Financial Specialist

United States Courts; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The United States Courts seeks a Financial Specialist to perform and coordinate financial and accounting duties, ensuring compliance with guidelines and internal controls. Responsibilities include processing vouchers, maintaining ledgers, and producing financial statements and reports for court operations.

You will assist with accounts payable/receivable, travel vouchers, deposits, and victim restitution payments, while supporting policy development and cross‑unit financial coordination.

Qualifications

• Maintain and reconcile accounting records including cash receipts journal and ledgers.
• Process travel vouchers and travel advance requests; verify figures and codes.
• Prepare, examine, and analyze regular and non-standard financial reports for court units.
• Assist with internal controls reviews and policy development for financial matters.
• Provide customer service to victims and court staff; coordinate with external offices.

Responsibilities

• Process payments and reimbursements; reconcile monies deposited, transferred, and disbursed.
• Balance deposit funds daily and maintain ledgers.
• Assist with Civil Criminal Accounting Module entries when judgments are received.
• Review vouchers for correctness and proper supporting documentation.

Job description

Overview of the Position The Financial Specialist performs and coordinates administrative, technical, and professional work related to financial and accounting activities of the court, including ensuring compliance with appropriate guidelines, policies, and internal controls. The incumbent prepares, updates, and processes a variety of accounting records, financial statements, and reports, oversees and assists with accounts payable and accounts receivable activities, assists with internal controls reviews, develops recommendations regarding procedures for improvements, and assists with policy development regarding financial matters. The Financial Specialist reports to the Financial Supervisor. Occasional travel may be required. The office hours are typically 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additional working hours may be required based on operational needs.

• Maintain, reconcile, and review accounting records, consisting of a cash receipts journal, registry fund, and deposit fund, as well as subsidiary ledgers for allotments and other fiscal records. Perform basic accounts payable and accounts receivable duties. Maintain and review the accuracy and accountability of monies received and disbursed by the court.
• Assist in the preparation, update, examination, and analysis of a variety of regular and non-standard reports as requested by court units, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, U.S. Treasury, financial institutions, or other organizations or agencies. Design, develop, and maintain spreadsheet formats and programs for analyzing financial information for the court.
• Assist Clerk’s Office employees and the other financial specialist in creating and verifying deposit tickets daily.
• Process payments incurred by the court. Perform reconciliation of monies deposited, transferred, and disbursed by the court. Calculate and prepare financial statements according to established procedures.
• Receive, review, and process travel vouchers and travel advance requests from chambers and court staff. Check figures, postings, and documents for correct entry, mathematical accuracy, and proper codes. Communicate with individuals within the court to respond to questions, problems, or insufficiencies with voucher submissions and the status of payment of vouchers.
• Review and reconcile court travel card statements, and create and submit accurate payment vouchers including collecting, reviewing, and attaching supporting documents.
• Receive, review, and process jury vouchers from jury clerks. Check figures and documents for correct entries, mathematical accuracy, and appropriate supporting documentation. Communicate with jury clerks regarding deficiencies and request files necessary for processing. Upload and verify accuracy of processed payment files and communicate with certifying officer when the voucher is ready to be approved for payment.
• Ensure that appropriate internal controls are followed for disbursement, transfer, recording, and reporting of monies. Review vouchers for payments related to expenses incurred by the court for appropriateness of payment. Assist with oversight of financial operations to ensure compliance with internal controls, policies, and procedures.
• Enter cases into Civil Criminal Accounting Module when judgments are received from chambers.
• Process victim restitution payments. Process incoming checks. Compile necessary information, produce, and submit payments for processing. Maintain ledger of restitution payments and ensure victims receive payments. Process returned checks and returned mail. Provide customer service to victims and their representatives. Work with U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Probation to reconcile criminal debt accounts and receivable records.
• Balance deposit funds with both manual and General Ledger daily.
• Prepare reports and forms by compiling information. Use accounting software and systems to record, store, and track information.
• Coordinate work efforts with other financial specialist in the financial unit.
• Comply with guidelines, procedures, and policies established by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Court.
• Complete special projects as assigned and perform other related duties as required.

Please note: This system will not let you continue without uploading all documents. If you fail to provide these documents, your application package will be considered incomplete and will not be considered any further.

The federal Judiciary is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.