Business Office Accountant - Mid-Pacific Institute

SALARY RANGE: $21.63 - $26.44 Hourly

JOB SUMMARY

The Business Office Accountant’s primary areas of responsibility include student billing, cash receipts, and accounts payable.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Student Billing Process

• Assist with updating the Reservation, Tuition and Fees contracts on an annual, mid-year, and, part-year basis.
• Record reservation tuition deposits for the new school year.
• Update contact information and other data within the student billing system.
• Download and review data to assist Admissions or Records or other Mid-Pacific departments with student billing data, i.e., receipt of tuition deposits, contract data.
• Review and assist with reconciliation of the student roster.
• Maintain and update the student billing system, terminating account agreements and inactivating students who have withdrawn during and after the school year.
• Assist with updating tuition charges, financial aid, tuition deposit, and other transactions, through the student billing system for review to finalize the payment agreements or invoices.
• Post cash receipts sent directly to Mid Pacific and prepare bank deposits.
• Post and follow up on NSF payments.
• Reconcile student accounts as needed.
• Assist parents, guardians, or authorized related parties with setting up or updating their student billing accounts, answering questions and concerns regarding charges, payments, due dates, account balances and other related issues. Assisting parents, guardians or other authorized related parties with statements and other documentation they may require.
• Generating the student billing statement to be mailed/emailed to families.
• Enter incidental charges to be invoiced to families for review, including exam fees, band or orchestra rental fees, and iPad charges.
• Handle students that have withdrawn during the school year, calculate Tuition Refund Plan insurance (TRP) analysis for review, upload data to the insurance company for processing the tuition refund, follow up with the families for required documents, outstanding balances due, refunds for overpayment, and update the Google documents shared with other departments as follow up on the status of Business Office issues.
• Assist with generating collection letters and copies of statements. Document follow-up on the delinquent account analysis including contacting families to collect balances owed.
• Download and review analysis from the student billing system and input data to create the journal entry in the general ledger system.

Cash Receipts

• Receive and record all cash receipts, separating items between the operating fund and agency fund.
• Prepare bank deposits weekly and more often, if necessary.
• Download and review electronic payments for unusual activities. Reconcile the deposits with available reports of expected charges and prepare reports for review. Assist with reporting payments to other departments as necessary.
• Assist with recording related processing fees for electronic payments.
• Prepare cash receipts journal entries in the general ledger system.

Accounts Payable

• Process accounts payable invoices and ensures accurate and timely payments
• Reconcile vendor statements and resolve any discrepancies
• Maintain accurate records of all financial transactions
• Assist with month-end closing activities, including preparing journal entries and reconciling accounts
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve any payment or invoice issues
• Assists with vendor maintenance, including but not limited to the creation of new vendors and updating contact information including addresses.
• Assist with managing and following up on acctspayable@midpac.edu emails.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assist with maintaining and purging records as specified by the record retention policy. Label and file records for storage. Assist with moving toward electronic record retention.
• Assist and support the Business Office operations.
• Assist with general office functions, including but not limited to, assisting visitors, sorting the mail, placing postage on the mail, and general office cleaning as needed for health and safety concerns.
• Assist with school functions with advance notification as needed.
• Assisting with projects to increase efficiency and accuracy of procedures and processes related to primary areas of responsibility.
• Assisting with other duties as assigned.

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Participate in the development of a safe and healthy workplace.
• Comply with the instructions given for their own safety and health and that of others, in adhering to safe work procedures.
• Take reasonable care to ensure their own safety and health and that of others.
• Report any injury, hazard or illness immediately to their Supervisor and Human Resources.
• Not place others at risk by any act or omission, not willfully or recklessly interfere with safety equipment.
• Act as a role model by demonstrating safe work behaviors.
• Identify, assess if necessary, and control hazards within the area of responsibility.
• Ensure that equipment/supplies are properly maintained.
• Maintain relevant knowledge of safety laws.
• Mandatory reporting of sexual abuse to law enforcement or child protective services, and Human Resources. Sexual abuse includes child molestation, any actual or alleged illegal or otherwise wrongful sexual conduct with a minor, and serial sexual misconduct, any actual or alleged illegal or otherwise wrongful sexual conduct with more than one victim; and committed by or alleged to have been committed by any perpetrator who is not a student of an included entity.

CULTURAL COMPETENCIES

• Demonstrating Professional Body of Knowledge: A professional demonstrates an understanding of practice area knowledge and appreciates learning more about this practice area and beyond.
• Professional as a Learner: A professional engages in career-long professional learning and ongoing critical reflection to identify opportunities for improving leadership, mentoring, and collaboration. The inherent nature of a professional staff member is a keen, lifelong passion for learning, and a deep curiosity and wonder about people, events, and places.
• Fostering Effective Relationships: A professional builds positive working relationships with colleagues, other departments, and the community.
• Establishing an Inclusive Environment: A professional creates a safe, caring environment that is inclusive of and engaging for others.
• Professional as a Leader: A professional seeks leadership opportunities.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Detail-oriented, ability to effectively communicate accounting concepts and requirements to Faculty, Staff and Parents (non-accountants).

• Perform routine tasks with speed and accuracy with minimum supervision.
• Work cooperatively with others and independently as required.
• Customer service oriented.
• Have sound judgment.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of work.
• Ability to anticipate needs and handle multiple activities.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Associate’s degree from Business College or satisfactory completion of two or more years at an accredited University or College with course work in accounting, or equivalent experience.

WORK SCHEDULE

12-month position, 40-hour workweeks. Regular work hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, however, these hours may vary depending on several factors. Must be flexible to work overtime and outside business hours to meet deadlines.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Excellent verbal and written communications skills with attention to grammar, spelling and formatting at a professional level.

OFFICE SKILLS

• Must be extremely proficient in 10-Key, MS Word, and MS Excel with ability to analyze, re-sort, and format spreadsheets. Must have ability to create and export reports.

REASONING ABILITY

• Requires ability to work independently with attention to detail. Must be highly organized and efficient and able to handle multiple projects and meet deadlines.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Our campus consists of multiple buildings on 44 hilly acres that requires frequent walking including uphill and stairs. The individual is required to talk and hear, often required to sit and use their hands and fingers, to handle or feel and to manipulate keys on a keyboard. Vision abilities required include close vision. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with arms and hands, climb or balance, and to stoop, kneel, and crawl. Must be able to lift office storage boxes, approximately 25 pounds.

MENTAL DEMANDS

On a daily basis employee must frequently problem solve, make decisions, interpret data, organize, write, plan, and clearly communicate.

EQUIPMENT USE

Telephone, Copier and Computer – frequently

WORKING CONDITIONS

Indoor office environment subject to frequent interruptions, changing priorities from time to time. Outdoor environment – occasionally.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

Mid-Pacific Institute provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, marital status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.