ACCOUNTANT TECHNICIAN
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About this role
About the Department
The Position
Join our dynamic finance team as an Accounting Technician and play a vital role in keeping our Accounts Payable operations running smoothly and accurately. In this fast-paced role, you’ll process invoices, credit card transactions, and expense reports while supporting month-end reconciliations and maintaining precise financial records. If you’re highly organized, Excel-savvy, experienced with SAP and/or Workday, and take pride in accuracy and confidentiality, we’d love to hear from you.
The Division
Under the direction of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of the CFO, Finance & Budget division fulfills the Controller and Treasury functions for VTA including financial reporting, accounting, budgeting, investment services, cash management, debt administration, payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable and farebox revenue services. This division also includes Technology.
Our Division's goal is to maintain financial stability and to ensure that the monetary activities of VTA are performed, recorded and presented accurately in compliance with professional and ethical guidelines. This includes establishing & maintaining internal control, adequately recording of accounting data in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and establishing appropriate policy and procedures.
What You'll Be Doing
Under limited supervision, an Accountant Technician performs a wide variety of paraprofessional accounting functions.
Distinguishing Characteristics
This is the paraprofessional level in the Accounting Series. Under the supervision of a professional accountant or a supervisory level class, incumbents prepare complex financial and statistical reports and summaries; research and verify a wide variety of raw data and subsidiary reports; apply accounting controls in an established complex accounting system; and extract and compile records.
The Accountant Technician is distinguished from the higher classification of Accountant I in that the Accountant Technician performs advanced accounting support functions. The Accountant I performs entry-level professional accounting tasks according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
We are seeking a detail-oriented and motivated Accounting Technician to join our Accounts Payable team. In this role, you will support daily operations by processing invoices, credit cards, and expense reports; managing accounts payable; performing month-end reconciliations; and ensuring precise data entry. The ideal candidate possesses strong organizational skills, proficiency in Excel, experience with ERP systems (specifically SAP and/or Workday), and a steadfast commitment to accuracy and confidentiality.
Position Duties
Typical Tasks
Prepares periodic reports and spread sheets of reimbursement claims in conformance with contractual requirements of outside funding sources by compiling fiscal data from a variety of records, including personnel records, contractual funding data, and computer printed budgetary reports;
Breaks down and reconstructs detailed budget expenditures and encumbrances data into categories and formats requested by the state or other funding agencies;
Meets critical deadlines;
Maintains detailed records for scheduled reports;
Determines appropriate budget category for assigning expenditures, revenue and general ledger transactions;
Maintains manual warrant registers and prepares manual payment warrants; generates payment proof reports and check runs;
Researches, compiles, and produces accounting reports and summaries for special projects at the request of accountants;
Maintains and verifies a variety of data, including data input, in the Enterprise Resource System such as vendor data, customer data, employee data etc.;
Consults with bank personnel, contractors, construction inspectors, and finance managers to gather information and to resolve imbalances and other discrepancies;
Prepares journal vouchers and other accounting system input documents;
Reconciles complex data including payments made for garnishments, employee pay, deductions, taxes, accruals, benefits, and other accounts; reconciles payments to vendors for goods and services including contracts;
Performs a variety of activities in the Ticket Tracking System, including setting up and maintaining consignee accounts, processing invoices, processing ticket mail outs, reconciling ticket accounts and inventory, and other ticket related activities;
Prepares a variety of financial documents and other types of media for electronic transfer payments to transmit payroll data and other fiscal transactions;
Receives progress payment documents from construction inspectors, reviews documents for completion, and then verifies that the work activities and quantities match with the bid document work activities and quantities;
Generates progress payment requests;
Verifies data input into systems;
Sets up and maintains physical and data base records;
Reviews Extra Work Orders and ensures that the documentation is in order and is complete;
Completes final close-out activities of progress payment reports;
Explains departmental procedures and practices to others;
May assist in the training of subordinate, new or temporary personnel;
Notifies accountants and managers of imbalances and discrepancies which may result in accounting system problems;\
Types correspondence and other documents, and performs other clerical duties as necessary;
Performs related duties as required.
About VTA
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employs more than 2,000 people dedicated to providing solutions that move Silicon Valley. Unique among transportation organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, VTA is Santa Clara County’s authority for transit development and operations (light rail and bus), congestion management, transportation-related funding, highway design and construction, real estate and transit-oriented development, and bicycle and pedestrian planning. With local, state, and federal partners, VTA works to innovate the way Silicon Valley moves and provide mobility solutions for all.
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district that provides sustainable, accessible, community-focused transportation options that are innovative, environmentally responsible, and promote the vitality of our region.
VTA provides bus, light rail, and paratransit services, as well as participates as a funding partner in regional rail service including Caltrain, Capitol Corridor, and the Altamont Corridor Express.
As the county’s congestion management agency, VTA is responsible for countywide transportation planning, including congestion management, design and construction of specific highway, pedestrian, and bicycle improvement projects, as well as promotion of transit oriented development.
VTA provides these services throughout the county, including Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Sunnyvale. VTA continually builds partnerships to deliver transportation solutions that meet the evolving mobility needs of Santa Clara County.
As we continue to implement our VTA Forward Plan, we aim to strengthen and increase our workforce to take on future opportunities and challenges by elevating our people and our services.
For more information about our VTA Forward Plan, visit: https://www.vta.org/VTAForward
Family-Friendly Workplace Certification Program (FFWCP)
The County of Santa Clara FFWCP recognizes VTA as a business that creates supportive workplaces for employees and their families.
Family-friendly workplaces improve health outcomes and job satisfaction for employees and increase work productivity and retention for employers. Employers can create a family-friendly workplace by meeting and exceeding state and federal employment laws relating to parental leave, lactation accommodation, and work/family balance.
Minimum Qualifications
Employment Standards
Sufficient education, training, and experience which demonstrates the ability to perform the above tasks and possession of the knowledge and abilities listed.
Development of the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is typically obtained through a combination of training, education, and experience equivalent to completion of the 12th grade, one (1) year of college level elementary accounting courses, and two (2) years of experience compiling and maintaining a wide variety of fiscal or statistical data and controls.
Other Qualifications
Knowledge of:
- Advanced clerical principles and procedures, record keeping systems, and elementary accounting principles and methods;
- Standard office administrative practices and procedures, including the operation of common office equipment such as calculators, copy machines, facsimiles, and personal computers (with common software programs such as word processing, data base, and spreadsheet software);
- Basic mathematics;
- General customer service skills.
Maintain and control complex financial or statistical data and records;
- Perform required tasks accurately and in a timely manner;
- Reconcile accounting reports, and reconstruct complex accounting record trails in order to locate and correct errors or reasons for imbalance;
- Prepare accurate accounting reports and summaries from complex instructions;
- Perform arithmetical computations rapidly and accurately;
- Independently adapt or devise methods to verify and double-check complex and changing data from various sources;
- Learn and apply departmental clerical accounting controls and procedures;
- Maintain attention to detail and accuracy while meeting critical deadlines;
- Operate modern office equipment, including personal computers, and maintain records on a computerized data base;
- Organize work, set priorities, and adjust to frequently changing priorities, meet critical deadlines, and follow up on assignments with a minimum of supervision;
- Learn specialty software programs specific to the unit;
- Work independently and as a member of a team;
- Establish and maintain effective relationships with those contacted in the course of work.
Please read this job announcement in its entirety before applying. We recommend printing or saving a copy for future reference.
To be considered, applications must be submitted online through the Human Resources department by the posted deadline. If the job posting is listed as “continuous,” we encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as the posting may close without prior notice. Once your application is submitted, you will receive an immediate email confirmation.
Personalized responses to Supplemental Questions that connect your past experiences to this specific role are the most effective. AI-generated content may lack the specificity required to address the key criteria outlined in the job description. While we encourage the use of AI as a tool to enhance your work, we want to evaluate your non-AI-assisted communication skills. You may use AI to generate ideas, but please ensure your final responses are in your own voice and reflect your unique experience. Overreliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish your chances of success.
Important: Only online applications will be accepted for this recruitment. We do not accept paper applications, resumes, Job Interest Notification Cards, or incomplete/unsubmitted applications in place of a fully completed application.
Communication & Contact Information
All updates regarding your application—including notices for testing and interviews—will be sent via email. Be sure to select email as your preferred method of communication and maintain a valid, up-to-date email address. Applicants are also responsible for keeping their phone numbers and mailing addresses current in their online profiles.
Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to provide individual updates. Please check your application status through your online account. For technical support, contact NEOGOV at (855) 524-5627, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (PST), excluding holidays.
Application Review & Processing
All current and prior relevant work experience—including experience with VTA—must be fully detailed in the Work Experience section of your application. Entries such as “see resume” are not acceptable. Incomplete or improperly completed applications may be rejected, even if you meet the minimum qualifications.
While you are welcome to upload a resume, it does not substitute for completing the online application in full. Be sure that your application accurately reflects the education and experience necessary for the position.
Applications are reviewed throughout the recruitment process to determine whether candidates meet the minimum qualifications. Meeting these minimums or advancing through any stage does not guarantee further consideration. Any misrepresentation or falsification of qualifications, experience, education, or training may result in disqualification and/or exclusion from future employment opportunities with VTA.
This classification is represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Transportation Authority Engineers and Architects Association (TAEA). Wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment are governed by the applicable collective bargaining agreement between VTA and the union.
Conditions of Employment
Final candidates must successfully complete a Livescan background check, reference checks, verification of education or certifications, and a criminal history review before appointment.
For sensitive positions, VTA requires all safety-sensitive positions to have a 6-month DOT physical clearance. Obtained at the time of preboarding from a VTA-contracted Concentra Location.
Eligibility List
The established Eligible List from this recruitment will be used to fill the current vacancies and additional vacancies that may occur. Eligible Lists typically remain in effect for six (6) months. However, Human Resources may abolish Eligible Lists at any time during the six (6) month period. Human Resources may extend eligible Lists for up to two (2) years. Eligible Lists may be used for more than one recruitment.
Americans with Disabilities Act Accommodations
VTA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities in the recruitment and examination process. To request an accommodation, please contact the Human Resources Department at (408) 321-5575 or email [email protected] at least five business days before the test.
Equal Employment Opportunity
VTA is an equal employment opportunity employer. VTA does not and will not tolerate discrimination against applicants or employees on the basis of age, ancestry, color, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information, national, origin, immigration status, political affiliation, race, religion, creed, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, medical condition, disabled veteran or veteran status, etc.