Accounting Specialist

Accounting Specialist

The Accounting Specialist plays an important role in supporting the school’s day-to-day financial operations. Reporting to the Director of Finance, this role centers on transactional Business Office functions including accounts payable, purchasing card administration, student billing, accounts receivable, cash receipts, bank reconciliations, journal entries, and other general accounting support.

This is a front-facing, service-oriented position that requires strong attention to detail, consistent follow-through, and effective communication with employees, families, vendors, and other school stakeholders. The Accounting Specialist works closely with the Director of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Business Office colleagues, and departments across the school to support accurate financial processing, timely communication, internal controls, audit readiness, and responsive service to the school community.

Essential Duties

Business Office Operations

• Process financial transactions accurately and timely across accounts payable, purchasing card activity, student billing, accounts receivable, cash receipts, and general accounting functions.
• Monitor Business Office accounting correspondence and respond to inquiries from employees, families, vendors, and internal departments in a professional and service-oriented manner.
• Maintain organized and accessible Business Office documentation within the shared drive, including transaction support, reconciliations, audit materials, process documentation, recurring reports, and shared financial schedules.
• Follow established internal controls, maintain appropriate documentation, memorialize current Business Office policies and procedures, and escalate questions or exceptions as needed.
• Provide backup coverage and cross-training support during absences, peak periods, or major financial cycles.

Accounts Payable and Purchasing Cards

• Support accounts payable through the school’s designated platform, currently Bill.com, including invoice review, approval routing, coding, vendor coordination, and payment processing.
• Support purchasing card activity through the school’s designated platform, currently Divvy, including cardholder communication, transaction review, receipt collection, coding, documentation, and monthly close activities.
• Assist with month-end and year-end accounts payable and purchasing card procedures, including review of outstanding items, accrual needs, prepaid expenses, and documentation gaps.
• Help reinforce accounts payable and purchasing card policies, deadlines, and documentation expectations in a service-oriented manner.

Student Billing, Accounts Receivable, and Cash Receipts

• Support student billing and receivable processes, including tuition, fees, deposits, incidental charges, payment plans, financial aid, tuition remission, scholarships, auxiliary charges, contributions, reimbursements, and other account activity.
• Prepare, review, and post charges, credits, deposits, and account adjustments; respond to family billing inquiries with professionalism and confidentiality; and assist with monitoring outstanding balances, payment plan changes, family account holds, and follow-up communications as directed.
• Process and record incoming cash, checks, electronic payments, deposits, reimbursements, and other receipts in accordance with Business Office internal controls, including researching and resolving unidentified, misapplied, or incomplete payments.

General Accounting, Reporting, and Audit Support

• Support recurring accounting activities across daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and year-end cycles, including journal entries, transactional adjustments, coding corrections, accruals, prepaid expense tracking, deferred revenue entries, reclassifications, bank reconciliations, and other close-related activity.
• Maintain selected general ledger and bank account reconciliations, research discrepancies or unusual activity, and update year-to-date actual information in projection files and other internal reporting tools.
• Play an active role in audit, compliance, and year-end reporting by compiling requested schedules, reconciliations, transaction-level detail, supporting documentation, 1099 information, and other materials as assigned.