Senior Accountant - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

To meet the needs of the Church, we seek to build teams that represent the diverse perspectives, broad life experiences and backgrounds of our global Church membership. With that in mind, we encourage all qualified applicants to apply.

Job Description

Finance employees receive, account for, monitor, and design internal controls to safeguard sacred funds (donated confidentially in obedience to God's commandments) for the Church's religious mission under the direction of senior ecclesiastical leaders.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

This position is a fully-qualified or journey-level professional accounting position in which the incumbent provides professional accounting expertise in applying appropriate accounting principles to analyze present financial operations, administrative costs and obligations, and estimate future income and expenditures; assembling and analyzing data and transactions; preparing statements and reports; and performing internal audits of system accounts.

As such, an incumbent is responsible for the more complex activities associated with maintaining ledger accounts and developing financial statements and reports.

Responsibilities

Success is typically measured by the degree to which accuracy is demonstrated in maintaining assigned ledgers, records, accounts, etc. Schedules and deadlines are expected to be met, and proficiency is demonstrated on required accounting systems.

An Accountant, Senior performs the more complex accounting functions in a variety of different settings throughout the Church. In general, incumbents in this position perform the following types of functions:

• Initiate general ledger file maintenance so that financial statement presentations will be accurate and meaningful.
• Reconcile accounts, review reconciliations, and make sure that all outstanding items are properly cleared.
• Prepare special studies and reports for departments and organizations as required. Prepare journal entries and other adjustments to correct errors.
• Analyze budget requests and explain any budgetary changes resulting from increased costs or changes in programs.
• Consolidate accounting information for use in accounting statements and summaries.
• Review expenditures against budget and make necessary reconciliations, investigations, and correcting entries.
• Assist in preparing various financial estimates and expense reports.
• Draft correspondence to appropriate parties regarding any differences that require investigation or further action.
• Review and monitor invoices submitted for payment which exceed certain dollar amounts as defined by policy.
• Audit project accounts for compliance to policy and correspond with appropriate parties regarding the status of these projects. 
• Assist in evaluating and motivating employees under the direction of a supervisor.
• May coordinate accounting matters with other departments, locations, and divisions.
• Act as a resource for Accountant 1 and Accountant 2 incumbents being trained in Church accounting systems.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

Qualifications

• Must be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter- day saints  and worthy of a temple recommend.
• Required: Bachelor’s degree in accounting (or Finance or Business Management) is required. CMA, CPA or MBA preferred.
• Incumbents must demonstrate a well-grounded knowledge of financial and accounting theory and a knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles . A minimum of four to five years of professional accounting experience is required for this position. Familiarity with Church accounting systems is preferred. ACCA, CA or CIMA designation (or partly qualified) is a plus.
• A graduate degree in Accounting or Finance, MBA, or CPA, may be considered an equivalent of one year of this experience. 
• Should have the ability to analyze complex accounting problems and propose changes in the accounting system. 
• Should be conversant with and have a familiarity with various standard Church accounting reports.
• Should have a good understanding of Church financial policies and procedures.
• Must be able to operate a personal computer and have knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, especially word processing and spreadsheet programs.
• Must be able to learn new software.
• Excellent analytical, planning, and presentation skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.(Ability to speak and write French will be an added advantage)
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to demonstrate courtesy, diplomacy, tact, and effectiveness in dealing with others in everyday working relationship.