Payroll Accountant (Higher Ed) – On-Site

Colgate University; New York (NY); On-site; USD 60,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free parking

Gym discounts

Bookstore savings

Athletic tickets

Access to cultural facilities

On-campus perks

Job summary

Colgate University is seeking a Payroll Accountant to work on-site at the Hamilton, NY campus. The role requires handling timely, accurate payroll processing for employees and student workers with strict confidentiality and data integrity.

Responsibilities include ensuring compliance, remitting payroll taxes and fringe benefits, and interacting professionally with faculty, staff, and students. A bachelor’s degree is preferred, and Colgate offers a comprehensive benefits package and on-campus

Qualifications

• Experience with Excel to analyze data, maintain records, and build functional spreadsheets.
• Excellent verbal and written communication with precision and error-free recordkeeping.
• Ability to engage professionally with a diverse higher education community.
• Proven capability to handle sensitive payroll and personnel information with confidentiality.
• Direct experience calculating complex payroll components and explaining payroll breakdowns.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational support for delivering timely, reliable payroll to university employees and student workers.
• Ensure compliance and timely remittance of payroll, payroll tax and fringe benefits.
• Reconcile payroll related vendor accounts.
• Serve as back-up to the Payroll Manager and provide quality customer service.
• Validate reports and data integrity for error-free analysis and compliance.
• Review, process, approve, or reject financial transactions per university policies.
• Execute timely general ledger entries and perform routine reconciliations.
• Process payroll accurately with correct withholdings, deductions, and tax withholdings.
• Reconcile payroll files and generate deliverables for taxes, garnishments, and fringe benefits.
• Deliver measurable results, own outcomes, and incorporate feedback for improvement.
• Communicate clearly across diverse audiences and maintain confidentiality of private data.

Skills

Payroll accuracy

Data confidentiality

Excellent communication

Professional engagement

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred

Tools

Excel

Job description

Colgate University is seeking a Payroll Accountant to work on-site at the Hamilton, NY campus. The role requires handling timely, accurate payroll processing for employees and student workers with strict confidentiality and data integrity.

Responsibilities include ensuring compliance, remitting payroll taxes and fringe benefits, and interacting professionally with faculty, staff, and students. A bachelor’s degree is preferred, and Colgate offers a comprehensive benefits package and on-campus