Senior Accountant

Senior Accountant

Direct hire

Industry- Higher education, 8 in Accounting team

Location- Boston (Huntington Ave - Green line MFA stop or free parking)

WFH situation- Hybrid (onsite daily for a few weeks to train and then becomes 3 days onsite once you are settled)

Must haves:

-Accounting or Finance degree

-3 years of general ledger (reconciliations & month end close) experience

-Excel (pivot tables & vlookups)

Preferred:

-Higher education or non-profit

-Workday

-Investment / endowment accounting

Job Description:

The Senior Accountant is responsible for a variety of accounting and financial reporting activities within the Finance Office and has the potential to grow within the Accounting/Finance department over the next several years. Reporting to the Assistant Controller, the Senior Accountant also interacts closely with the Controller, CFO, University Budget Manager, and other accounting staff, and must work effectively with a wide range of internal and external University constituencies.

Essential Functions:

Accounting for the University’s investments and endowment. The duties include:

• Reconciling the University’s investment accounts monthly.
• Unitizing the University’s Endowment on a quarterly basis.
• Working closely with the College’s Investment Managers and Investment Custodian to ensure timely reporting of all investment and endowment activity.
• Assist with developing Endowment reports which will facilitate communication of Endowment balances to interested parties within the University.
• Responding to inquiries related to individual Endowment fund history and current balances available.
• Documenting related processes.
• Providing cross training to other accounting staff.·

Reconciling Workday Payroll, Employee Benefits, and payroll tax withholding accounts to the University’s general ledger:

• Recording ongoing journal entries related to automated transfers of Payroll cash and tax payments between the College’s bank accounts and third-party payroll processor.
• Reconciling ongoing accrued salaries, withholding taxes payable, and a large number of benefits payable accounts.
• Reconciling the University’s payroll expenses to quarterly Form 941 filings.
• Working closely with our HR Department to resolve questions and account reconciliation issues.
• Documenting related processes.
• Providing cross training to other accounting staff.

General:

• Assists with the monthly close process and annual audit by preparing accruals, executing journal entries, reconciling accounts, managing journal entries, and responding to questions and inquiries.
• Prepares external audit materials and assists in the external audit process.
• Assist with Form 990 & Form 990-T tax filings.
• Supports strategic and daily operations of the Finance team (in close collaboration with the Controller and Assistant Controller) to deliver strong outcomes and develop a strong, inclusive, and impactful team.
• Participate in cross-training efforts within the department in order to provide backup and support for other Finance team members.
• Flexibility to take on new assignments as business needs evolve is essential for this position.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance or related field.
• 3 – 5 years progressive experience with general ledger accounting.
• Advanced accounting and systems skills, with strong attention to detail.
• Highly skilled at performing complex, high volume account reconciliations. Advanced Excel skills will be required to perform this work. (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP’s, Sum If and other relevant Excel functions, and query and other data manipulation techniques as applicable). Experience preparing and uploading complex journal entries for review.
• Ability to protect confidential information by exercising judgment and discretion.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with demonstrated ability to communicate professionally and effectively with multiple constituents within the University.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks within tight timelines and simultaneously manage several projects within or in advance of stated deadlines.
• A motivated problem-solver who will take the initiative to identify opportunities for and implementation of business process improvement efforts; this would include the experience or ability to automate processes and create efficiencies with accounting processes.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Workday experience is preferred but not absolutely required. Alternatively, candidates must have experience with other high-end accounting/ERP systems and working with multi- dimensional Chart of Account fields.
• Progressive GL experience at a non-profit educational institution.