School Accountant

School Accountant | Opportunity Education Network

About Opportunity Education Foundation
Opportunity Education, founded in 2005 by entrepreneur philanthropist Joe Ricketts, is a charitable foundation that develops and supports transformational learning programs for young adults globally. It has served over 1 million students and 5,000 teachers across 1,500 schools in 12 countries.

Using its expertise in learning science, OE created Quest Forward Learning, a method and curriculum focused on active learning and feedback for high school students. In 2017, OE established Quest Forward High Schools in California and Nebraska based on these principles.

Now, OE is scaling its impact by building a network of schools across the U.S., offering academic success and post-secondary preparation as a model for schools nationwide. OE will launch two new public charter schools Des Moines, IA and Cedar Rapids, IA in summer 2025 and plans to open one to two new schools annually for the next five years.

About the Role

The School Accountant is among the first full-time hires for the school network team and will help build the foundations of high-quality, efficient back-office function to help drive the success of our ambitious impact and growth ahead. Reporting to the Chief of Schools and working closely with Mr. Ricketts' finance team , the School Accountant, will be responsible for all transaction processing, payroll functions, and accounts payable while ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations for OE's charter schools. The accountant will receive professional development and mentorship with the goal of progressing into a Senior Accountant and eventually a Controller role within 2-3 years.

This is an ideal role for a growth-minded accountant with a desire to learn and participate in the building, creating, and scaling of accounting and finance systems and is energized by doing the work directly. This is a rare opportunity to develop as a leader from the ground up in an objective-driven, ambitiously-growing, new K-12 school network that works in an entrepreneurial, fast-moving and mission-focused manner.

Responsibilities

As a growing and dynamic organization, the responsibilities will be ever-evolving, however, for the foreseeable future, the expected breakdown of responsibilities include:

Financial Administration & Bookkeeping (40%)

• Maintain accurate financial records for both schools, ensuring compliance with Iowa state regulations and charter school financial reporting requirements
• Perform comprehensive bookkeeping, including journal entries, general ledger maintenance, month-end close procedures, and bank reconciliations
• Provide financial data for grant applications and reporting
• Support the budgeting process, ensuring financial sustainability for both schools
• Collaborate with external partners, including auditors, financial institutions, and vendors.

Accounts Payable (15%)

• Manage accounts payable, including verifying invoices, coding expenses accurately, processing vendor payments, maintaining vendor records, and reconciling statements to ensure accuracy and completeness

Payroll (20%)

• Process biweekly payroll, including calculating wages, managing deductions, ensuring timely direct deposits, and preparing payroll tax filings in compliance with federal and state regulations
• Prepare and submit reports and funding in compliance with Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System requirements
• Serve as internal point-of-reference for staff payroll questions and support HR/Talent team in provision of high-quality benefits package

Financial Leadership Growth & Development (25%)

• Assist with annual audits and state monthly and quarterly reporting requirements
• Learn to prepare monthly financial reports for school leadership and partner organizations
• Help oversee cash flow management
• Assist in the continued development and implementation of internal controls and financial policies to ensure efficiency and compliance
• Participate in the preparation of annual school budgets and maintenance of school pro-forma planning models

Ideal Candidate Experiences

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance (CPA or MBA is a plus but not required)
• 2-4 years of accounting, auditing, or bookkeeping experience, preferably with experience utilizing multiple reporting fields across multiple entities
• Knowledge of GAAP, fund accounting, and financial reporting standards
• Demonstrated proficiency utilizing main-stream accounting software (Great Plains a plus but not required)
• Strong Excel skills for financial modeling and reporting
• Some familiarity with audit preparation and compliance reporting
• Success working across functional organization teams, utilizing accounting to support leaders in other business areas (sales, programming, etc.)

Ideal Candidate Traits

• Experience with accounting across significant financial statements (Revenue > $5M) with humility and desire to work across all finance functions during the initial startup years
• A blend of detail-oriented nature to excel in providing accurate work across accounting and payroll functions with the flexibility to take prior experience and skills and adapt them to the burgeoning Iowa charter school sector
• Growth mindset, eager to learn and advance into career progression
• Proactive problem-solver, able to troubleshoot financial issues and implement improvements
• Excellent communicator, capable of explaining financial information to non-financial stakeholders
• Ethical and trustworthy, committed to maintaining financial integrity and compliance
• Adaptable and resourceful, comfortable working in a startup environment with evolving responsibilities
• Commitment to OE's mission and approach to serving students
• An ability to travel when needed to OE schools, including ideally easy access (driving or one-flight) to Midwestern cities, particularly in Iowa where we will have our largest initial footprint
• Location preferred: Denver, CO or Omaha, NE.
• A customer-service orientation, believing a network team member works for schools (and not schools for them)
• An excitement and joy working with others, embodying the optimism and joy we want students, teachers, staff and families to experience in our schools and network.

Application Process

Interested applicants should apply online.

Compensation & Location

Salary is currently budgeted in a range of $65,000 – $80,000 commensurate with experience and geographic cost of living differences among the various considerations that could adjust the salary within or outside of this range. We prefer a location in the Denver, CO or Omaha, NE metro areas.

Start Date & Additional Questions

The expected start date for the position is 6/1/2025 with an ability to accelerate or delay the start date within reason for the ideal candidate.

Please direct any additional questions to careers@opportunityeducation.org

Statement of Non-Discrimination

Opportunity Education is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace where all individuals are valued and respected.