Accountant

Our Organization
The City of Palo Alto is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to global technology and business leaders, startups, Stanford University, and a highly educated and engaged constituency. The City is committed to cultivating a creative and progressive economy and is actively engaged in making a difference both locally and globally. Working at the City, you will join a culture that strives for excellence and encourages leadership, new ideas, and creative solutions. 

The Administrative Services Department (ASD) provides analytical, organizational, and administrative support for a wide variety of projects throughout the organization. The Department prides itself on a high-level of customer service to decision-makers, the public, employees, and other departments in the City. ASD records, monitors, and protects the City’s assets through essential financial management, including forecasting, budgeting, and financial reporting. ASD’s divisions include Accounting, the Office of Management and Budget, Purchasing, Treasury, Real Estate, Revenue Collections, Stores and Administration. 

The Accounting Division provides a wide range of in-house services unique to a smaller City like Palo Alto. The division is experiencing a unique opportunity for growth and development of current and new staff. As an Accountant, you will have a chance to be a part-of and help redesign Palo Alto’s evolving accounting team. Learn more about the Administrative Services Department.
 
Career Opportunity 
We are seeking someone who is eager to learn, creative in their craft of accounting, and demonstrates the ability to adapt. As an essential team member of the Accounting Division, the Accountant will be responsible for achieving the Accounting Division mission of accurate, timely and reliable financial information for internal and external customers, including vendor payments, payroll and financial reporting. Palo Alto is a full-service City with its own Police and Fire Departments, several Enterprise Funds which provide utility services to residents and businesses, a very active Capital Projects Fund, Internal Service Funds and numerous Special Revenue Funds. This wide array of activity requires a broad range of accounting expertise and a highly skilled level of communication to liaise with other departments and external agencies.

The Ideal Candidates

• Experience with financial statement review and analysis in a governmental fund setting including enterprise funds such as Electric, Gas, Water, Airport and Wastewater, at an analyst or journey-level.
• Ability to review and verify the accuracy of financial data and information and associated legal documents and make sound, independent judgements with essential guidelines.
• Experience managing one or more specific program areas in the Accounting Division such as payroll, capital assets / capital projects, federal grants, accounts payable / receivable, general ledger, enterprise accounting and other program areas.
• Detail oriented with strong problem-solving skills.
• Experience preparing components of Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
• Knowledge of Governmental Accounting Standard Board (GASB) Statements and their application in governmental accounting.
• Ability to work with a variety of levels of staff, develop working relationships, and effectively communicate complex financial data.
• Self-starter: can take even the smallest project and run with it to successful completion.

Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Creates information databases, spreadsheets and reports for use in accounting and financial analysis.
• Prepares and enters journal entries for allocations, purchases, adjustments, payments, payroll, and/or other related information.
• Performs a variety of accounting-related reconciliations to ensure accuracy of financial data and information.
• Monitors general ledger activities, which includes: preparing and entering journal entries for various adjustments and corrections; analyzing and resolving accounting issues; preparing recurring journal entries; preparing, reviewing, and distributing financial reports for internal departments; conducting month-end and year-end closings; and, performing other related tasks.
• Prepares, analyzes, reviews, and submits a variety of reports, reconciliations, and statements to and from internal departments, the City Council, financial institutions, and applicable agencies.
• Performs capital asset accounting, including the review and recording of capital additions, construction in progress, transfers, depreciation, adjustments, and asset disposals in accordance with City policy and GASB standards.
• Assists with the implementation of new GASB pronouncements, including research, documentation, system updates, and financial statement impacts.
• Participates in analyzing and implementing procedures for automated accounting software packages; reviews programs and trains staff in maximizing the use of automated systems.
• Performs a variety of accounting functions, which includes: reviewing and approving payables; reconciling accounts; preparing accounting and audit schedules; reviewing quarterly tax filings for accuracy; coding and entering information into a database; serving as a liaison with outside agencies; and, performing other related tasks.
• Assists in the preparation of the City's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
• Monitors capital improvement projects and grant expenditure funds.

Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through:

Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, or a related field, and two years of related accounting experience; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.

Licensing Requirements:

• None Required

• Experience performing capital asset and long-term construction (CIP) accounting in an SAP environment or comparable ERP systems. Public agency capital asset and long-term construction accounting experience.

The Selection Process:

• Recruitment status notifications will be sent via email or text (please enroll in text alerts when applying).
• Updates can also be found on your governmentjobs.com account.
• Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time. 
• The screening process for this position may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
• More than one position may be filled through this posting.

Salary : $94,952 - $142,438