Accounts Payable Specialist

Job Summary:


The Accounts Payable Specialist processes Gateway Church's vendor invoices, employee reimbursements, expense reports, and global payments accurately, on time, and with proper authorization. The position serves as Gateway's primary ApprovalMax support contact, training employees, and monitoring approval workflows, and works with Gateway's outsourced accounting firm to ensure transactions are properly documented, coded, and recorded.


Principal Job Responsibilities:

• Receives, reviews, codes, and processes vendor invoices, employee reimbursements, contractor payments, and other payment requests, confirming documentation, business or ministry purpose, and required approvals.
  
  

• Routes transactions through the appropriate ApprovalMax workflow, monitors them through approval, and follows up on missing information, coding questions, or delayed approvals.
  
  

• Schedules approved invoices for payment and assists with payment runs; maintains accurate records of checks, ACH transactions, electronic payments, credits, refunds, and voided payments.
  
  

• Works with the global department's coordinator, and helps oversee recurring and special missions disbursements, missionary support, and designated missions gifts, maintaining a current disbursement schedule and verifying approved funding sources and authorizations.
  
  

• Works with the global department's coordinator and helps track missions payments against approved commitments and budgets, prepares periodic missions reports, and notifies leadership of expiring commitments, changes in payment instructions, or insufficient designated funds.
  
  

• Serves as the organization-wide ApprovalMax support contact, training employees, maintaining user guides, monitoring dashboards for stalled or incomplete transactions, and coordinating workflow and user access changes.
  
  

• Administers vendor onboarding and tax documentation, obtains Forms W-9, verifies changes to payment or banking instructions, and supports annual Form 1099 preparation done by a third party.
  
  

• Conduct periodic internal audits to review employee reimbursement and credit card documentation for receipts, business purpose, coding, and approval, and follows up on outstanding documentation. It is the manager's responsibility to review these items for every transaction.
  
  

• Maintains internal controls and separation of duties, does not release payments without required approvals, and immediately reports suspected fraudulent invoices, altered payment instructions, or phishing attempts.
  
  

• Researches duplicate invoices, overpayments, unapplied credits, and vendor discrepancies, and reconciles vendor statements to accounts payable records.
  
  

• Submits complete accounts payable and missions documentation to the outsourced accounting firm by established deadlines and supports month-end, year-end, and audit requests.
  
  

• Performs other duties as assigned.
  
  

General Skills & Qualifications:

• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
  
  

• Working knowledge of accounts payable, vendor management, payment cycles, expense reimbursements, credit card documentation, and basic accounting procedures.
  
  

• Ability to learn, support, and troubleshoot ApprovalMax and related cloud-based financial systems.
  
  

• Ability to explain procedures, train users, and prepare written instructions and process guides.
  
  

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
  
  

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
  
  

• Excellent time management skills.
  
  

• Understanding of separation of duties, approval requirements, documentation standards, and fraud prevention.
  
  

• Ability to act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
  
  

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace, Excel, document storage, and web-based financial systems.
  
  

Education/Certification(s):

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
  
  

• Two or more years of accounts payable, bookkeeping, accounting, or business-office experience required.
  
  

• Associate or bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business administration, or a related field preferred.
  
  

• Experience in a church, nonprofit organization, school, or ministry environment preferred.
  
  

• Experience with ApprovalMax, Xero, BILL, or comparable cloud-based platforms preferred.
  
  

• Experience processing recurring payments, missionary support, or restricted-fund disbursements is preferred.
  
  

*This description is not all inclusive, and other duties may be assigned as necessary.


Gateway Church does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law as it applies to churches. However, Gateway Church does discriminate on the basis of religion.


Employment Requirement: Must be a member or become a member of Gateway Church upon employment.