Accounts Payable Clerk

Surrey Schools (School District #36 Surrey); Surrey; On-site; CAD 30,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent educational institution in Metro Vancouver is seeking an Accounts Payable Clerk to manage invoices and ensure compliance with financial policies. The ideal candidate will have a strong accounting background and excellent communication skills. This unionized position offers a competitive hourly wage and benefits, with a focus on accuracy and attention to detail.

Benefits

Pension benefits

Health benefits

Vacation benefits

Sick benefits

Qualifications

• Experience in a related work environment is required.
• Strong knowledge of accounts payable principles is essential.

Responsibilities

• Review and approve high volume of invoices for payment.
• Provide support and guidance to other staff in the department.
• Resolve discrepancies with vendors and ensure accurate payments.

Skills

Knowledge of accounting principles

Attention to detail

Verbal and written communication

Ability to work autonomously

Education

Completion of grade 12 plus additional post-secondary courses

Tools

District finance accounting software

Job description

Surrey Schools is the largest school district in BC and the second largest employer in Surrey. Spread across one of the fastest-growing cities in British Columbia, Surrey Schools provides quality education to over 82,000 students with 124 schools sites and a variety of other learning facilities, offering a broad range of innovative programs and services to support the learning of our students. The Surrey School District team of approximately 13,000 employees works tirelessly every day to ensure that children are getting the best start they can, providing the preparation to be our leaders of tomorrow.

THE ROLE

The Accounts Payable Clerk undertakes a diverse range of responsibilities to ensure the completeness and accuracy of accounts payables within the District. Additionally, the position provides support to external suppliers, schools, departments, and staff concerning relevant processes, policies, and procedures. This role demands a notable level of autonomy, requiring initiative to discern, evaluate, and select the most suitable course of action and involves work of a specialized nature, in a high-volume environment, particular to the Fiscal Management Services department.

Typical Responsibilities

• Reviews and approves high volume of invoices for payment, including verifying receipt of goods has been acknowledged as invoiced, matches prices and terms with purchase orders, checks that account coding is appropriate, confirms approval of an authorized person is present, and authenticates that duplicate or overpayment is not being made.
• Reviews and compiles invoice batches for processing, ensures accuracy and compliance of financial reporting transactions in accordance with District Policy and Procedures.
• Investigates issues relating to payment transactions by reviewing information utilizing District software and document files. Escalates to Team Leader, as needed, for further assessment and confirmation of appropriate resolution.
• Resolves accounts payable invoicing and PO discrepancies through various communications with vendors, Purchasing Department staff and other end users. Confirms course of action with Team Leader, as needed, to ensure resolution of issues are met and appropriate supporting documentation is obtained, prior to processing payments.
• Provides guidance and actively collaborates with other Accounts Payable staff as necessary to ensure effective completion of tasks.
• Provides support and training to end users in schools and departments, by telephone, email, and Microsoft Teams.
• Communicates information to vendors and end users to facilitate the processing of accounts and outgoing payments in compliance with District financial policies and procedures.
• Verification of data entered by Accounts Payable Clerks, including reconciling purchase orders with invoices and payments, to ensure accuracy and resolve any discrepancies in a timely manner, including the decommitments of funds on associated accounts.
• Prepares, completes data entry, compiles, files batches, and maintains correspondence utilizing computer and software applications.
• Manages vendor maintenance processes, including obtaining updated vendor information, resolving discrepancies, and ensuring accurate vendor records in compliance with District policies and procedures.
• Maintains strict confidentiality of financial data and sensitive information, adhering to all District privacy protocols.
• Prepares and processes invoices for the weekly cheque run, online payments, and ad-hoc cheque runs with a high degree of attention to detail and accuracy.
• Apply GST/PST regulations and tax rebate procedures applicable to the District, ensuring accurate and compliant handling of taxation matters within the accounts payable process.
• Verifies, investigates, and addresses any discrepancies, under the direction of the Team Leader, by reconciling vendor accounts and statements, ensuring accurate and complete payment processing of all invoices, school, and staff reimbursements.
• Performs related duties, as required.

Job Requirements

KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES AND SKILLS

• Knowledge of accounting, bookkeeping, and accounts payable principles, including creation and application of purchase orders.
• Knowledge of expense accounts and cost centres as they relate to accounts payables and payment transaction processing.
• Knowledge of the basic methods, practices, principles, and controls involved in payment processing and other financial transaction accounting.
• Knowledge of business English and demonstrated ability in verbal and written communication skills, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, and the terminology of purchase terms of payment, payment process and financial transactions.
• Knowledge of the applicable rules, District Procedures governing district and departmental activities.
• Ability to self-motivate, self-organize, prioritize, and work within deadlines; daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
• Ability to work, plan and coordinate tasks in a team environment, with other team members at varying levels.
• Ability to work under time constraints and to meet deadlines despite constant interruptions and high-volume environment.
• Demonstrates independence, sound judgement, and the capacity to work autonomously or with minimal supervision, ensuring timely and accurate processing of accounts payable transactions and adeptly resolving emerging issues.
• Ensures meticulous attention to detail and maintains a high degree of accuracy in processing and reviewing accounts payable transactions, invoices, and documentation.
• Ability to analyze invoices and statements, to recognize discrepancies.
• Knowledge over different types of purchase orders and the associated purchase order process, including practices around creation of all PO types, when and how they are utilized by Purchasing and other District Departments, and making recommendations to departments to gain efficiencies.
• Knowledge of, and ability to use, District finance accounting software for processing payments, ensuring accuracy over decommitments of purchase orders, navigating system errors, and processing other financial transaction accounting.
• Ability to provide procedural advice and guidance to district staff.
• Ability to operate general office equipment, including a computer keyboard with numeric pad.
• Ability to apply the District's Records Classification System.
• Ability to identify, apply critical thinking, and resolve problems related to the work and adherence to District Policy and related financial controls.
• Skilled in gathering and organizing data on complex matters to provide clear summaries for the Team Leader and Accounting Assistant II, facilitating further evaluation and confirmation of appropriate resolutions.
• Demonstrates interpersonal, communication, customer service and teamwork skills to communicate effectively using courtesy, tact, and discretion with District staff and vendors in the explanation and clarification of information.
• Ability to learn new District software, perform computations using calculators and adding machines with reasonable speed and accuracy.

Training And Experience

• Completion of grade 12, plus additional post-secondary courses in a recognized business/accounting program.
• Two years' experience in a related work environment, or an equivalent combination of training and experience.

This is a unionized position that offers an hourly wage rate of $30.60 per hour (subject to review) plus a liberal benefit package including pension, health, vacation, and sick benefits.

Qualified applicants can apply by clicking the "apply" button to the right of the posting.

The closing date for this position is November 26, 2025 at 4:00pm.

Note

Successful applicants will be required to consent to a Criminal Records Search prior to employment. Only those applicants selected for interviews will be contacted. To all others, thank you for your interest. The Surrey School District respectfully acknowledges that our schools reside on the traditional, unceded, and shared territories of Coast Salish peoples: The q? íc?? y? - Katzie, the q'wa:n??'?n? - Kwantlen and the SEMYOME - Semiahmoo First Nations, who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial.