Accounting Assistant

Starting salary up to $32.88 hour ($68,624/year), a cash allowance of $600/month, and a competitive total compensation package!*

The Auditor-Controller-Tax-Collector's Office (ACTTC) seeks a highly skilled financial record keeper to become an Accounting Assistant.  As an Accounting Assistant, you will supervise the processing of financial records and transactions by:

• Performing complex financial record-keeping duties
• Understanding and applying policies and regulations that govern governmental fiscal record-keeping systems
• Preparing a variety of financial statements and statistical reports for the use of local, federal, and state agencies
• Maintaining expenditure, cost and control ledgers, registers, journals, and other records necessary to control fiscal operations
• Training and supervising clerical accounting staff

The ideal candidate will be a team player, self-starter, and will possess:

• An advanced understanding of accounting principles
• An ability to quickly and accurately prepare and audit financial transactions
• Advanced Microsoft Office Suite skills
• Knowledge of Peoplesoft Financials and Supply Chain Management, highly desired
• Strong analytical skills needed to solve complex operational and system issues

What We Offer

Working at the County of Sonoma offers expansive opportunities for growth and development, the ability to be a part of a challenging and rewarding work environment, and the satisfaction of knowing you're working to better our communities. You can also look forward to flexible work arrangements and excellent benefits* including:
 

• A hybrid telework schedule that meets the needs of our staff, department operations, and the communities we serve may be available depending on the assignment
• Eligibility for a salary increase after 1,040 hours (6 months when working full-time) for good work performance; eligibility for a salary increase for good performance every year thereafter, until reaching the top of the salary range
• Competitive vacation and sick leave accruals, 12 paid holidays, and an additional 8 floating holiday hours per year
• County paid 100% premium contribution for the majority of employee-only and employee + family health plan options
• An annual Staff Development/Wellness Benefit allowance of up to $650 and ongoing education/training opportunities
• County contribution to a Health Reimbursement Arrangement to help fund post-retirement employee health insurance/benefits
• Retirement fully integrated with Social Security
• May be eligible for up to 8 weeks (320 hours) of Paid Parental Leave after 12 months of County employment

*Salary is negotiable within the established range. Benefits described herein do not represent a contract and may be changed without notice. Additional information can be found in the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Memorandum Of Understanding (SEIU MOU) and our Employee Benefits Directory.

This recruitment is being conducted to fill an Accounting Assistant position. This employment list may also be used to fill future full-time, part-time, or extra-help (temporary) positions as they occur during the active status of the list. Qualified County employees who wish to be considered for future positions should consider applying to this recruitment.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience: Any combination of education, training, and experience which would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities. Normally, this would include possession of a college degree in accounting, finance, or business administration with at least 12 semester or 16 quarter units of accounting, including Principles of Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Advanced Accounting, Governmental Accounting, Cost Accounting, or Auditing.

OR

Possession of a Certified Public Accountant Certificate.

OR

Completion of at least 9 semester or 12 quarter units of accounting course work at the college or university level; and  four years of full-time work experience in accounting or bookkeeping activities, including at least two years  interpreting financial data and solving complex financial problems;

Additional education or training which is directly related to the knowledge and abilities may be substituted for up to two years of the experience required.

License: Possession of a valid driver's license at the appropriate level including special endorsements, as required by the State of California, may be required depending upon assignment to perform the essential job functions of the position.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Thorough knowledge of: methods, practices, and terminology used in financial and statistical clerical work, including considerable knowledge of cost, basic accounting, and budgetary accounting principles; double entry bookkeeping; government and departmental policies, regulations, and procedures in order to satisfactorily perform assigned account or statistical recordkeeping functions; resolve related problems, or assess acceptability of work performance and procedures; department services, organization, and functions to proficiently plan, prioritize, coordinate, implement, direct, review, evaluate, and perform work assigned to a clerical accounting section; principles and techniques of supervision, training, and performance evaluation; intermediate mathematics to include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, fractions, percentages, decimals, and derivatives in order to count, calculate, balance, check, and adjust fiscal and/or statistical data; modern office methods and procedures; database, spreadsheet, and word processing applications.

Ability to: understand, coordinate, maintain, and monitor an accounting function; exercise judgment and technical accounting skill in performing assigned duties independently; establish, evaluate, and modify clerical accounting systems, procedures, records, and forms; review, code, post, adjust, and summarize fiscal transactions or statistical data; maintain and reconcile control records; prepare financial and statistical reports, statements, charts, and graphs; review, analyze, and evaluate data and reports for accuracy and conformance to standards and procedures; use and understand common database, spreadsheet, and word processing applications; train and supervise others; plan, schedule, and assign work; establish and maintain effective working relationships with the public, coworkers, and administrative and professional personnel; read and interpret laws pertaining to departmental accounting practices and procedures; operate office equipment such as adding machines, calculators, and computers in order to post, balance, summarize, and adjust data.

Selection Procedure & Some Helpful Tips When Applying

• Your application information and your responses to the supplemental questions are evaluated and taken into consideration throughout the entire selection process.
• You should list all employers and positions held within the last ten years in the work history section of your application. Be as thorough as possible when responding to the supplemental questions.
• You may include history beyond ten years if related to the position for which you are applying. If you held multiple positions with one employer, list out each position separately.
• Failure to follow these instructions may impact your competitiveness in this process or may result in disqualification.

Please visit Getting a Job with the County of Sonoma to review more detailed information about the hiring process, including the application process, examination steps, and department selection process.

The selection procedure will consist of the following examination:

An Application & Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination (weight 100%) will be conducted to evaluate each applicant's application and supplemental questionnaire for satisfaction of minimum qualifications (pass/not pass); and for educational coursework, training, experience, knowledge, and abilities which relate to this position. Each applicant will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of work history, related experience, and achieved level of education and/or training as described in the application and responses to the supplemental questions.

Candidates demonstrating possession of the minimum qualifications will be placed on an employment list in order of most qualified to least qualified based on the achieved score received in the Application & Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination which evaluates the education, training, experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, and other qualifications that you demonstrate in your application and/or response to the supplemental questionnaire. Please be aware that resumes and cover letters are not typically evaluated in the Application & Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination. Scores may be adjusted based on such factors as the number of candidates, anticipated vacancies, past practice, and natural breaks in the scores achieved by this group of candidates.