2A19
DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS SPECIALIST

This is advanced performance level departmental accounting work developing, implementing, and evaluating accounting systems needed to facilitate planning, reporting, and control by municipal agencies. Employees in this class perform the most complex departmental accounting work. This class is differentiated from lower level accounting classes by the responsibility for developing departmental accounting systems for water or aviation funds, for developing accounting and reporting financial procedures in accordance with state or federal funding source regulations and requirements, or for developing departmental cost accounting systems. Employees in this class may provide technical direction to a small clerical and technical staff. Work is performed under the supervision of an administrative or technical superior.

• Reviews and evaluates departmental systems of accounting records; designs, and with supervisory approval, implements new systems for recording accounting transactions; works with departmental managers to ensure that necessary raw data is received to record transactions in an accurate and timely fashion.
• Interprets departmental needs for narrative and statistical financial reporting; develops report formats and time frames to meet these needs; ensures availability of accounting information to prepare necessary reports.
• Develops and implements cost accounting and/or managerial accounting systems for recording and summarizing costs, expenditures, and revenues for a large airport facility or a water and sewer utility; calculate and input data into the computerized Accounting Billing System to generate receivables; prepare monthly accounts receivable report outlining details of unpaid charges; develops, modifies, and prepares accounting reports needed for the financial planning and control of aviation, water, or sewer operations.
• Examines accounting source documents and account entries for conformance to standard accounting principles, departmental and city-wide procedural directives and guidelines, and legal or budgetary restrictions; posts and enters accounting data to manual and computerized financial recordkeeping and control files; monitors the entering of data to manual and computerized records.
• Gathers and compiles supporting detail for computing invoices, tax, and public service billings, calculates liabilities; prepares original and adjusted billings; enters billing information into computer and manual files.
• Researches and analyzes account status; conducts periodic audits of airport tenant accounts, ledgers, and governmental reports; prepared account adjustments to manual and computerized records; annotates records to explain and summarize adjustments; searches account histories to locate imbalances and incorrect entries; cross-references adjustments to source documents and related files; prepares and reconciles balances of accounts; compares and reconciles totals maintained on computerized and manual files.
• Compiles, summarizes, and analyzes financial data concerning accounting transactions, expenditures, and accounts receivable; performs basic statistical analyses to determine trends, estimates, and significant changes; prepares narrative reports to explain findings.
• Distributes expenditures, encumbrances, receipts, and receivables according to schedules, distributes cost data according to cost accounting system; prepares financial reports of operation.
• Prepares statements, reports, and invoices for submission to federal, state, and quasi-governmental agencies; summarizes, reconciles, and cross-references city accounting maintained for funding or oversight agencies.
• May provide technical direction to a small clerical and technical staff engaged in reviewing and recording memoranda, accounting transactions, and other financial documents; examines accounting records to ensure that all data has been correctly and consistently recorded; identifies and corrects incorrect entries and other clerical errors.
• Determines the format of accounting records of financial transactions and account balances; works with data processing personnel to computerize departmental accounting control systems and to modify existing accounting record data processing.
• Performs related work as required.

KNOWLEDGE OF:

• accounting principles, practices, and procedures
• accounting and accounting related terminology commonly used in governmental accounting
• the principles and practices of governmental accounting
• arithmetic and statistical principles and practices as commonly applied in the accounting field
• the application of data processing techniques to the maintenance of accounting records

SKILL IN:

• the maintenance of accurate accounting records and their arithmetic and statistical manipulation

ABILITY TO:

• review, evaluate, and design systems for recording accounting transactions
• supervise the work of technical and clerical employees engaged in maintaining and reviewing accounting records
• examine and analyze financial records
• utilize a personal computer in the maintenance of accounting records and in preparation of reports
• develop, prepare and interpret a variety of accounting statements and reports

EDUCATION

• Completion of a bachelor's degree program at an accredited college or university, with major course work in accounting.
AND


EXPERIENCE

• Two years of governmental accounting experience, one year of which shall have been at the full performance level for a municipal agency.

OR

Any equivalent combination of education and experience determined to be acceptable by the Personnel Department that has included completion of a bachelor's degree as specified above.

PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to physically perform the duties and to work in the environmental conditions required of a position in this class.