Senior Payroll Accountant

Full-time - Mid Level

Alexandria, VA

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support

About the position

The Senior Payroll Accountant performs professional accounting and/or payroll duties; to include, but not limited to analyzing and updating various financial reports. The incumbent performs a wide variety of duties requiring researching and providing financial data on request. This position serves as the assistant Payroll Manager and is capable of performing all duties relating to processing of the City's bi-weekly payroll. This position reports to the Payroll Manager and works closely with the Kronos Manager and members of the Pension and Payroll Division to ensure that all employees are paid in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

Responsibilities

• Works with a team to ensure that all employees are paid in compliance with Federal Labor Standard Act (FLSA), Internal Revenue Service regulations, State Wage and Hour Laws, Collective Bargaining Agreements and City Administrative Regulations.
• Processes payroll deductions, City contributions, refunds, leave corrections, and other adjustments to payroll records.
• Develops, maintains, and improves the processes to perform all payroll and benefits functions.
• Investigates and coordinates problems of a complex nature and designs corrective procedures to include interfaces to and from the payroll system to Munis (ERP & Accounting System), Kronos (Timekeeping System), and benefit vendors.
• Assists with monthly, quarterly, and year-end activities including wage reconciliation, FICA, FUTA, SUTA, state and federal tax withholdings and W-2 production.
• Explains procedures and provides back up information to external auditors during their annual audit.
• Processes biweekly court-ordered wage attachments (child support orders, IRS levies, local government liens, bankruptcies, creditor garnishments and student loans).
• Researches, evaluates and processes employee pay adjustments, including retroactive pay adjustments, overpayments, underpayments, payment of leave at termination, etc.
• Coordinates with the Human Resources and other Payroll and Pension staff to integrate employee payroll and benefit data to ensure best overall organizational practices for benefit issues, accuracy and compliance.
• Provides primary customer service to all City departments and agencies for payroll processing issues and inquiries.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or closely related field from an accredited college or university.
• Two years of applicable experience; or an equivalent combination of experience and training which provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Significant experience preparing bi-weekly payroll transactions; to include auditing, adjusting and reconciling payroll data.
• Knowledge and experience of preparation and transmission of bi-weekly, monthly and quarterly taxes.
• Thorough knowledge of accounting theory, principles, and practices and their application to a wide variety of transactions regarding financial matters.
• Experience processing payroll in-house, payroll accounting, and tax reconciliation.

Nice-to-haves

• Possession of the Certified Payroll Professional Certificate (CPP).
• Knowledge of the Munis Financial and Kronos Timekeeping systems.

Benefits

• The starting salary range for this position is $62,719.28 to $87,924.20 (midpoint of the grade), based on qualifications and experience.
• The incumbent can eventually be awarded up to $110,373.64 (Step 20) with tenure and job performance.