Accounting Clerk

Accounting Clerk

Join the City of Pismo Beach as an Accounting Clerk and make a meaningful impact in your community!

Nestled along six miles of stunning Pacific coastline, Pismo Beach offers an exceptional quality of life, a stable fiscal environment, and well-run City. This role in the Administrative Services Department focuses on utility billing, business licenses, hotel tax administration, and accounts receivable, ensuring smooth financial operations for the city.

The ideal candidate will have excellent customer service skills, ensuring a positive experience for residents and businesses; be highly organized; thrives in a team-oriented workplace, fostering collaboration and efficiency; brings a positive attitude and a commitment to serving the community.

Under general supervision, performs a variety of routine to complex technical and administrative accounting support duties in the preparation, maintenance, and processing of accounting records and transactions. Processes accounts payable, accounts receivable, utility billing, and/or business licensing, in addition to balancing and maintaining manual and computerized accounting and financial records.

Examples of Essential Job Functions:

• Accepts and processes payments at the front counter, over the phone, and by mail, in cash, by check, or by credit card; makes change as necessary and maintains cash drawer as appropriate; processes automatic customer account debits through electronic bank transfers; balances payments and posts transactions in the accounting system daily.
• Performs a variety of routine to complex administrative and technical accounting support duties related to accounts payable, receivable, business licensing, purchase order processing, and/or department-specific technical accounting duties, including posting, balancing, adjusting, and maintaining manual and computerized accounting and financial records according to established policies and procedures.
• Processes payments in batches and logs batch reports as appropriate; processes warrant writing on a weekly basis; prepares documentation for payment; confers with vendors as necessary; enters and verifies data into the automated accounts payable system to produce payment; may prepare manual checks; prepares payments for mailing and files copies with backup.
• Verifies, posts and records a variety of financial transactions; prepares and maintains databases, records, and a variety of periodic and special financial, accounting and statistical reports; generates reports by computer and balances them appropriately.
• Enters and retrieves information and data using standard word processing and spreadsheet software, as well as accounting, financial, and other related electronic information systems specific to the department to which assigned.
• Maintains a variety of ledgers, registers, and journals according to established account policies and procedures; reconciles transactions and data as directed; records changes and resolves differences; maintains the accuracy of accounting and financial records.
• Generates and assists in the preparation of monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial, summary, and technical reports.
• Performs general office support duties such as opening and routing mail and deliveries; preparing correspondence; filing and record keeping; duplicating and distributing various written materials; and ordering and keeping inventory of office supplies.
• Assists customers, departments, and employees by providing answers and information regarding specific account information, discrepancies, general accounting procedures, and/or department specific issues and problems.
• May initiate a variety of work orders for other personnel in the department to which assigned.
• Assists with year-end closing process.
• Assists supervisor with special projects as required.
• Performs other duties as assigned

When performing the utility billing assignment:

• Answers and responds to daily emails for stop or start service requests; handles phone calls and walk ins; sends out meter reads to City water operators.
• Processes the start and stop service requests and generates final bills for services; issues refunds to closed accounts with remaining balances; processes adjustments for leak, late fee waivers and return payments; processes meter change outs and establishes new accounts with new meter.
• Prepares monthly utility billing; uploads and downloads meter reads from website; reviews reports for high, low, zero, or negative consumption and creates spreadsheet tracking data and re-read requirements; generates statements to upload to website and run ACH and online recurring payments.
• Processes delinquent statements, shutoff notices, five door notices, closed delinquent and lockouts; performs administrative functions for utility billing including updating City fees, verifying low income accounts, drafting state reports, and creating annual schedules for billing.

When performing the accounts receivable and revenue collections, including: business licensing; transient occupancy tax; and other miscellaneous revenues, assignment:

• Assists, supports, and reviews accounts receivable; analyzes reports for outstanding receivables; reconciles accounts receivable subsidiary ledger to the general ledger.
• Generates COBRA, leases, and franchise fee invoices; monitors lease schedule, updates lease payment letters based on lease agreement, and creates new lease agreements as needed.
• Collects and administers transient occupancy tax revenues and other related revenues.
• Maintains the business license database; researches new businesses and notifies them of licensing requirements; mails application materials; processes closing accounts; reviews and reconciles payment ledger against database of notices; verifies bankruptcy information and performs other research about business and property information; initiates work orders for inspectors as needed.
• Calculates necessary fees; accepts and processes payments at the front counter, over the phone, and by mail, in cash, by check, or by credit card; makes change as necessary and maintains cash drawer as appropriate; balances payments and posts transactions in the accounting system daily.
• Prepares monthly renewal, second, late, final, and delinquent notices.
• Balances month end work and researches, compiles, enters, and classifies data for new business input.
• Participates in the implementation of new business license rates.
• Collects transient occupancy tax and other related revenues, including maintaining a database and working with customers to ensure timely and correct payments.

Qualifications:

Knowledge of:

• Terminology and practices of financial and account document processing and record-keeping, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, utility billing, and business licensing.
• Business arithmetic and basic financial and statistical techniques.
• Record-keeping principles and procedures.
• Utility billing and administrative functions.
• Modern office practices, methods, and computer equipment and computer applications related to work, including word processing and spreadsheet software.
• English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation.
• Techniques for providing a high level of customer service by effectively dealing with the public, vendors, contractors, and City staff.

Ability to:

• Perform detailed account and financial office support work accurately and in a timely manner.
• Respond to and effectively prioritize multiple phone calls and other requests for service.
• Interpret, apply, and explain policies and procedures.
• Compose correspondence and reports independently or from brief instructions.
• Make accurate arithmetic, financial, and statistical computations.
• Enter and retrieve data from a computer with sufficient speed and accuracy to perform assigned work.
• Establish and maintain a variety of filing, record-keeping, and tracking systems.
• Understand and follow oral and written instructions.
• Organize own work, set priorities and meet critical time deadlines.
• Operate modern office equipment including computer equipment and specialized software applications programs.
• Use English effectively to communicate in person, over the telephone, and in writing.
• Use tact, initiative, prudence, and independent judgment within general policy, procedural, and legal guidelines.
• Establish, maintain, and foster positive and harmonious working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.

Supplemental Information:

Any combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be: High School Diploma or GED, and one (1) year of responsible administrative support experience; experience in financial/accounting record-keeping is desirable.