Job No. 543983 Accounting Technician I

at  California State University

Job no: 543983
Work type: Staff
Location: Bakersfield
Categories: Unit 7 - CSUEU - Clerical and Administrative Support Services, Finance/Accounting, Probationary, Full Time, On-site (work in-person at business location)
Position Description
CLASSIFICATION TITLE: Accounting Technician I

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE – Equivalent to one (1) year of clerical accounting or financial record keeping experience and recent customer service experience. A combination of education and experience which provides the required knowledge and abilities may be considered.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & ABILITIES (SKA’S) –

• Regular and reliable attendance is required.
• Ability to review financial documents for accuracy, completeness, validity, and adherence to standards.
• Ability to compute and post numbers rapidly and accurately, maintain files, and records.
• Expertise in investigating and analyzing problems. Ability to anticipate problems and address them proactively.
• Ability to collect, interpret, edit, and summarize data.
• Proficiency with a variety of computer applications including word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, on-line systems, and collaborative calendaring and email software.
• Knowledge and competence in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated customer service experience requiring a very high level of diplomacy and professionalism.
• Ability to use tact and diplomacy to effectively handle a broad range of sensitive interpersonal situations with diverse personalities, and to respond appropriately to conflicts & problems.
• Ability to initiate, establish, and foster communication and teamwork by maintaining a positive, cooperative, productive work atmosphere in and outside the University with the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships within a diverse population and with those from various cultural backgrounds.
• Written and oral communication skills; thorough knowledge of English grammar, punctuation, and spelling with a demonstrated ability to produce professional communications that meet high standards for appearance, grammar, spelling, and clarity.
• Ability to review, analyze, interpret, communicate, and apply policy and standards.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
• Strong organizational and time management skills, ability to remain flexible to meet customer demand levels.
• Working knowledge of or ability to quickly learn University infrastructure, academic and administrative structure, policies and procedures.
• Must be willing to travel and attend training programs off-site for occasional professional development.
• Must be able to work overtime, occasional holidays, and adjust working hours to meet special jobs. May be called back periodically to perform work as needed on an emergency basis.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in PeopleSoft Student Finance system.
• Demonstrated skills in an institutional/educational environment utilizing a customer-oriented and service-centered attitude.
  PHYSICAL DEMANDS: LIGHT WORK – involves mainly sitting, up to 25% standing or walking; lifting medium weight objects limited to 25 pounds.

Student Financial Services Customer Service

• Assist students, parents, and the public at the Student Financial Services window (in-person), over the phone, and via Zoom, email, and other technology, providing standard information and assistance on forms and processes such as Installment Pay Plan, Miscellaneous Refund Application, Check Stop Payment Request, Petition for Reversal of Fees, and IRS form 1098-T.
• Communicate a wide variety of basic information to students, such as student account balance, student account service indicators, tuition and fee rates, payment options, and student refunding.
• Help coordinate with Student Financial Services student assistants to ensure delivery of best-in-class customer service.
• Ensure signage, website, voicemail greetings, handouts, and other routine information sources are current and correct.
• Direct students to the appropriate campus resources based on standard procedures.
• Identify and correct routine account discrepancies, referring more complex issues to appropriate higher-level staff or a supervisor.

Post Transactions to Student Accounts

• Quickly and accurately post charges and credits to student accounts, following established procedures.
• Accurately post corrections to student accounts and reapply payments as needed.
• Upload transactions to student accounts via PeopleSoft’s external file load functionality.
• Post various standard charges and credits to student accounts, including routine write offs.
• Assist with troubleshooting payment application issues, duplicate charges, etc., referring unresolved problems to higher-level staff or a supervisor.

University Receivables/Collections

• Place and remove service indicators and post comments to student accounts.
• Collect Petition for Reversal of Fee forms, organize documents for monthly Petition Committee meeting, and process forms as needed, based on Petition Committee decisions.
• Process returned check and ACH payments according to established procedures.
• Actively call students with past due balances.

• Create, review, and send standard monthly billing and other account notices.

  Run Reports & Compile Data

• Run routine reports/queries to monitor accurate processing of student accounts.

• Accurately track a variety of departmental processes.
• Use spreadsheets to compile statistics and trends.