Payroll Accountant

Kamran Culinex LLC•Fargo, ND

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Payroll Accountant owns the accurate and timely processing of company payroll and the accounting behind it. This is a hybrid payroll and accounting role: it runs the payroll cycle end to end — timekeeping, earnings and deductions, taxes, and funding — and then owns the reconciliations, journal entries, and labor cost allocations that carry those numbers into the general ledger. Because our work is project-based and spans multiple states and job sites, this role is also responsible for correct multi-state tax registration and withholding, prevailing wage and certified payroll reporting where applicable, and getting labor costs coded to the right job. Payroll is the one deadline that never moves and the one number every employee checks — the ideal candidate is precise, discreet, and takes full ownership of getting it right.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field — or equivalent payroll experience.
2–4 years of hands-on payroll processing experience, including full-cycle responsibility for a multi-state employee population.
Working knowledge of payroll tax withholding, deposits, and quarterly and annual filings (941, 940, state unemployment, W-2).
Understanding of FLSA, overtime calculation, and multi-state wage and hour requirements.
Experience preparing payroll journal entries and reconciling payroll-related general ledger accounts.
Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, large data sets) and comfort reconciling across systems.
Absolute discretion with confidential compensation and employee information.
Meticulous attention to detail and the ability to hit a fixed payroll deadline every cycle, without exception.
Clear, direct written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain pay calculations plainly to employees.

Nice To Haves

Experience with NetSuite or a comparable ERP, and with a major payroll platform (ADP, Paylocity, Paycom, UKG, or similar).
Certified payroll and prevailing wage / Davis-Bacon reporting experience.
Construction, contracting, or other job-cost environment experience with labor allocation to projects.
Union payroll, fringe benefit, and multi-employer plan reporting experience.
FPC or CPP certification, or active progress toward it.

Responsibilities

Work with ADP to process end-to-end multi-state payroll on the published schedule, including hourly, salaried, commissioned, and field personnel.
Review and validate timekeeping data, overtime, per diem, shift differentials, and paid time off before each run; resolve discrepancies with managers ahead of the deadline.
Maintain employee payroll records — new hires, terminations, pay rate and status changes, direct deposit, and tax withholding elections.
Administer garnishments, child support orders, levies, and other mandatory withholdings in accordance with applicable law and remittance deadlines.
Process off-cycle payments, final pay, bonuses, commissions, and manual checks in compliance with state-specific final pay rules.
Serve as the first point of contact for employee payroll questions, responding promptly, accurately, and with discretion.
Ensure accurate federal, state, and local payroll tax withholding, deposits, and filings; monitor jurisdictions where employees work and register in new states as needed.
Reconcile and review quarterly and annual filings — Forms 941, 940, state unemployment returns, W-2s, and W-2c corrections.
Research and resolve payroll tax notices from taxing authorities; track issues through to written resolution.
Prepare certified payroll and prevailing wage reports for applicable public and Davis-Bacon projects, including fringe benefit documentation.
Maintain compliance with FLSA, multi-state wage and hour rules, overtime and meal/rest requirements, and recordkeeping retention standards.
Support workers’ compensation audits, 401(k) audits, and annual financial statement audits with reconciled payroll schedules and supporting detail.
Prepare and post payroll journal entries, including wages, employer taxes, benefits, accruals, and PTO liability.
Reconcile all payroll-related general ledger accounts monthly — payroll clearing, tax liabilities, benefit deductions, and accrued wages — and resolve variances promptly.
Allocate labor costs to the correct jobs, cost codes, and departments; partner with Project Managers to validate field time coding and burden rates.
Reconcile payroll register totals to bank funding, tax deposits, and the general ledger every cycle.
Provide labor cost reporting and analysis to support job costing, WIP schedules, and management review.
Process benefit deductions and reconcile carrier invoices to payroll deductions; research and correct discrepancies.
Administer 401(k) contributions, loan repayments, and employer match funding within required deposit timelines.
Support annual open enrollment and ACA reporting, including Forms 1094-C and 1095-C.
Maintain and improve payroll system configuration, earnings and deduction codes, and workflow documentation.
Document payroll procedures and help strengthen internal controls over pay changes, approvals, and payroll disbursement.