CH Illinois - Jr. Accountant

Overview

For almost 50 years, Covenant House has served and advocated for youth and young families experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. Our overarching goal is to end homelessness among youth and young families by helping them achieve housing stability, heal from trauma, tap into their innate resilience, and hone their interests and skills to forge new pathways to independence. This work is carried out across Covenant House sites in 31 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 

Primary Responsibilities

Under the direction of the Director of Finance, the Jr. Accountant is responsible for performing a variety of bookkeeping, accounting and administrative duties including processing payroll, financial record keeping, and transactions including accounts payable, accounts receivable, monthly billing and the general ledger. This position will be the point of contact for agency vendors and will oversee agency wide procurement processes to include purchasing, tracking and distribution of food and supplies. This position will work closely with Covenant House International on all finance related activities and demonstrated professionalism, strong communication, strong organizational and time management skills will be essential.

The candidate will be comfortable working in a rapidly changing environment, excel at logistics and planning, and will also be committed to the mission of Covenant House. They will be exceedingly well organized, flexible, and will enjoy the administrative challenges of supporting a small office of diverse people in a startup organization.

Key Responsibilities/Job Duties

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of the Covenant House Mission, history and tradition(s) and the underlying values upon which the agency is founded to the staff, youth, and the community we serve
• Understand and integrate the Five Principles and the Covenant House Philosophy
• Understand and comply with all Agency policies and procedures
• Maintain a high level of ethical standards
• Perform non-routine tasks requiring strong judgement and initiative
• Assist in agency wide purchasing and procurement process
• Under supervision of the Director of Finance, interface with Covenant House Illinois vendors including vendor set-up, invoice and payment, and vendor performance.
• In collaboration with Covenant House International, support all aspects of day to day bookkeeping and accounting processes including but not limited to: A/P, A/R, payroll, journal entries, and bank reconciliation in accordance with the agency's policies and procedures and generally accepted accounting practices.
• Prepare Journal Entries for prepaid expense, deferred revenue and payroll cash accounts
• Assist with preparation of accurate accounts payable and receivable on a routine basis ensuring all accounts/vendors are accurately coded and processed using the agencies accounting system in a timely manner.
• Receive and deposit all organizational revenue
• Prepare credit card and petty cash reconciliations
• Perform annual 1099 reporting process for vendors
• Prepare monthly and quarterly financial reports, including standard financial reports, budget vs. actual reports and grant-specific financial reports
• Manage time tracking process for employees with hours billable to grants, utilizing online time tracking tool, and extract data to make appropriate payroll entries for financial and grant reporting
• Coordinate with outside CPA and Auditors in preparation of year-end audit.
• Support Covenant House International and Director of Finance in preparing annual and re-forecasted budgets by departments and for organization as a whole in alignment with Covenant House International.
• Maintain accounting procedures and policies and systems of internal controls to ensure the integrity of all financial systems

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Understand and comply with all Agency policies and procedures, including Covenant House Child Protection Policies.
• Understand and comply with all principles of Trauma-Informed Care. Willingness to acquire basic concepts in care coordination for adolescents and young adults and incorporate into service-provision.
• Is approachable, relatable, builds rapport well, and practices active listening with individuals of varied cultural backgrounds, embracing differences in behavior and lifestyle choices.
• Ability to relate effectively with staff, youth, and community partners and agencies.
• Ability to work independently, using good judgement, and common sense
• Can maintain confidentiality while understanding and complying with requirements of mandated reporting, duty to warn, HIPAA, and other limits to confidentiality.
• Willingness to utilize training opportunities in support of personal and professional growth.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficient with standard computer operating systems. Ability to navigate Microsoft Office Suite, online databases, and other programs such as ADP and Lawson are required.
• Able to accommodate a wide range of physical activity, including but not limited to walking long distances, moving up and down the stairs, lifting bags or boxes up to 50 pounds,
• Willingness and ability to attain a CPR/First Aid Certification.
• Possess a current and valid Driver's License.
• Have a good driving record.
• Pass federal, state, and local background check investigations.

Minimum Experience and Education

• Associates Degree in Business Administration or related field of study with emphasis in accounting, or similar. 
• 3-5 years related experience or combination of education and experience preferred will be considered. 
• Non-profit accounting experience is preferred, but not required.

Our Community

Our critical mission demands that we have all voices at the table. A team of diverse people, perspectives, and experiences is smarter, stronger, and more effective for our young people. At Covenant House, every team member is valued, respected, heard, and supported, and we welcome honest and courageous self-reflection on any aspects of our work that are based on biased or outdated viewpoints. We deliberately create opportunities for our staff to grow and thrive. 

Covenant House Illinois is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind: CHIL is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at CHIL are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, family or parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. CHIL will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics and encourages all qualified applicants to apply. If you are fun, dynamic, and hardworking, come join our awesome international team in an organization with a heart!