Accountant Senior

Department: Finance Department

Salary: $70,166.00 - $100,864.19 Commensurate with Experience

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

SUMMARY

The Financial Internal Control and Systems Division (ICSD) supports the City’s commitment to well-managed government by establishing standards for financial internal control in alignment with the COSO Internal Control and ERM frameworks and increasing standardization, efficiency, fiscal accountability, and oversight of the City’s financial functions and financial management systems citywide. ICSD prioritizes an environment of control, compliance and centralized oversight by supporting the effective design, implementation, operation and monitoring of internal control components and management systems. ICSD staff are responsible for developing and maintaining significant working knowledge of the city’s financial functions and management systems.

As a member of ICSD, the Financial Internal Control Associate Senior works with other ICSD staff, Finance department staff, City department heads, City staff, and other financial professionals inside the organization. Under the leadership of the Financial Internal Control and Systems Assistant Division Manager, this position supports citywide compliance with established COSO Internal Control and ERM standards, financial policies, processes, and procedures related to the City's financial functions and financial systems in general and as specifically related to the role’s assigned financial function(s).

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Ensures the integrity of the City’s financial data utilizing COSO internal control concepts.

• Serves as a resource to all City departments engaged in activities related to the assigned financial function(s) to ensure that employees adhere to established internal control standards and applicable financial policies, processes, and procedures.

• Oversees and monitors citywide departmental staff performing activities related to the assigned financial function(s).

• Conducts data analysis, process reviews and transaction audits to assess and verify accuracy and compliance related to the assigned financial function(s).

• Participates in ICSD planned and ad-hoc special assessment projects in collaboration with Finance divisions’ staff, business process owners, subject matter experts and stakeholders and culminating in recommendations for new or revised policies, business process improvements and procedures development:

• Supports analysis of the severity of control deficiencies and their impact to internal controls over financial reporting including root cause analysis, unmitigated impacts, and sustainability of corrective actions.

• Participates in development and drafting of new citywide policies or revisions of existing policies to address identified gaps in compliance guidance and to establish control activities.

• Assesses efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and recommends process improvements to streamline while remaining COSO compliant.

• Supports business process improvement efforts to review and document priority business processes (both process narratives and process flow diagrams), assessing presence, relevance, and design effectiveness of key COSO internal controls.

• Supports the design of robust and effective monitoring strategies to assess the City’s quality of performance over time and ensure errors and irregularities are prevented to the greatest extent possible.

• Manages deliverables and assignments to ensure timely, positive, quality deliverables.

• Participates in relevant career growth, training, and development opportunities to support the Internal Control Division in achieving strategic goals and objectives.

• Other duties as assigned.
  

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Comprehensive understanding of generally accepted accounting principles for governmental organizations

• Knowledge and experience in COSO Internal Control and ERM frameworks over financial functions

• Working knowledge of the City’s financial function and systems.

• High level of interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing to all levels within the organization

• Strong technical and problem-solving skills

• MS Visio, Project, Excel, Word experience

• Ability to work both independently and as a team member

• Ability to build and maintain relationships with Finance and Citywide staff

• Ability to think creatively and recommend alternatives to get around obstacles

• Ability to prioritize, multi-task and meet deadlines

• Attention to detail

• Aptitude for learning a variety of software applications

• Aptitude in researching and analyzing various types of data metrics specifically related to financial transactions and processes
  

Minimum Qualifications:

• BA/BS with a concentration in finance, accounting or related field

• Minimum of 5 years of financial and/or accounting experience
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• COSO Internal Control - Integrated Framework Certified

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email Careers@ci.charlotte.nc.us.

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

BENEFITS

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees.

Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.