Accounting Technician Journey

The Finance Service Center of Excellence (SCE) serves approximately 2,000 staff within the Division of Finance and Operations (F&O) including departments under the Chancellor’s Office, organizations with a combined annual budget exceeding $500 million. The SCE was formed in 2015 and pulled together many disparate financial groups into one team to provide financial services to the Division.

Services include purchasing and inventory accounting, cost accounting, billing and disbursements, accounts payable and receivable, business and financial systems support, reconciliations, reporting, budgeting, and analysis. These services support multiple customers and hundreds of departments and have campus-wide impact through departmental billing, student fees, and education and general support operations.

8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday - Friday

☐ In-Person ☒ Hybrid ☐ Remote

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that may include a partially remote work location, consistent with System Office policy. UNC Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.

This position will be a member of a Customer Accounting team supporting the financial operations of Finance Shared Services by performing technical accounting work of moderate variety and complexity. This position will support a grouping of assigned customer departments while supporting the larger Shared Services Finance Unit, which supports almost 40 different departments.

The position processes and reconciles accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, customer billing, deposits, purchasing receiving, P-Card, travel, vendor set ups, journal entries, systems and sub-system reconciliations, inventory and asset management, and related transactions for customers across the Division of Finance and Operations and departments reporting directly to the Chancellor’s Office. The position independently verifies transaction accuracy, applies appropriate account coding (chartfield strings), maintains accounting records, identifies and resolves discrepancies, corrects errors, and explains financial information to customers. Work is performed in ConnectCarolina, the ticketing Service Delivery System, and multiple customer sub-systems. The position is accountable for timely, accurate, policy-compliant processing and does not supervise employees. This position utilizes a variety of funding types inclusive of trust, F&A, and state appropriations and must analyze spending choices and provide guidance to customers to adhere to state and university policies.

This position will process financial data via the University's Financial System PeopleSoft, and perform reconciliations between campus departments sub-systems, manual billings, campus billing modules (CBM) and the University's financial system PeopleSoft; the ledger's AR and AP.

• Process and manage general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable transactions through the Finance Service Delivery system and other approved workflows.
• Duties include journal entries and corrections; campus and external billings; preparation of billing import files; deposits; vouchers; purchase orders and receiving; P-Card proxy and reconciliation; Concur travel reconciliation; vendor or supplier setup; independent contractor and related payment documentation; asset and inventory transactions; and customer service.
• Review source documentation, ensure appropriate chartfield strings (account coding) and approvals, and submit transactions in accordance with university, state, and federal requirements.
• Accurately interpret university and state policies, rules, and regulations and provide guidance to customer departments and others to ensure integrity of all financial transactions.
• Complete assigned transaction processing duties and follow established billing cycles accurately and within service-level expectations.
• Monitor workflow statuses and communicate promptly when information or approvals are missing.
• Apply institutional knowledge to determine the need for escalation while utilizing strong written and verbal communication skills to interact with customer department representatives, colleagues, central office staff, and other university staff and leaders.

• Reconcile a variety of financial transactions and data files between ConnectCarolina and customer sub-systems throughout the month at prescribed intervals (daily, weekly, monthly) to meet customer department needs and deadlines.
• Systems may include PCard Works, Customer Billing Management (CBM), Carolina Accounts Receivable Transactions (CART), Concur (travel), CashPro, or other unique customer department financial systems and Shared Services Finance applications.
• Research and document variances, resolve billing concerns and posting errors, credit card disputes, unmatched items, and incorrect accounting coding (chartfield strings).
• Process correcting journal entries and verify those corrections post successfully.
• Maintain audit-ready support and documentation and escalate unresolved or higher-risk issues appropriately.
• Review reports and records to confirm completeness, accuracy, reasonableness, and compliance with university policies and procedures and use of funding types.
• Communicate concerns to customer departments and make needed corrections to historical, current, and future financial transactions.

• Crosstrain on customer-specific financial processes and maintain sufficient proficiency to provide backup coverage across Finance Shared Services.
• Perform back-up duties for other accounting technicians on the team as assigned.
• Share procedural knowledge, maintain written standard operating procedures, coordinate work with peers to ensure consistent service, participate in system and team development activities, and complete professional development relevant to assigned responsibilities.
• Identify recurring business process issues, recommend practical process improvements, and assist with testing or implementation of approved workflow, procedural, or system changes.

• Perform other assigned duties to meet Finance Shared Services business needs, including support for payables, receivables, journals, billing, deposits, reconciliations, and other financial processing obligations.
• Participate in duties related to Shared Services Finance projects including those which require collaborative work with other areas of Shared Services and customer departments.
• Provide training to customer department representatives to teach new or updated business processes or when working with departments who are onboarding employees.

• High school diploma or equivalency and three years of experience in accounting work. Associate’s degree in business administration or accounting.
• This position requires a high degree of accuracy in reporting, and transaction work processed.
• This position must manage and maintain financial data pertinent to the operations of all financial processes and demonstrate an understanding of accounting principles.
• The candidate must be well organized and detail-oriented; a self-starter, with the ability to manage time and work independently; and be flexible, dependable, and adaptable.
• The candidate must be able to apply judgement for problem resolutions based on delegated authority from supervisor.
• This position requires outstanding written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to multi-task between different customer financial processes and adhere to strict deadlines.
• The candidate should be able to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, demanding environment.
• The candidate must have substantial knowledge of accounting principles and practices, and the rules and regulations governing the processing of fiscal transactions.
• The candidate should be experienced in the use of computer-based financial systems and think conceptually, analytically, and deal with ambiguity.
• Proficiency in Excel, Word, Teams, Zoom, and Adobe is required.

• Bachelor's degree in business administration or accounting; or an associate's degree in business administration or accounting and one year of experience. The preferred candidate should have no less than three years of directly related accounting experience.
• Experience in higher-education accounting especially at UNC-Chapel Hill, is preferred including working knowledge of PeopleSoft Finance (ConnectCarolina); Microsoft Excel; Service Delivery ticketing systems; P-Card and Concur and Web Travel travel processing; customer billing; and account reconciliation.
• Experience with one or more related financial sub-systems such as Customer Billing Management (CBM), Carolina Accounts Receivable Transactions (CART), PCard Works, PaymentWorks or similar financial applications is preferred.
• The ideal candidate will also have advanced technical/analytical skills using Excel (i.e. pivot tables, Vlookup, nested formulas), Microsoft applications such as Lists, Outlook, OneDrive, and Teams, and be adept at using Adobe Acrobat for editing/redacting documents. Demonstrated ability to write precisely and clearly to convey technical financial details to communicate with customers.

• Considerable knowledge of government accounting methods, procedures, and accounting practices required to maintain and report financial accounting data.
• Basic knowledge of applicable program laws, University policies, and internal controls.
• Working knowledge of multiple financial systems, sub-systems, and spreadsheet tools, including the ability to develop formulas for moderately complex spreadsheets and remain current with changes affecting assigned work.

• Ability to observe, collect, record, and reconcile fiscal data;
• Verify the accuracy and validity of moderately complex transactions; assess data integrity; examine accounting records for compliance;
• Maintain accounting records of moderate variety and complexity; prepare supporting documentation and reports;
• Monitor assigned activities and service levels; and identify financial or operational risks requiring correction or escalation.

• Ability to research and resolve financial problems of moderate complexity, including billing exceptions, rejected transactions, credit card disputes, incorrect chartfield strings, unmatched data, and posting errors.
• Ability to interpret written and oral guidance, select the best solution from available options or when a precedent does not exist, correct or reverse errors within delegated authority, document outcomes, and recommend or implement process improvements.

• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with customers, coworkers, supervisors, and campus partners;
• Gather and explain financial information;
• Document transaction status and resolution;
• Provide responsive customer service; and tailor written or oral guidance to the needs and knowledge of the audience.

Work requires sustained attention to detail, frequent use of computers and financial systems, management of recurring deadlines, and the ability to organize and prioritize a high volume of financial transactions. No special physical requirements beyond those normally associated with an office or approved hybrid work environment.