Accounting Technician I/II - Payroll

City of Redwood City

Redwood City (CA)

On-site

USD 52,000 - 67,000

Full time

9 days ago

A complete application in a minute

Tailored resume and cover letter, ready to send.

Get past ATS filters

Job summary

City of Redwood City is seeking an Accounting Technician to support payroll and municipal accounting operations within the Finance Department. The role involves handling payroll processing, time sheet audits, deductions, and related reporting with a focus on accuracy and compliance.

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of governmental accounting principles and the ability to communicate clearly. A city application and supplemental questions are required, with a background check before

Qualifications

Experience with payroll and payroll reporting within municipal government.
Ability to prepare financial, statistical, and payroll-related documents.
Familiarity with accounting procedures and records in a government context.

Responsibilities

Perform bookkeeping and accounting tasks within assigned financial system areas, including payroll.
Prepare and monitor payroll, audit time sheets, and verify accuracy.
Compute deductions and remit payments and reports to required entities.
Reconcile payroll registers and related accounts; communicate discrepancies.
Review personnel action forms for accuracy and coordinate corrections.
Research payroll records and resolve issues; respond to questions on rules and codes.

Skills

Governmental accounting knowledge

Payroll knowledge

Data processing in accounting

Municipal accounting practices

Accounting record keeping

Oral and written communication

Education

Equivalent to completion of the twelfth grade

AA degree in accounting or related field desirable

Job description

WHY JOIN THE REDWOOD CITY TEAM?

We offer a wide range of meaningful career opportunities with potential for growth, training and development, competitive salaries, flexible work schedules, paid time off, and robust benefits. The Redwood City team is guided by the core values of excellence, integrity, service, collaboration, inclusion and innovation. Inherent in these values is a great organizational culture based on trust, strong and supportive leadership, respect, risk-taking, empowerment, and effective communication.

The community is known for its inclusivity, strong engaged neighborhoods, and civic pride. The City works diligently to maintain positive and productive relationships with community partners, together providing outstanding services, programs and opportunities for residents and businesses. This mix of tradition and progress, community and diversity, makes Redwood City an extraordinary place to work and call home. If you’re looking to grow your career as a part of a hard-working and fun Finance Department team that fosters innovation, creativity, and collaboration, we hope you’ll apply.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

Redwood City’s Finance Department shares an exceptional spirit of camaraderie, always finding ways to bring fun and laughter into the financial backbone of the organization. The Department manages payroll; accounts payable; accounting; compliance with the purchasing ordinance; budget preparation and annual financial reporting; and treasury management, including investments and debt administration. Team members practice a strong work ethic and attention to detail; celebrate innovation; and seek out continuous improvements to strengthen quality of service and internal controls and streamline processes.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

The Ideal Candidate will embrace the City’s emphasis on excellent customer service; will be detail-oriented and able to manage multiple tasks; will successfully perform work requiring analytical ability and be able to synthesize and summarize information; will use initiative and independent judgment; will be a team player who likes working with a variety of City staff and the public and have a sense of humor.

Typical responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Perform bookkeeping and accounting duties within an assigned area of the City’s financial system such as payroll.
Prepare and monitor the City’s payroll; audit time sheets and verify for accuracy.
Prepare payroll deductions and remit a variety of payments and reports.
Perform related payroll functions including payroll reports and payroll tax returns, reconciling to accounting records.
Prepare and monitor appropriate accounts involving posting and balancing.
Review all personnel action forms received from Personnel, verify accuracy, and communicate any discrepancies or recommended corrections to Personnel for resolution.
Compute retro adjustments; input in the terminal manual adjustments to payroll register and terminations after completion of payroll.
Conduct extensive research of payroll records for problems and make necessary corrections.
Advise and answer questions regarding union rules, personnel rules, M.O.U.’s, payroll codes, and other payroll-related areas.
Edit and correct departmental time cards; edit preliminary time card file listings.
Reconcile payroll register with deduction register; check if additional dollar amounts are reflected in payroll.
Contact and advise others on errors or changes in time cards. Sort and distribute payroll reports and time cards to departments.
Complete State Disability Insurance forms.
Bill retired employees for premiums for their dependents on the City group plans; record payments as they are received; prepare documents for changes in status for data input.
Do research concerning retirement benefits, court actions, sick leave or various matters requiring documented background.
Engage in contact with employees regarding the deferred compensation program; input data into terminal for changes.
Compute garnishments for employees for data input. Compute retirement, resignations, and other types of payment entitlements.
Perform related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Any combination of experience and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Education & Experience:

Accounting Technician I:

Equivalent to the completion of the twelfth grade.
Three years in an accounting clerical position.

Accounting Technician II:

Equivalent to completion of the twelfth grade supplemented by college level courses in accounting, finance, and business.
Two years of responsible experience in a paraprofessional accounting clerical position such as the Accounting Technician I in the City of Redwood City. An Associate of Arts degree is highly desirable.

Knowledge of:

General knowledge of governmental accounting principles, practices and procedures.
General knowledge of payroll and related benefits.
Data processing applications in accounting functions.
Accounting clerical procedures performed in municipal government, including accounts receivable and payroll/benefits.
Accounting record keeping principles, practices and terminology.

Ability to:

Perform a wide variety of paraprofessional accounting procedures.
Apply accounting principles and procedures to a variety of transactions.
Analyze accounting procedures.
Prepare accounting, financial and statistical statements, compiling basic and supporting data.
Function with a high degree of independence in performing job duties and exercise sound judgement in programmatic and procedural decision making.
Communicate effectively, orally and in writing.

Special Instructions

A City application and responses to the supplemental questions are required. Applications must be filled out completely. Failure to complete the application and supplemental questions will disqualify the applicant from the recruitment process. Failure to list work experience, education or training or stating “See Resume” in the work experience section of the application will be considered an incomplete application and subject to disqualification. Resumes may be attached separately, but resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a City application.

A City application and supplemental questionnaire are required. Prior to appointment, candidates will be required to pass a background check (at no cost to the candidate) including the following: