Staff Accountant

Westcliff University; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Westcliff University in Irvine, CA, seeks a Staff Accountant to support general ledger and accounts receivable activities, including reconciliations, cash application, AR aging, and month-end close. The role requires strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and timeliness in resolving account discrepancies.

Responsibilities include reviewing financial reports, reconciling AR and GL accounts, and ensuring adherence to GAAP.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or business.
• 3–5 years of experience in an accounting position.
• Familiar with standard accounting concepts, practices, and procedures.
• Experience with SAP ByDesign is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Support general ledger and accounts receivable activities.
• Conduct reconciliations, cash application, AR aging, and month-end close.
• Prepare financial reports and analyses for management and audits.
• Collaborate with GL, AP, Student Accounts, and FP&A teams.

Skills

Analytical

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting or business

Tools

SAP ByDesign

Job description

Description

What if your next job wasn’t just a role, but a place where you truly felt valued, inspired, and empowered? Imagine working for a company that’s dedicated to educating, inspiring, and empowering others, while fostering a family-like atmosphere that genuinely respects and appreciates every team member. Now, imagine that this company also offers:

• Strong, guiding values that drive everything we do
• Outstanding benefits to support your well-being
• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact every day

Description

What if your next job wasn’t just a role, but a place where you truly felt valued, inspired, and empowered? Imagine working for a company that’s dedicated to educating, inspiring, and empowering others, while fostering a family-like atmosphere that genuinely respects and appreciates every team member. Now, imagine that this company also offers:

• A flexible hybrid work schedule
• Strong, guiding values that drive everything we do
• Outstanding benefits to support your well-being
• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact every day

Does that sound like a place where you’d thrive? If so, keep reading, because this is exactly what Westcliff University is all about.

Here’s a glimpse of what makes our culture amazing: At Westcliff, we strive to be the best in all we do, celebrating and supporting each team member as we grow and succeed together. As a global leader in innovative education, we’re known for our transformative, tech-driven programs and our unwavering commitment to excellence and social responsibility.

Our tagline – Educate. Inspire. Empower. – perfectly sums up our mission: to create opportunities for students and employees to achieve success through hard work and empowerment.

By joining the Westcliff team, you’ll have the chance to leave your personal mark on a growing institution, helping us shape the future of education while being part of a supportive and innovative community. Ready to feel inspired and appreciated while making a real difference?

Staff Accountant

The Staff Accountant supports general ledger and accounts receivable activities, including reconciliations, cash application, AR aging, customer and student account research, month-end close, and financial reporting.

The role requires strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and timely resolution of account discrepancies.

Essential Job Functions

• Knowledge of balance sheets, profit, and loss statements, and other financial reports. Duties and responsibilities
• include analyzing trends, costs, and revenues.
• Experience reconciling bank statements and ledgers.
• Reconcile all income statements and balance sheet accounts by compiling and analyzing account details.
• Reconcile financial discrepancies by collecting and analyzing account information.
• Review company financial reports including Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow, Budget vs Actual and trend analyses.
• Familiar with accounting software. Advanced knowledge and experience with spreadsheets: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheet.
• Understanding of accounting rules and procedures including (GAAP).
• Analytical skills, highly detail-oriented, and aptitude for numbers and quantitative skills.
• Ensure compliance with applicable standards, rules, regulations, and systems of internal control.
• Aid in the implementation and updating of accounting policies, standards, and guidelines.
• Support month-end and year-end close processes.
• Provide accurate, timely, and relevant recording, reporting, and analysis of financial information.
• Identify areas for improvement and implement improvements to processes.
• Manage and reconcile accounts receivable activity, including customer and student balances, invoices, payments, credits, refunds, and unapplied cash.
• Reconcile AR clearing accounts, prepare and analyze AR aging reports; investigate aged and credit balances and coordinate follow-up on account discrepancies.
• Apply and reconcile cash receipts to open receivables and research unidentified or misapplied payments.
• Support customer invoicing, collections, write-off analysis, and revenue-related reconciliations by validating billing and payment activity.
• Prepare AR reconciliations and supporting schedules for month-end close and audits, and partner with
• Student Accounts and Billing to resolve account issues.
• Handles other projects and tasks as needed

Key Relationships

• Collaborates with the GL team, AP team, Student Accounts, FP&A, and campus/department staff to resolve accounting and AR issues.
• Works with Student Accounts and Department of Education on student balances, billing, payments, credits, refunds, collections, and account discrepancies.
• Provides supporting schedules and requested documentation to internal and external auditors as needed.
• Receives direction and guidance from the Accounting Supervisor/Controller and works independently on assigned responsibilities, escalating complex or unusual matters as appropriate.

Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor's degree in accounting or business.
• Requires three to five years of experience in an accounting position.
• Must be familiar with standard accounting concepts, practices, and procedures.
• Perform a variety of tasks.
• Work under general supervision.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience in Higher Education is a plus.
• Experience with SAP ByDesign is a plus
• Strong accounts receivable knowledge and hands-on experience with billing, cash application, account reconciliation, AR aging, collections, credits, refunds, and write-offs.
• Experience researching customer or student account discrepancies, reconciling AR activity to the general ledger, and preparing supporting schedules for month-end close and audits.