Accountant II - Multiple Positions

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Accountant II - Multiple Positions

Salary

$61,776.00 - $66,840.00 Annually

Location

Denver Metro, CO

Job Type

Full Time

Job Number

NAA-ACCTIIEXT-04.2024

Department

Department of Local Affairs

Division

Division of Local Government

Opening Date

04/29/2024

Closing Date

5/31/2024 11:59 PM Mountain

FLSA

Determined by Position

Type of Announcement

This position is open only to Colorado state residents.

FLSA Status

Exempt; position is not eligible for overtime compensation.

Department Contact Information

Joel Ferguson at joel.ferguson@state.co.us

Primary Physical Work Address

1313 Sherman St., Denver, CO 80203 - This is a hybrid position. Occasional office attendance is required to attend meetings with DOLA managers or stakeholders.

How To Apply

Please submit an online application for this position at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/colorado. Reach out to the Department Contact to apply using a paper application, including any supplemental questions. Failure to submit a complete and timely application may result in the rejection of your application. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that application materials are received by the appropriate Human Resources office before the closing date and time listed.

• Description

• Benefits

• Questions

Department Information

This posting is only open to residents of the State of Colorado at the time of submitting your application.

This posting may fill other similar positions in the same class including some permanent regular and term-limited positions.

About the Colorado Department of Local Affairs

The Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) serves as the primary interface between the State and local communities. The Department provides financial support to local communities and professional and technical services (including training and technical assistance) to community leaders in the areas of governance, housing, and property tax administration. While all state governments provide such services through various Departmental structures, Colorado’s approach is unique in that these local community services are gathered into one Department of “Local Affairs,” which has a central focus on strengthening Colorado communities and enhancing livability.

Vision

The Department of Local Affairs is responsible for strengthening Colorado's local communities through accessible, affordable, and secure housing; implementing property tax law; capacity building, strategic training, research, technical assistance, and funding to localities.

Mission

Our mission is to help strengthen Colorado’s communities.

Why work for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs?

The work we do matters greatly. It matters to us and it matters to the citizens of the great state of Colorado. We love our community and are passionate about supporting our community. We value the diversity (https://youtu.be/eAPo-IRsOZU) that Colorado offers. If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference in communities across the State, consider joining the dedicated people of the Department of Local Affairs.

In addition, we offer a great location and great benefits, which include:

• Medical and dental plans (https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/benefits)

• Strong, secure, yet flexible retirement plans including PERA Defined Benefit Plan or PERA Defined Contribution Plan (https://www.copera.org/sites/default/files/documents/5-112a.pdf) plus pre-tax and ROTH 401K, and 457 plans (https://www.copera.org/members/peraplus-401k457)

• Employee wellness programs

• Paid life insurance

• 11 paid holidays per year plus vacation and sick leave

• Short and long-term disability coverage

• RTD Eco Pass to all eligible State employees

• Flexible work schedule options and remote work options

• Some positions may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. For more information go to https://dhr.colorado.gov/dhr-resources/student-loan-forgiveness-programs (https://dhr.colorado.gov/dhr-resources/student-loan-forgiveness-programs%20)

• Training opportunities

• Variety of Free discounts on services and products available through the State of Colorado's Work-Life Employment Discount Program.

Description of Job

POSITION SUMMARY:

This position performs a full range of financial and accounting functions to support Cash, General, Reappropriated, and Federal funds for assigned Division and programs. This includes (but is not limited to) budgetary setup and monitoring, contract and encumbrance review and setup, payment approval, maintaining accounting structures, participating in fiscal year closing activities, processing program and grant closeouts, etc. The position acts as a Division liaison and is the point of contact between assigned Division(s) and the financial services functions. In this role the position advis es on accounting matters, interprets State Fiscal rules, implements and monitors State and Federal administrative policies, creates and maintains numerous subsystems, and authorizes final approval to financial transactions for the Department under authority delegated to the position by the Department Controller.

Voucher Review

• Authorizes expenditures of state and federal funds for goods, services, grant awards, and distributions in accordance with budgetary controls.

• Reviews documentation and verifies accuracy of funding and cost classification account codes used to post expenditures to the Colorado Operations Resource Engine (CORE or State Financial System).

• Applies final approval to IN, GAX, GAX1, IET, and ITA transactions.

• Pre-audits vouchers processed for compliance with fiscal rules, administrative procedures, grant contract, and federal regulations.

• Executes a detailed audit of selected approved payments (expenditure documents).

• Reviews and compares document details to checklist to determine that expenditures were made in accordance with fiscal and administrative rules and internal control procedures.

• Reviews purchase orders, purchase authorizations, and related support for sufficiency, valid funding, cost classification, vendor, and commodity account codes, available budget, compliance with applicable state and federal rules, regulations, and guidance, and applies approval on CORE encumbrance documents for assigned Division and programs.

  Contract Processing

• Maintains Departmental contract routing protocol and utilizes tracking system(s) and mechanisms to ensure that contracts assigned are processed as timely as possible.

• Reviews assigned contracts to determine if they are compliant with standards

established by the Central Contracting Unit within the Office of the State Controller (in accordance with OSC delegation, contract manual, policies, guidance and state prescribed contract templates), and follows program protocol established.

• Works with Purchasing/Contracts unit and Division/program staff to resolve variances and issues. Sets up necessary subsidiary/subsystem budget and related account codes and creates CORE document to encumber funds along with attachment of electronic contract document.

Division Liaison and Program Support

• Acts as the point of contact between the assigned Division and the Accounting Financial Services Unit, and is expected to gather and funnel questions to the appropriate individual(s) in order to get an answer back to the Division.

• This position should have regular scheduled and ongoing communication with the Division which includes e-mail, phone and monthly/quarterly meetings, as appropriate.

• Works with the assigned Division in the following capacity:

• Processes contracts and payments for the Division

• Orients Division staff with fiscal tools and protocol available (i.e. CORE database, intranet)

• Advises program managers and staff on all types of fiscal matters relating to their area

• Answers questions on fiscal administrative and procurement rules

• Suggests account code structure for transactions

• Recommends options to solve budgetary problems

• Discusses, interprets and develops customized financial reports to meet the needs of the Divisions

• Listens to programmatic and financial concerns brought up by the Division and brings to management as appropriate

• Advises assigned Division fiscal staff on appropriate accounting code structures for tracking budgets, expenditures, and revenues

Program Reconciliation, Reporting, and Accounting

• Maintains and reconciles financial records for assigned Division and programs to ensure accuracy and completeness of account balances, and implements changes to resolve differences discovered. This level of review is done to ensure completeness and accuracy of program accounting so that reporting from the system can be relied on for decision-making and as a source for various other reporting submissions that may be needed (federal reporting, legislative reporting, etc.). This program level reconciliation is implemented through review and analysis of CORE's cost accounting module and knowledge of program setup maintained with various other COA elements. Accounts analyzed include: appropriation units (spending authorized by legislature), activity (program cost centers), program and major program codes (grant programs), task, phase, program period, etc. In addition to reviewing information and setup in CORE, completeness would also be assessed through comparing account balances in CORE with various subsystems and worksheets (i.e. independent accounting systems operated by Division, databases on grant activity and analysis worksheets).

• Monitors grant expenditures, reconciles contract encumbrance records to CORE encumbrance report, and compares grant reports.

• Researches and adjusts differences. If discrepancies are found during reconciliation and review, the position would prepare journal entries or other adjusting entries needed to fix the out-of-balance situation discovered.

• Uses the above information to create reports and submit/file various management, legislative, audit, and federal reports as needed by the program. This information would also be used to implement grant close out procedures and as backup for grant and program billing activity.

Program Account Maintenance and System Setup

• Maintains the programmatic chart of account (COA) elements for Division and programs assigned. This includes verifying the accuracy of tables used for grant management in CORE, and maintaining the unique COA elements needed for each program.

• Monitors and oversees CORE cost accounting funding tables and mechanisms to ensure correct setup operation and, if not, fix the system setup and/or make associated accounting adjustments.

• Creates phase elements or other reporting elements needed to manage encumbrances and contracts.

• Creates grant budget documents to establish budgets which control encumbrances and expenditures during the grant period.

• Establishes spending authority for responsible program area by creating CORE budget transactions.

• Ensures grant or programs budgets tie appropriately to associated State or Federal spending authority setup in appropriation units.

• Coordinates account elements with Deputy Controller and program staff to ensure that COA elements allow for proper reporting and accounting effects for programmatic, department-wide and State processes and mandates.

General Ledger Reconciliation and Accounting

• Maintains and reconciles financial records for assigned funds, Division and programs to ensure accuracy and completeness of account balances and representations made on the financial statements. This requires understanding the relationship of how individual programs roll up into the larger financial structure for DOLA in order to maintain general State accounting protocol and GAAP-based Statewide financial statements. To perform these activities the position would rely on Departmental plans and protocols based on State Fiscal Procedures and directives, and follow through for periodic and fiscal year end closing activities, including various account management techniques, reconciliations, diagnostic reviews, variance analysis, etc.

Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights

Class Code & Classification Description:

H8A2XXACCOUNTANT II (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwUD9Bt4G-21UlpqdF82WGg5elk/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-EvJRYMjdcPVijH80Aym2KQ)

Education and Experience:

Six (6) years of professional accounting experience.

OR

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in accounting.

AND

Two (2) years of professional accounting experience.

OR

Master's degree from an accredited institution in accounting.

AND

One (1) year of professional accounting experience.

OR

Current, valid licensure as a CPA by the Colorado Board of Accountancy.

Substitutions:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution which included 27 semester hours of accounting or auditing coursework will substitute for the degree requirement.

• Additional professional accounting experience will substitute for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.

• Current, valid licensure as a CPA by the Colorado Board of Accountancy will substitute for the degree requirement and two years of the professional accounting experience.

• Additional education from an accredited institution in accounting will substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.

  Preferred Qualifications:

• State of Colorado Government experience in professional accounting

• Experience working with grant payments and administration

• General knowledge of contracting principles

• Knowledge and experience with government accounting and/or federal grant accounting

• Knowledge and experience with electronic accounting databases, including intermediate abilities with MS Excel

• Experience working in CORE (Colorado Operations Resource Engine) and utilizing infoAdvantage Financial Reporting

• Ability to interpret and apply policies, procedures, regulations, and federal laws

  Required Skills and Competencies:

• Strong accounting knowledge

• Ability to work in a team environment and provide technical assistance

• Ability to work collaboratively with stakeholders

• Excellent interpersonal skills

• Strong attention to detail

• Effective analytical and problem-solving skills

• Effective verbal and written communication skills

• Ability to prioritize and organize work to accommodate and meet the changing needs of the Department and meet deadlines

• Proficiency with MS Office suite, specifically MS Excel

• Ability to work independently

• Excellent mathematical skills

  Conditions of Employment:

• You MUST be a Colorado resident to apply for this position.

• Successful passing of the criminal and financial background check is required.

  Application Checklist:

  Only complete applications submitted by the closing date for this announcement will be given consideration.

  Applicants may submit a resume, cover letter/letter of interest detailing how their experience and background address the stated minimum and preferred qualifications/competencies of the job and attach to the online application. Applications left blank or marked “See Resume” will not be accepted.

  The application may include the following documents:

• A cover letter (attach to your online application).

• A resume (attach to your online application).

  Note: Current and former employees (transfers, voluntary demotions, and reinstatements), if applying are required to participate in the comparative analysis process.

Comparative Analysis

Colorado Revised Statutes require that state employees are hired and promoted through a comparative analysis. The comparative analysis for this position will include a skill assessment. Depending on the number of qualified applicants, the next step may include a video or a voice screening of the applicants.

Supplemental Information

Supplemental Information

The State of Colorado believes that equity, diversity, and inclusion drive our success, and we encourage candidates from all identities, backgrounds, and abilities to apply. The State of Colorado is an equal opportunity employer committed to building inclusive, innovative work environments with employees who reflect our communities and enthusiastically serve them. Therefore, in all aspects of the employment process, we provide opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, medical condition related to pregnancy, creed, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, or military status (with preference given to military veterans), or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

DOLA is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to to Joel Ferguson, DOLA ADA Coordinator at joel.ferguson@state.co.us (jennifer.yalcin@state.co.us) .

Email Address:

All correspondence regarding your status in the selection/examination process will be conducted via email. Include a working email address on your application; one that is checked often as time sensitive correspondence such as exam information or notification will take place via email. Please set up your e-mail to accept messages from "state.co.us" and "info@governmentjobs.com" addresses. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email will accept these notices and/or review your junk mail and spam filtered email.

Please Note:

As of July 1, 2023, all DOLA new hires, including transfers of current state employees and reinstatements of former state employees, will be placed on the biweekly pay schedule. This means you will be paid every other Friday for a total of 26 pay periods over the course of a year. Biweekly pay is also lag pay, meaning you will be paid two weeks after the end of each pay period. Please click here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ywHxnnEN-wkGf3B1uS1W0y_4D5tu0lu/view) for more information about the move to biweekly payroll.

Appeal Rights:

An applicant who has been removed from an employment list or removed from consideration during the selection process may request a review by the State Personnel Director.

As an applicant directly affected by the results of the selection or comparative analysis process, you may file a written appeal with the State Personnel Director.

Review of the completed, signed and submitted appeal will be timely on the basis of written material submitted by you, using the official appeal form signed by you or your representative. This form must be completed and delivered to the State Personnel Board by email at dpa_state.personnelboard@state.co.us within ten (10) calendar days from your receipt of notice or acknowledgement of the Department’s action.

For further information on the Board Rules, you can refer to 4 Colorado Code of Regulations (CCR) 801-1, State Personnel Board Rules and Personnel Director's Administrative Procedures, Chapter 8, Resolution of Appeals and Disputes, at spb.colorado.gov/board-rules .

The State of Colorado offers permanent employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, life and disability insurance, as well as a comprehensive leave program. Please click the following link for detailed information: www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/benefits

Please note that each agency's contact information is different; therefore, we encourage all applicants to view the full, official job announcement which includes contact information and class title. Select the job you wish to view, then click on the "Print" icon.

01

Are you willing to accept an offer within the posted salary range?

• Yes

• No

  02

  DOLA - By clicking "yes" below, I certify that I understand that effective July 1, 2023, all DOLA new hires, including transfers of current state employees and reinstatements of former state employees, will be placed on the biweekly pay schedule.

• Yes

  03

  Describe your experience, either educational or employment-related, with complex financial structures, including multiple funding sources, program/project structures, divisions, etc., and your level of responsibility for financial statements and reporting. Include the number of years with this level of responsibility.

  04

  Describe your grant management experience, if any, including the level of responsibility, the number of years you held this responsibility and the types of grants and grant activities for which you were responsible.

  Required Question

Agency

State of Colorado

Address

See the full announcement by clicking

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Website

https://careers.colorado.gov/

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