ACCOUNTANT III

THE JOB: Under direction, to perform difficult and complex professional accounting and fiscal work in an operating department with a separate fiscal system and diverse and complex fiscal operations; to perform more difficult or complex professional accounting work; and to do other work as required. The current vacancy is located in the Auditor-Controller. The list established from this recruitment will be used to fill the current vacancy and any future vacancies during the life of the list.

THE REQUIREMENTS: Any combination of training and experience, which would provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain these knowledge and abilities would be:

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university in business administration, finance, accounting or a closely related field, which must have included at least 12 semester or 18 quarter units from among the following accounting courses: Principles of Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Advanced Accounting, Governmental Accounting, Fund Accounting, Cost Accounting, Auditing, Financial Accounting, or Managerial Accounting AND three years of increasingly responsible professional accounting experience, at least one of which must be at the full journey level.

OR

Possession of a Certified Public Accountant Certificate AND three years of increasingly responsible professional accounting experience, at least one of which must be at the full journey level.

OR

At least 12 semester or 18 quarter units from the above listed accounting courses may be substituted for the required education AND at least three years performing duties as an Accountant I/II at the County of Santa Cruz.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/CONDITIONS: Background Investigation: Fingerprinting is required.

Knowledge: Thorough knowledge of accounting principles and practices and cost accounting theory and methods. Working knowledge of business law; governmental accounting principles and practices; governmental budgetary operations; general laws and regulations pertaining to fiscal operations; and the application of data processing to accounting operations.

Ability to: Effectively perform a variety of difficult and complex general governmental and cost accounting assignments; prepare clear and concise accounting and narrative reports; develop or revise accounting systems for specific needs; understand, interpret, explain and apply provisions of Federal, State and local regulations and policies and procedures pertinent to accounting and fiscal operations; evaluate accounting systems for adequacy, then design and implement improvements; analyze and resolve budgetary and complex accounting problems; establish and maintain effective working relations with others; and operate a personal computer to design programs to store, retrieve and analyze data.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS:
ANNUAL LEAVE – 22 days first year, increasing to 37 days after 15 years. Available after six months for vacation and/or sick leave.
HOLIDAYS – 12.5 paid holidays per year.
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE – 3 days paid in California, 5 days paid out-of-state.
MEDICAL PLAN – The County contracts with CalPERS for a variety of medical plans. For most plans, County contributions pay a majority of the premiums for employees and eligible dependents.
DENTAL PLAN – County pays for employee and eligible dependent coverage.
VISION PLAN – County pays for employee coverage. Employee may purchase eligible dependent coverage.
RETIREMENT – Pension formula 2% at age 60 or 2% at age 62 as determined based on provisions of the CA Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013(PEPRA). Pension benefit determined by final average compensation of three years. County pays a portion of retirement contribution and participates in Social Security.
LIFE INSURANCE – County paid $20,000 term policy. Employee may purchase additional life insurance.
SDI – Employees in the General Representation Unit participate in the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program. This program is funded 100% by employee payroll deductions.
DEPENDENT-CARE PLAN – Employees who make contributions for child or dependent care may elect to have their contributions made utilizing “pre-tax dollars.”
H-CARE PLAN – Employees who pay a County medical premium share of cost may elect this pre-tax program.
HEALTH CARE FLEXIBLE SPENDING ALLOWANCE (HCFSA) – Employees may elect this pre-tax program to cover qualifying health care expenses.
DEFERRED COMPENSATION – A deferred compensation plan is available to employees.
OTHER – Other pay and benefit items apply to certain positions or assignments, such as Bilingual Pay and Night Shift Differential.

THE EXAMINATION: Your application and supplemental application will be reviewed to determine if you have met the education, experience, training and/or licensing requirements as stated on the job announcement. If you meet these criteria and are one of the best qualified, you may be required to compete in any combination of written, oral and/or performance examinations or a competitive evaluation of training and experience as described on your application and supplemental application. You must pass all components of the examination to be placed on the eligible list. The examination may be eliminated if there are ten or fewer qualified applicants. If the eligible list is established without the administration of the announced examination, the life of the eligible list will be six months and your overall score will be based upon an evaluation of your application and supplemental application. If during those six months it is necessary to administer another examination for this job class, you will be invited to take the examination to remain on the eligible list.

HOW TO APPLY: Apply Online Now!  Click on the link below; or print out an application and supplemental questionnaire and mail/bring them to: Santa Cruz County Personnel Department, 701 Ocean Street, Room 310, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.  For information, call (831) 454-2600.  Hearing Impaired TDD/TTY: 711.  Applications will meet the final filing date if received in one of the following ways:  1) In the Personnel Department by 5:00 p.m. on the final filing date, 2) submitted online before midnight of the final filing date.  Following a review for minimum qualifications, applicants who are selected to move forward in the recruitment process will be notified that they must submit a completed conviction history questionnaire in order to continue to the examination phase of the process.

Women, minorities and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. If you have a disability that requires test accommodation, please call (831) 454-2600.

To comply with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, Santa Cruz County verifies that all new employees are either U.S. citizens or persons authorized to work in the U.S.

NOTE: The provisions of this bulletin do not constitute an expressed or implied contract.

An Equal Opportunity Employer