining vendor records, monitoring approvals, resolving discrepancies and inquiries, and keeping accurate records for close, reconciliations, audits, and reporting. The role collaborates with Accounting, Purchasing, project teams, and approvers in a customer-focused, highly automated environment. The work schedule is hybrid, with at least three days per week in the office.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or progress toward a degree in a related field, or substantial professional finance experience in an office environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including investigating discrepancies, identifying trends and exceptions, and independently driving issues to resolution.
• Solid understanding of accounting principles and ability to apply accounting judgment to expense classification, prepaid expenses, accruals, fixed assets, and period-end activities.
• Strong systems aptitude and demonstrated ability to work effectively with automated financial applications.
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, VLOOKUP, reconciliations, and analysis of large data sets.
• Ability to work in an exception-based, highly automated accounts payable environment focused on review, analysis, controls, and issue resolution.
• Understanding of accounts payable and purchasing controls, including approval workflows, segregation of duties, vendor master controls, duplicate-payment prevention, and payment authorization.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with vendors and cross-functional business partners.
• Ability to take ownership of issues, exercise sound judgment, and appropriately escalate higher-risk or unusual transactions.
• Ability to maintain a hybrid work schedule, requiring at least three days per week in the office.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States; immigration sponsorship or processing is not available.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Ramp or similar accounts payable automation platforms.
• A continuous-improvement mindset, including ability to identify opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, and leverage technology, AI, and automation.

Responsibilities

• Process vendor invoices and payments through the accounting system, ensuring accurate coding, supporting documentation, approvals, and compliance with internal controls.
• Review employee expense reports for documentation, coding, business purpose, approvals, and policy compliance.
• Support vendor onboarding and maintenance, including W-9s, payment information, ACH/wire verification, and 1099 reporting requirements.
• Support purchasing and procurement activities, including resolving purchase-order and invoice discrepancies.
• Monitor approval workflows, investigate exceptions, and follow up on outstanding approvals or processing issues.
• Communicate with vendors and internal stakeholders to resolve invoice, payment, reimbursement, and account inquiries.
• Support payment processing, including ACH, wires, checks, and special payment requests, and assess use tax when applicable.
• Maintain accurate accounts payable records and supporting documentation for month-end close, reconciliations, audits, financial reporting, and internal controls.
• Partner with Accounting, Purchasing, project teams, and approvers to support efficient and timely procure-to-pay processes.
• Support system testing, process documentation, training, cross-training, and continuous process improvement.
• Contribute to a collaborative, customer-focused team environment and participate in special projects as assigned.
• Create and maintain Excel data-import templates and analyze vendor accounts and payments for accuracy and compliance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level