The Financial Services Program manages the agency’s financial resources and supports agency planning so that environmental goals and strategic priorities are met.

The program’s Payroll and Time Accounting Unit in Lacey, WA is looking to fill a Payroll and Time Accounting Lead (Fiscal Analyst 4) position.

This position serves as a principal assistant to the Payroll and Time Accounting Manager. Independently performs the following key work activities:
 
All activities and tasks require the ability to understand, interpret, and describe the following:

• Department of Ecology policies – those relating to Hours of Work and Overtime, Leave/Payroll.
• State Human Resources within the Office of Financial Management {OFM) – WAC 357-31 (holiday & leave), WAC 357- 28 (Compensation – specifically overtime, comp time, assignment pay & standby pay);
• Department of Retirement Systems – Membership eligibility & contribution rules for all PERS plans.
• Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Health Care Authority – WAC 182-12 – Eligibility; WAC 182-08 – Procedures; WAC 182-16 – Appeals.
• HRMS as it relates to payroll & benefit processing.
• Internal Revenue Service – Publications 15, 15-A, & 15-B; Affordable Care Act.
• Statewide Accounting within the Office of Financial Management – SAAM (Specifically, chapter 25, chapter 75.40, chapter 85.34).
• Health Insurance Benefit System – Pay 1as it relates to insurance benefits processing.
• Washington Federation of State Employees Collective Bargaining Agreement – Articles relating to Hours of Work, Overtime, Holidays, all types of Leave, Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations, Dues, and Compensation.

Reconciliation –

• Reviews to assure accuracy of payroll and benefit transactions, identify potential problem areas, and establish and implement corrective actions to reduce and prevent future problems.
• Assures compliance with Ecology policies and procedures for employee time entry and correction.
• Performs reconciliation of the general ledgers in Account 035, identify potential problems, researching causes, make recommendations regarding fiscal controls, and coordinate and implement solutions.

Quarterly Tax Reports –

• Coordinates development of Ecology tax report to the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Other –

• Serves as lead over fiscal staff performing payroll and benefit processing and recording expenditures for employee salaries and associated employer taxes in accordance with federal and state laws and policies and GAAP.
• Trains and develop staff to use proper procedures and accounting methods to complete their tasks.
• Tracks completion of tasks assigned to staff.
• Receives and respond to inquiries from agency managers, budget mangers, and agency staff regarding payroll and benefit data and time and leave reports.
• Initiate and develop recommendations regarding fiscal policy, develop fiscal procedures, recommend improvements to agency and unit forms within limits of the unit.
• Employs Lean or other continuous improvement methodologies to achieve efficiencies and respond to customer needs.

Required Qualifications: 

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in business, accounting, public administration, or closely related discipline, with a minimum of 18 quarter  or 12 semester hours in accounting, auditing, or budgeting. Professional experience may substitute for education but not for the accounting credit hours.
• Four (4) or more years of relevant professional-level experience in state accounting.
• Demonstrated knowledge of state of Washington enterprise systems for accounting and reporting (AFRS, Enterprise Reporting-Standard and Web Intelligence).
• Intermediate proficiency using Microsoft Office products including Word, Excel and Outlook; is able to create, edit, modify, save, and delete documents and spreadsheets; includes locating and accurately modifying existing files and templates for reuse.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, prioritize, and organize workloads to meet deadlines.
• Reliability to be on the job and be a productive team member in a busy unit with deadlines and seasonal workload issues.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business, accounting, public administration, or closely related discipline.
• Two (2) years of experience as a lead worker or supervisor.
• Working knowledge of enterprise systems for accounting and reporting.
• Understanding of and experience using Lean or other continuous improvement methodologies to achieve efficiencies and respond to customer needs.

 
Special Requirements / Conditions of Employment:

Employee must read, sign, and abide by the Financial Services/Fiscal Office Agreement on Confidential Information (Part A) and Internal Control Responsibility (Part B).

Application Instructions:

• A copy of your college transcript(s) showing your college-level accounting credits. (This may be an unofficial online transcript. It does NOT need to be a sealed, certified copy. HTML or PDF formats, or a screen print into Word are acceptable. Please do not paste text from the internet into Word).
• A list of three work-related references (i.e., supervisor, peer, customer) with current phone numbers.

Please complete the applicant profile when applying for this position.

Please read the supplemental questions carefully and answer completely. Incomplete responses, including “please see resume” may disqualify you from further consideration.

Department of Ecology employees, please make sure to answer the agency-wide questions regarding permanent status as a classified employee within the Washington General Service or Washington Management Service. Do not forget to select Department of Ecology as a response to question 2, and type your personnel ID number for question 3. If you are not sure of your status or do not know your personnel ID number, please contact Human Resources.

If you are reading this announcement in print format, please visit www.careers.wa.gov to access the online recruitment system. Click on “Look for Jobs” and select Dept. of Ecology under the “Department” search list. Click “Apply Search.”

Other Information:

If you need assistance applying for this job, please e-mail careers@ecy.wa.gov. Please do not send an email to this address to follow-up the status of your application. You can view the latest status of your application on your profile’s main page.

If you have specific questions about the position, please email Sheila Meyer at: sheila.meyer@ecy.wa.gov. Please do not contact Sheila to inquire about the status of your application.

The act of submitting application materials electronically is considered affirmation that the information is complete and truthful. The state may verify this information and any untruthful or misleading answers are cause for rejection of your application or dismissal if employed.

This position is included in the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union bargaining unit for the Department of Ecology. All employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the WFSE will, as a condition of employment, either become members of the WFSE and pay membership dues or, as non-members, pay a representation fee as described in the CBA, no later than the 30th day following the effective date of this CBA or the beginning of their employment.

The Washington State Department of Ecology is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, veterans or people with military status, and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities are encouraged to apply. Persons needing accommodation in the application/testing process or this job announcement in an alternative format may call (360) 407-6186. Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing may call the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.