ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN

County of Monterey, CA; Salinas (CA); On-site; USD 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

County of Monterey, CA is seeking an Accounting Technician to support both the Cooperative Extension and Health Department with managing financial records, reconciliations, and payments. The role emphasizes accuracy, timeliness, and strong customer service in a fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of bookkeeping principles, experience with financial recordkeeping, and a certificate in bookkeeper training.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of bookkeeping principles and financial recordkeeping.
• Ability to analyze fiscal data and prepare reports.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Post and maintain financial records including ledgers and journals.
• Reconcile accounts and prepare periodic summaries.
• Assist with budgets, purchasing, and vendor payments.
• Provide responsive customer service to staff and vendors.

Skills

Bookkeeping

Financial analysis

Attention to detail

Customer service

Education

Bookkeeper certificate

Job description

Final Filing Date: Sunday, November 1, 2026 Exam #: 26/80J30/10CH

The County of Monterey is a diverse community set in a picturesque coastal location and offers tourists and residents alike the comfort of a moderate, Mediterranean climate, miles of beautiful beaches, spectacular mountain ranges, groves of redwoods, low-rolling foothills, and scenic valleys. Boasting such world-renowned attractions as the spectacular Big Sur Coast, Laguna Seca Raceway, 17-Mile Drive, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, the Steinbeck Center, the Monterey Jazz and Blues Festivals and Pebble Beach – possibly the world’s most famous golf course, it’s easy to see why over 450,000 residents choose to live here and an estimated four million visitors a year make the County of Monterey their destination of choice.

The County of Monterey is committed to honoring the service and sacrifice of veterans and eligible military spouses and awards veterans’ preference points for this recruitment. To learn more about the eligibility requirements and the process, be sure to read the Hiring Preference for Veterans and Eligible Military Spouses section located towards the end of this job flier.

Position Summary

The County of Monterey Cooperative Extension and Health Department are hiring full-time positions for Accounting Technician.

Cooperative Extension

The County of Monterey Cooperative Extension is a partnership between the County and the University of California. Our mission is to provide science-based research, education, and public services to help solve problems in agriculture, natural resources, livestock, food safety, and human community development. The department consists of Farm Advisors (researchers), staff (research associates), Master Gardeners, and the Monterey County 4-H program.

The Accounting Technician will establish, maintain, and oversee a set of highly complex financial and statistical records utilizing a thorough knowledge of bookkeeping principles. The technician will also perform a thorough knowledge of bookkeeping principles and financial analysis of fiscal data under the direction of departmental management and professional staff.

This role will support the day-to-day financial operations of the Cooperative Extension Department by handling a high volume of accounting and payment activity with accuracy and timeliness. The position requires strong attention to detail, sound judgment, exceptional organizational skills, and provides responsive and excellent customer service in a fast-paced environment with competing deadlines.

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of local agriculture or experience working in an academic setting, strong customer service skills, work well with both internal and external clients, and has the ability to learn practices and fiscal policies of both the County and University of California. The position will primarily support University related expense reconciliations, ledger management, cost transfers, travel report payments, purchasing, and grant based accounting.

Health Department

The Accounting Technician supports the day-to-day financial operations of the Monterey County Health Department’s Behavioral Health Bureau by handling a high volume of accounting, payment, and purchasing activities with accuracy and timeliness. This position helps ensure that staff reimbursements, vendor and professional service payments, and Bureau purchases are processed correctly and in accordance with County fiscal policies and procedures. The position also maintains and reconciles financial records, researches and resolves discrepancies, and serves as a key point of contact for staff and vendors. The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented, organized, responsive, and able to manage multiple priorities while providing excellent customer service in a fast-paced environment.

Flexible Staffing

This classification is part of a flexible series. Incumbents appointed at the lower level of the career series may be promoted up to the higher level of the career series subject to their meeting the employment standards for the higher class and a recommendation for their promotion by the appointing authority.

The Eligible List established by this recruitment process will be used to fill current and future vacancies, both regular and temporary, as they arise.

• Supervises and participates in posting of financial and statistical information to logs, journals, ledgers and other records utilizing hand posting techniques, or personal and mainframe computers; reviews source documents to ensure accuracy; assigns proper account codes as needed
• Examines, reconciles, and adjusts accounting records; identifies and resolves problems and makes corrective entries using hand posting techniques, or personal and mainframe computer generated programs
• Maintains cost accounting records by supervising and participating in the computing, allocating, and posting of costs to various accounts; computes and allocates charges and depreciation costs; prepares summaries and cost statements
• Works with departmental personnel, representatives of other departments and agencies in coordinating, evaluating and modifying financial recordkeeping
• Prepares periodic summaries of transactions including trial balances, worksheets and revenue and expense statements
• Supervises or is personally responsible for the gathering, compiling, analysis and evaluation of financial, statistical and operational data; answers questions that involve searching for and abstracting financial and statistical data and explaining policies and procedures
• Assists administrative personnel in analyzing statistical and financial data and in preparing special reports

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE

Will have a proven track record demonstrating the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

Thorough Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of bookkeeping.
• Methods, practices, and terminology used in financial and statistical clerical work.

Working Knowledge of:

• Office practices and procedures.
• Personal computers and related software such as spreadsheets.
• Intermediate mathematics to include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers, fractions, percentages and decimals, in order to count, calculate, check and adjust fiscal and/or statistical data.

Some Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of cost accounting.

Skill and Ability to:

• Maintain and reconcile differences with financial recordkeeping systems.
• Make mathematical computations quickly and accurately.
• Read and write clearly and effectively to prepare and maintain accurate and complete records and reports such as financial summaries, ledgers and journals.
• Operate a calculator, typewriter, personal and/or mainframe computer and other office equipment.
• Review, code, post, adjust and summarize fiscal transactions or statistical data.
• Work with a minimum of supervision.
• Understand and carry out complex oral and written policies and procedures.
• Perform a variety of tasks simultaneously with multiple, critical or changing priorities.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees, the public and others contacted through the course of work.

Any combination of training, education and/or experience which provides the knowledge, skills and abilities and required conditions of employment is qualifying. An example of a way these requirements might be acquired is:

Experience: Eighteen months of experience performing duties equivalent to a Senior Account Clerk in Monterey County.

OR

Training: Completion of a training course leading to a bookkeeper certificate and six months of supervised on the job training.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The required conditions of employment include, but are not limited to the following:

• Some positions may require the candidate to successfully complete a background check to include fingerprinting.
• Possess and maintain a valid California Class C driver’s license or the ability to provide suitable transportation that is approved by the appointing authority.
• Be available to work a flexible schedule, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and during times of disaster and/or emergency.

BENEFITS:

Monterey County offers an excellent benefits package. Please visit our website to view the Bargaining Unit J Benefit Summary Sheet. This information is not legally binding, nor does it serve as a contract. The benefits listed in the Monterey County Personnel Policies and Practices Resolution or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) prevail over this listing.

NOTES:

• As a condition of employment, prospective employees may be required to submit to a background review which may include a review of information concerning present and/or prior employment, driving record, and record of any criminal convictions.
• Employment is contingent upon acceptable documentation verifying identity and authorization for employment in the U.S.; a list of acceptable documents is available on the USCIS Form I-9.
• If you are hired into this classification in a temporary position, your rate of pay will be hourly, and you will not be eligible for the benefits listed in the summary.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

Monterey County is a drug-free workplace and an equal opportunity employer. The County seeks candidates who can make contributions in an environment of cultural and ethnic diversity. Monterey County is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities.