Accounting Technician
California State Personnel Board Specification
Definition
Under close supervision, to perform semiprofessional accounting work in the maintenance of fiscal records (including payroll, petty cash, cash collection, and claims processing); may instruct, lead or supervise inmates, wards or resident workers; and to do other related work.
Distinguishing Characteristics
The class of Accounting Technician includes such assignments as the maintenance of general ledger and budgetary control accounts, or the maintenance of a revolving fund account. Such duties as the preparation of purchase requisitions, the keeping of property inventory records, and the making of arithmetical computations and tabulations are considered of a clerical nature and such duties alone do not constitute work typical of this class, although they may be performed by incumbents along with account keeping functions. Positions in this class are not supervisory, but may exercise lead responsibilities.
Incumbents may have internal contact with budget, business services and line staff; external contact with airlines and vendors and occasional contact with banks and control agencies.
More difficult accounting work at the semiprofessional level is performed by the class of Accountant I (Specialist) or Accountant I (Supervisor). Positions in these classes are either responsible for preparing, analyzing, and reviewing financial reports, maintaining a segment of an accounting function, or supervising a small group of Accounting Technicians and/or clericals in an operational setting.
Typical Tasks
Maintains bookkeeping and accounting control records; makes journal entries; posts to general ledger and subsidiary ledgers; makes the more difficult adjusting entries required in correcting tax computation errors and other discrepancies; closes and balances accounts; complies data for budget preparation purposes; prepares financial statements, reports, and documents; prepares correspondence; researches original input documents to trace, identify and correct errors; prepares input documents to correct errors; maintains control of account codes and expenditure authorizations; checks allotments to see how much money has been encumbered by program; receives contracts where the department is entering into agreement to pay for specific services; posts amendments to contracts; receives, reviews and processes claims for payment in accordance with contract stipulations; maintains estimate and claims filed registers; maintains revolving fund ledger cards; processes revolving fund checks for salary and travel advances.
Minimum Qualifications
Experience: Two years of experience in keeping or reviewing accounting or fiscal records, or three years of general clerical experience. and Education: Completion of at least nine semester hours of a professional accounting curriculum. (Additional experience in keeping or reviewing accounting or fiscal records may be substituted for the required education on the basis of one year of experience for six semester hours of accounting training.)
(Completion of a professional accounting curriculum comprising at least 16 semester hours in accounting, given by a recognized residence or correspondence school may be substituted for the required education and experience.)
Knowledge and Abilities
Knowledge of: Principles and practices of financial record keeping; basic principles of accounting; governmental accounting principles and procedures.
Ability to: Express ideas and give instructions effectively; operate common office appliances used in financial record-keeping work and make arithmetical computations rapidly and accurately; apply rules and regulations to specific cases; analyze data and draw logical conclusions.
