Payroll, Timekeeping & Expense Accounting Specialist

Job Summary

The Payroll, Timekeeping & Expense Accounting Specialist is an accounting position responsible for the accurate, timely, and controlled processing and accounting of employee time, payroll, employee expenses, corporate card activity, and related transactions.

This role owns these processes from time reporting and transaction processing through general ledger accounting and reconciliation, including administering timekeeping processes, preparing and posting journal entries, reconciling accounts, researching variances, maintaining supporting documentation, and supporting the monthly close.

The position works closely with Human Resources and operational managers but resides within Accounting and is responsible for ensuring employee time, payroll, and expense transactions are properly authorized, recorded, reconciled, supported, and audit-ready.

The successful candidate will not simply process transactions. This individual is expected to establish strong controls, identify errors and process gaps, maintain accurate accounting records, and take ownership of assigned processes and accounts.

Responsibilties

Timekeeping & Labor Reporting

• Own and administer MARTAC's employee timekeeping and labor reporting process.
• Ensure employee time is submitted accurately, completely, and within established deadlines.
• Monitor timecard submission and approval status and follow up with employees and supervisors on missing, incomplete, or late timecards.
• Review timecards for completeness, proper approvals, unusual activity, and compliance with company timekeeping policies.
• Ensure employees charge time to appropriate projects, programs, indirect accounts, leave categories, and other authorized charge codes.
• Coordinate the establishment, maintenance, and closure of labor charge codes with Accounting and Program Finance as appropriate.
• Identify potential miscoding, unusual labor charges, excessive corrections, or other timekeeping exceptions and investigate or escalate them as necessary.
• Administer and document timecard corrections and adjustments, ensuring changes are appropriately authorized and maintain a clear audit trail.
• Reconcile timekeeping records to payroll hours and investigate differences before payroll is finalized.
• Reconcile recorded labor to payroll and the general ledger as part of the accounting close.
• Maintain timekeeping records and supporting documentation in an organized, audit-ready manner.
• Develop and maintain written timekeeping procedures and controls.
• Support employee and manager training regarding timekeeping requirements and proper labor charging.
• Support DCAA, external audit, internal audit, and customer requests related to timekeeping and labor reporting.
• Assist Accounting and Program Finance in identifying and resolving labor charging discrepancies.
• Monitor compliance with MARTAC's timekeeping policies and escalate recurring or significant violations to management.

Payroll Processing & Accounting

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing, ensuring payroll is accurate, complete, appropriately authorized, and processed on schedule.
• Receive approved payroll inputs from Human Resources, including new hires, terminations, compensation changes, bonuses, benefit deductions, leave changes, and other employee updates.
• Review payroll inputs for completeness, appropriate authorization, and reasonableness before processing.
• Reconcile approved timekeeping records to payroll hours before payroll is submitted.
• Validate employee pay rates, hours, overtime, deductions, taxes, reimbursements, bonuses, and other payroll components.
• Review payroll registers and exception reports before payroll is finalized.
• Prepare and post payroll journal entries to the general ledger.
• Record wages, payroll taxes, employee deductions, employer taxes, benefits, and other payroll-related activity to appropriate accounts and cost centers.
• Prepare payroll accruals and other payroll-related month-end journal entries.
• Reconcile payroll registers to timekeeping records, payroll funding, bank activity, and the general ledger.
• Reconcile payroll-related balance sheet accounts.
• Research and resolve payroll and accounting discrepancies.
• Process and properly account for payroll corrections and off-cycle payrolls.
• Maintain supporting documentation for payroll transactions, journal entries, reconciliations, and approvals.
• Support year-end payroll activities, including W-2 preparation and reconciliation.
• Coordinate with MARTAC's payroll provider regarding system issues, tax notices, employee setup, and other payroll matters.
• Manage the payroll and state-registration process required to register MARTAC in any future states approved by management for the employment of employees, including coordinating payroll tax, withholding, unemployment, and other required state employer registrations with Human Resources, Accounting, the payroll provider, and applicable state agencies.
• Respond to, process, and maintain documentation requested by state agencies related to payroll, employee withholding, unemployment, garnishments, wage reporting, or other payroll compliance matters, coordinating with Human Resources and management as appropriate.
• Process employee garnishments, levies, child support orders, tax withholding orders, and other legally required payroll deductions in accordance with applicable requirements and authorized documentation.

Travel, Expense & Corporate Card Accounting

• Manage the employee travel and expense reimbursement process.
• Review expense reports for appropriate business purpose, receipts, approval, policy compliance, and proper GL, department, program, and cost center coding.
• Follow up regarding missing documentation, policy exceptions, or questionable expenses.
• Process approved employee reimbursements accurately and timely.
• Administer accounting activities associated with company credit cards.
• Review corporate card transactions for receipts, business purpose, coding, and approval.
• Prepare and post journal entries related to employee expenses and corporate card activity.
• Reconcile employee reimbursement and corporate card activity to the general ledger.
• Research outstanding, unsupported, duplicate, or incorrectly coded transactions.
• Ensure expenses are recorded in the appropriate accounting period.
• Maintain complete supporting documentation and audit trails.
• Assist in developing, improving, and enforcing MARTAC's travel, expense, and corporate card policies.

Journal Entries, Reconciliations & Month-End Close

• Prepare and post recurring and non-recurring journal entries for assigned areas.
• Prepare payroll, labor, expense and other assigned accruals, reclassifications, and correcting entries.
• Ensure journal entries contain appropriate support, coding, explanations, and approvals.
• Own assigned balance sheet reconciliations and supporting schedules.
• Review assigned general ledger accounts for accuracy and reasonableness.
• Investigate reconciling items and accounting discrepancies through resolution.
• Prepare adjusting journal entries resulting from account reconciliations.
• Participate actively in monthly, quarterly, and annual financial close.
• Complete assigned close responsibilities in accordance with the Accounting close calendar.
• Maintain reconciliations and journal-entry support in an audit-ready manner.

1099 & Vendor Tax Compliance

• Coordinate annual Form 1099 reporting.
• Review vendor records throughout the year to identify 1099 reporting requirements.
• Ensure appropriate W-9 documentation is obtained and maintained.
• Validate vendor taxpayer identification information and classifications.
• Reconcile applicable vendor payments to the general ledger before year-end reporting.
• Coordinate preparation, review, filing, and distribution of Forms 1099.
• Research and resolve vendor tax-reporting discrepancies.

Internal Controls & Process Improvement

• Develop, document, and maintain accounting procedures and internal controls for timekeeping, payroll, employee expenses, and corporate cards.
• Maintain appropriate segregation of duties between HR authorization, employee time reporting, supervisory approval, payroll processing, accounting, and final review.
• Identify control weaknesses, accounting errors, and inefficient processes and recommend corrective actions.
• Establish repeatable procedures, reconciliations, checklists, and supporting documentation.
• Ensure assigned processes maintain clear and complete audit trails.
• Support internal, external, DCAA, and customer audit requests.
• Partner with Human Resources, Program Finance, managers, and employees while maintaining Accounting's independent control responsibilities.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 3 years of accounting experience with responsibility for general ledger accounting, journal entries, and account reconciliations.
• Experience with payroll processing and/or payroll accounting.
• Experience administering or reviewing employee timekeeping and labor reporting.
• Demonstrated experience preparing and posting journal entries.
• Experience performing balance sheet reconciliations and supporting month-end close.
• Understanding of accrual accounting and general ledger concepts.
• Experience reviewing employee expense reports and/or corporate card transactions.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
• Exceptional attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Ability to handle confidential employee and compensation information with discretion.
• Ability to identify accounting errors, inconsistencies, and control weaknesses rather than simply process transactions.
• Ability to manage recurring deadlines and take ownership of assigned processes and accounts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with APS or a comparable payroll/timekeeping system.
• Experience with QuickBooks or another ERP/general ledger system.
• Experience in government contracting, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, or another regulated environment.
• Familiarity with DCAA timekeeping requirements and government contracting labor-charging practices.
• Experience with direct and indirect labor classifications and project/program charge codes.
• Experience with 1099 preparation and vendor tax compliance.
• FPC, CPP, or accounting-related certification is a plus.

Reporting Relationship

This position reports within the Accounting organization and works closely with Human Resources, Program Finance, and operational managers.

Human Resources is responsible for initiating and obtaining appropriate authorization for employee-related actions. Employees are responsible for accurately reporting their time, and managers are responsible for reviewing and approving employee time. The Payroll, Timekeeping & Expense Accounting Specialist is responsible for administering and controlling the timekeeping process, reconciling time to payroll and accounting records, processing payroll, preparing journal entries, performing reconciliations, and maintaining appropriate supporting documentation and controls.

The position is an active member of the Accounting team and participates in MARTAC's monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes.

Job Type: Full-time

Work Location: In person

Salary : $43,222 - $56,768