Senior Accountant

TARGET CLOSE DATE:

01/23/2026

PAY GRADE:

Grade 23

TYPE:

Full time

JOB SUMMARY:

Senior Accountants perform a variety of duties related to tracking complex or a high volume of financial information. These duties may include, but are not limited to maintaining accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), banking, general ledger (GL), grant, and/or budgetary accounts, while ensuring compliance to federal, state, and local guidelines and laws (e.g., Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP), Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)). In doing so, Senior Accountants may process payments, produce and/or review transaction reports, oversee inventory, and facilitate the contract review process. Work is performed in an office setting and may involve acting as a team lead or the direct supervisor of others, including administrative staff and Accounting Assistants.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

Agencies provide competitive pay and comprehensive benefits packages to include medical and dental insurance, employer-sponsored retirement plan (pension), generous paid holidays, sick and vacation leave, and more.

Applications for this position will be considered for the following Merit System employing agencies. The pay range for this job varies depending upon the Merit System employing agency.

Bessemer $51,147 - $79,331
Birmingham $52,249 - $81,057
Health Department $60,923 - $94,515
Homewood $60,340 - $93,600
Irondale $60,340 - $93,600
Jefferson County $58,032 - $90,022
Mountain Brook $65,540 - $101,670
Tarrant $45,052 - $69,888
Vestavia Hills $60,715 - $94,182

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

The following are job-related qualifications that are required for employment consideration for this position:

• Experience using general ledger reconciliations in a government/non-profit, corporate, or public accounting setting.
• Experience preparing journal entries (e.g., debits/credits) in a governmental/non-profit, corporate, or public accounting setting.
• Experience preparing financial statements or reports (e.g., balance sheets, income statements) in a governmental/non-profit, corporate, or public accounting setting.
• Experience using Excel (e.g., formatting spreadsheets using formulas and logic).
• Experience using financial management software (e.g., SAP, Incode, QuickBooks).

AND

At least one of the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or related field (e.g., Finance, Business) with 15 semester hours of accounting classes including at least one intermediate level accounting class (i.e., 300 level or above).

or

• Experience as an Accountant in the Merit System.

TYPICAL JOB DUTIES:

• Oversees the Accounts Payable (AP) and/or Accounts Receivable (AR) process by entering requisitions and payments, generating invoices and account statements and reconciling funds using accounting software in accordance with professional standards to maintain finances for a department or jurisdiction.

• Oversees internal and external audits of financial records by acting as the point of communication, distributing audit-related tasks, and implementing changes identified during the audit consistent with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and auditor transaction testing techniques to maintain compliance with professional standards and regulations.

• Oversees the maintenance of banking records by researching banking and account information to provide recommendations to the department or jurisdiction regarding which banking institutions to utilize.

• Performs the financial closing process at the end of an accounting period (i.e., monthly, quarterly, yearly) by analyzing account balances and performing balance sheet reconciliations to ensure compliance with federal, state and local guidelines and laws.

• Oversees the maintenance of the general ledger (GL) by reviewing and approving journal entries, auditing the GL for accuracy, creating journal entries and general ledger adjustments, and reconciling the general ledger to other financial records to ensure completeness of information and compliance with federal. state and local guidelines and laws.

• Oversees the maintenance and reporting of confidential governmental financial records according to federal, state, and local guidelines and laws (e.g., Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)) by reviewing financial data and reports and preparing documentation related to financial activities to ensure organizational compliance.

• Oversees the accounting and processing of employee payroll by reviewing and reconciling payroll data and preparing reports related to payroll activities in accordance with professional standards to ensure accurate payroll calculations and compliance with federal, state and local laws and guidelines.

• Engages in activities designed to ensure professional development, awareness of developments in the field, and knowledge of relevant practices, rules, laws, policies, and/or guidelines.

• Acts as a lead worker of peer or support staff by assigning and reviewing work tasks, facilitating training, and providing feedback using policies, procedures, tools, and directives from management in order to ensure tasks are completed in accordance with established requirements.

• May supervise staff by assigning and distributing work, directing staff in their job duties, monitoring progress of work, providing feedback and/or training.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Job is primarily sedentary involving sitting for long periods of time, but may involve occasional walking or standing for brief periods.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Work is conducted almost exclusively indoors in an office setting. Work involves use of standard office equipment, such as computer, phone, copier, etc.

EEO STATEMENT:

The Personnel Board of Jefferson County 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, 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 with the Personnel Board of Jefferson County, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.  Each Merit System member city/agency operate its own equal employment opportunity policies available on the individual city/agency website.

ACCOMMODATION:

NOTE:

This job posting may close before, or be extended beyond, the listed Target Close Date based on the employment needs of the Merit System. More detail regarding this job is available by clicking Apply.

DISCLAIMER:

This job posting is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of the job duties, responsibilities, or skills and abilities required to do the job and may be changed at the discretion of the Personnel Board at any time.