Senior Accountant - Payroll Specialist

City of Galt•Galt, CA

7d•$44 - $53•Onsite

About The Position

The City of Galt is accepting applications for Senior Accountant - Payroll Specialist. The ideal candidate will have extensive expertise in public agency accounting, complex government payroll systems, and statutory regulations, including GASB, GAAP, and FLSA, as well as a demonstrated ability to maintain absolute fiscal accountability for public funds. This recruitment may close before the advertised date if we receive a sufficient number of qualified applications. Base Pay Increases: Effective July 1, 2027: $43.75 - $53.18. ADDITIONAL PAY (UPON ASSIGNMENT AND ELIGIBILITY): Incentive Pay - Up to 5% incentive for City-approved educational courses. Longevity Pay - Beginning at 10 years of service, 5%; at 15 years of service, 7.5%. Bilingual Pay - $100 per month. Cell Phone Stipend - $75 per month. Medical-in-lieu - Employees who waive the City's medical coverage shall receive $200 per month for employee only, $350 per month for employee plus one, and $500 per month for family.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in accounting, finance, public administration, business administration, or related field.
Four years of increasingly responsible professional governmental accounting experience.
Principles and practices of public agency financial management including general and governmental accounting, budgeting, auditing, and reporting functions as well as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
Uses and application of electronic data processing in the maintenance of accounting records, budget preparation.
Principles of municipal budget preparation and control.
Grant accounting.
Principles and procedures of record keeping.
Principles of business letter writing and report preparation.
Office procedures, methods, and equipment including computers and applicable software applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and databases.
Pertinent federal, state, and local laws, codes, and regulations.
Principles, practices, and terminology of general fund, and governmental accounting.
Principles and practices of business data processing, particularly related to the processing of accounting information.
Applicable laws regulating public agency accounting and fiscal operations.
Budgeting principles and terminology.
Verifying the accuracy of financial data and information.
Ensuring proper authorization and documentation for disbursements and other transactions.
Analyzing, posting, balancing, and reconciling financial data ledgers and accounts.
Making sound independent judgments within established guidelines.
Preparing clear, concise, and complete financial reports and statements.
Passing a screening process to become bonded.
Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.
Ability to prepare financial reports and statements.
Understand interrelationships among financial/accounting records and documents.
Analyze financial/accounting data and draw logical conclusions.
Understand, interpret and apply a variety of complex rules, regulations, contracts or legal documents in proper accounting context.
Organize and prioritize work assignments.
Communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.
Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and use standard office equipment, including a computer; vision to read printed material and a computer screen; and hearing and speech to communicate in person, before groups, and over the telephone.
Finger dexterity is needed to access, enter, and retrieve data using a computer keyboard or calculator and to operate standard office equipment.
Positions in this classification occasionally bend, stoop, kneel, reach, push, and pull drawers open and closed to retrieve and file information.
Employees must possess the ability to lift, carry, push, and pull materials and objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
Must be able to pass a pre-employment physical and background investigation, including fingerprinting.

Nice To Haves

Possession of a Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) Certificate highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Performs a variety of advanced level accounting work including recording and reporting of financial transactions within budgetary controls.
Supports and implements accounting and auditing procedures and standards.
Reconciles financial activity.
Participates in audit activities.
Performs a variety of grant administration duties.
Prepares financial reports and work papers.
Performs review and analysis of funds and accounts including balance sheet, revenue and expenditure accounts.
Provides highly responsible staff assistance to assigned management staff.
Prepares, maintains, analyzes, verifies, and reconciles complex financial transactions, statements, records, and reports.
Reconciles assigned accounts and makes adjustments as necessary.
Maintains and updates records for the City's fixed asset accounts in accordance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) valuations, quality assessment, and reporting requirements.
Maintains and updates records for the City's lease accounting records in accordance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) valuations, quality assessment, and reporting requirements.
Interprets grant award agreements and monitors for compliance.
Provides grant accounting and prepares required financial reports.
Maintains accounting records and documentation related to state, federal, local, and other funding sources.
Ensures proper billing, collection, and spending of grant funds.
Provides grant accounting and prepares required annual financial reports.
Maintains complete accounting record keeping on state, county and other funding sources, including block grants.
Implements GASB pronouncements for the preparation of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
Coordinates, reviews and compiles consolidated State and federal financial statements and reports including the ACFR, State Controller Annual Statement of Transactions, and Department Budget Report of Revenues and Expenditures.
Reviews and troubleshoots accounting functions and procedures as needed and implements policies and procedures, as assigned.
Prepares a substantial number of year-end work papers to be used in the annual audits.
Reviews accounting documents to ensure accuracy of information and calculations and makes correcting entries, and examines supporting documentation to establish proper authorization and conformance with agreements, contracts, and state and federal regulations.
Prepares journal entries and periodic reconciliations of general ledger, journal, subsidiary accounts and bank statements.
Creates financial reporting templates, procedures and analytical tools used to instruct/train fiscal staff.
Establishes and maintains general and subsidiary accounts and related ledgers including revenue and disbursement.
Reconciles various accounting reports to the County's general ledger.
Gathers, compiles, and prepares financial and statistical reports to county, state, and federal agencies.
Compiles and prepares financial statements, general and subsidiary ledgers and supporting schedules.
Participates in the development and review of department policies and procedures.
Makes recommendations for changes and improvements to existing standards, policies, and procedures.
Participates in the preparation of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and related year-end financial statements, schedules, and reports.
Prepares and verifies the accuracy of year-end financial statements for use in preparation of the ACFR.
Prepares schedules and reports for use by external auditors.
Verifies information and provides documentation as required by auditors.
Reviews financial documents such as vouchers, purchase orders, and invoices to ensure that proper cost centers are charged, that expenditures and revenues are recorded in the proper classification, and that purchases and other transactions by the department are proper in accordance with their approved budget.
Determines the level and appropriateness of year-end closing accruals, prepayments, deferrals, depreciation, or adjustments.
Serves as back-up to payroll, accounts payable, or accounts receivable.
Provides basic fund accounting training to City staff.
Performs special department projects as assigned.
Provides functional and technical training, direction or work review to lower level accounting staff on a project or day-to-day basis.
Performs related duties as assigned.

Benefits

Home Buying Program - $25,000 interest-free loan to assist with the purchase of a home in Galt city limits.
Tuition Reimbursement - Up to $4,000 per fiscal year.
Holiday Pay - Fourteen (14) paid holidays: One (1) floating holiday and thirteen (13) fixed holidays observed: New Year’s Day, MLK Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
Vacation Leave - 80 hours per year for the first 4 years of service, 120 hours after 4 years, 160 hours after 10 years, 200 hours after 15 years, and 240 hours after 22 years.
Vacation Credit - Those with 4+ years of prior public agency experience may request to accrue at a rate of 120 hours.
Vacation Cash Out - Eligible employees may cash out up to 80 hours per year.
Sick Leave - 96 hours per year.
Admin Leave - 70 hours for exempt employees.
Health Insurance - City pays a generous portion of the CalPERS medical premium (9 options).
City pays 100% for dental and vision premiums.
Life Insurance - City pays a $50,000 policy and a $1,500 policy for dependents.
Long Term Disability - City-paid policy; benefit is up to 60% of base salary.
EAP - Confidential employee assistance plan.
Incentive Pay - Up to 5% incentive for City-approved educational courses.
Longevity Pay - Beginning at 10 years of service, 5%; at 15 years of service, 7.5%.
Bilingual Pay - $100 per month.
Cell Phone Stipend - $75 per month.
Medical-in-lieu - Employees who waive the City's medical coverage shall receive $200 per month for employee only, $350 per month for employee plus one, and $500 per month for family.