INTRA-DEPARTMENT Enterprise Accountant

INTRA-DEPARTMENT

JOB OPENING

CITY OF FARMINGTON

JOB POSITION #30: ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTANT

NUMBER OF VACANCIES: 1

DEPARTMENT: Administrative Services

PAY GRADE: N, Exempt

SALARY RANGE: $55,252.75 - $85,893.29/Annually

TYPE OF POSITION: Regular, Full-Time

WORK LOCATION: West Annex

DAYS WORKED: Monday - Friday

HOURS WORKED: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

APPLICATIONS WILL BE RECEIVED THROUGH: Thursday, February 17th, 2022

Resumes submitted without a City of Farmington application will not be considered in our job selection process.

SUBMIT APPLICATIONS ONLINE - CITY OF FARMINGTON INTRANET

HUMAN RESOURCES - INTERNAL JOB POSTINGS

JOB DUTIES

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

Performs technical and administrative accounting work necessary to maintain certain fiscal records and systems of the City.

Reports to and works under the direct supervision of the Controller.

Using excellent customer service skills, establishes and maintains effective working relationships with other employees, officials, and all members of the general public.

Operates a motor vehicle to assist in carrying out the business of the department and the City.

Directly supervises Accounting Assistant and may supervise accounting technicians or other part-time or temporary staff as assigned. Serves as a member of the department head's management team.

Analyzes workloads and establishes standards of performance for accounting assistant; schedules, organizes and directs daily workflow; and determines budgetary and personnel requirements for the enterprise accounting operations and related special projects.

Monitors, evaluates, records, classifies and summarizes enterprise financial transactions and events in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), City ordinances and applicable federal and state mandates.

Prepares financial statements for the enterprise funds comprised of electric, water, wastewater, airport, golf and sanitation funds which must be in compliance with GAAP, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accounting standards and other applicable accounting requirements.

Analyzes, addresses and completes highly technical accounting transactions and processes relevant to Enterprise Funds including initiating electronic payments for major purchases such as wholesale power and natural gas purchases.

Manages the City's Fixed Asset Accounting System including directing the accounting activities associated with the acquisition, sales, depreciation, and disposal of capital and plant assets citywide; provides assistance in the closing and unitizing of utility work orders into plant accounts.

Records all transactions as related to the acquisitions and sales of City investments and Utility Bond Issues.

Provides advice and recommendations regarding financial policies, controls, and systems.

Provides technical evaluations and recommends procedures for the resolution of accounting/financial issues.

Resolves difficult accounting problems.

Responsible for preparation of State Ad Valorem tax report, gross receipts tax report, and water conservation fee report.

Prepares respective enterprise financial statements, worksheets and notes for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report; coordinates the preparation of Management=s Discussion & Analysis for the enterprise section with the respective Department Heads.

Prepares reports on utility enterprise financial results to the Public Utility Commission upon request.

Assists with the preparation of the City's annual detail and program budgets upon request.

Electric asset retirements are done monthly at the time of work order unitization. A review of the calculation using a price deflator is done for all retirement costs and these costs are then assigned to "retirement records" in HTE. At year end these records must be manually adjusted so that CPR detail records tie to the master record in GMBA . All work orders must be examined monthly to determine if they are capital or maintenance and are then completed, closed, and possibly unitized. Various GMBA accounts (Plant in service, work in progress, accumulated depreciation, construction not classified etc.) must be reconciled each month because multiple departments may have charges on a single work request necessitating adjusting journal entries to balance fund accounts. Additionally, since the City is not utilizing interdepartmental billing for labor from the Building and Maintenance Department an extensive adjusting journal entry must be prepared monthly that manually bills departments for capital work done and for all labor to enterprise funds. This position created the procedure to be followed for this journal entry and still supervises this procedure.

Review of the daily balancing of utility billing (comparison of entries generated from Customer Information to GMBA). This is the only interdepartmental billing that is done at the City and sometimes errors occur that need to be resolved.

Daily on-line banking duties on Wells Fargo Bank's CEO system include inputting and/or sending ACH and electronic fund transfer payments for major purchases such as wholesale power and natural gas purchases, preparing bank draft payments for utility customers, reviewing the payroll direct deposit, and positive pay verifications for all checks written on City bank accounts to verify check payment

Monthly duties include the review of the CRS-1 Report (payment of gross receipts taxes for the City,

compensating taxes, and State of NM withholding taxes.) Calculation of compensating tax owed on

construction materials is a new procedure that must be followed. Verification of tax-exempt revenue

is now required due to the current managed audit and Cognos queries must be created monthly to

verify deductions on the CRS-1 report.

Review of the Navajo sales tax collected monthly and quarterly of the prepared tax return.

Review monthly the water conservation fee return.

Annually review the application for the Electric Utility ad valorem tax. Monthly review the expense

accrual.

Monthly reviews franchise tax calculations for San Juan County, Rio Arriba County, and the City of

Bloomfield. Calculates PILT taxes monthly and adjusts general ledger.

Monthly review the utility statistics report for the three utilities and reconcile amounts from customer

information with GMBA revenue amounts. Consumption and meter counts are now corrected for

erroneous amounts from cancel/rebills through a Cognos query.

Monthly review Electric labor and overhead transfers by work request to the Electric construction

account. Maintaining work request summary group codes is crucial to this review.

Review and record all transactions related to the acquisitions and sales of Utility Bond Issues and all

outstanding loans including NMED Wastewater loan, debt payments, and defeasance payments.

Annual disclosure information is prepared for the several bond issuances of the City.

Review monthly the PCA (power cost adjustment) prepared by the Electric Utility Director, tracking all

energy purchases and sales to source documents. An adjusting journal entry is prepared to correct the

monthly balance in GMBA.

Prepares financial statements for the Electric, Water and Wastewater Utilities which must be in

compliance with GAAP, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accounting standards and

other applicable accounting requirements. Quarterly preparation of these statements to the Public

Utility Commission (PUC) requires analytical review of revenues and expenses between current and

prior fiscal years. The statements today provide much more detail (graphs etc.) than did the statements

of 5 years ago.

Provides advice and recommendations regarding financial policies, controls, and systems. Knowledge

of the HTE system is essential and extracting data via Cognos is crucial when problem solving. This

position is often called on for projects and interfaces between different departments at the City such as

Information Services, the Electric Utility, and Finance.

Reviews annual utility budgets for accuracy.

Assists with the San Juan power plant audits.

Provides data for Cost of Service and Rate Studies for the Electric, Water and Wastewater Utilities.

Reviews these studies for accuracy.

Provides data for utility surveys (Merritt Research).

Supplies data for Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Integrated Resource Plan.

Track all oil and gas royalties due from City assets, reviewing producer gas balancing statements and

production volume reports.

This position is highly involved in implementing new GASB standards.

Instructing other City personnel on tax issues (Ex: gross receipts taxes vs. governmental gross receipts

tax).

Attendance at work is an essential function of this position.

NON-ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

Provides assistance to the Controller and/or other Finance staff as requested.

Assists with year-end audit process.

May assist with annual Lodgers= Tax audit.

Assists with the San Juan Power Plant audits, which may include field work.

May serve on various employee committees, as required and assigned.

The duties listed above are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position.

QUALIFICATIONS:

This position is subject to the City of Farmington's Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy which includes: pre-employment testing, post-accident testing, reasonable suspicion testing, return to duty testing, and follow-up testing.

Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in accounting, finance, business or public administration, or a closely related field, and three (3) years of progressively responsible municipal accounting or finance work, including one (1) year of supervisory experience, or any equivalent combination of education and experience. Post graduate degree in a business field is highly desirable.

Extensive background checks required.

Valid New Mexico driver's license with acceptable driving record for the past three years.

Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is highly desirable.

Thorough knowledge of governmental and FERC accounting standards, procedures, and practices. Skill in managing technical staff members' performance and training staff members to improve weaknesses.

Working knowledge of modern governmental accounting theory, principles, and practices; considerable knowledge of budgetary, accounting and reporting systems required.

Knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Governmental Finance Officers Association (GFOA) practices and principles.

Thorough knowledge of GASB/FASB statements.

Knowledge of New Mexico Taxation and Revenue practices and guidelines; and Internal Revenue Service Code.

Knowledge of New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration guidelines and statutes.

Ability to prepare and analyze complex financial reports; ability to maintain efficient and effective financial systems and procedures; ability to accurately account for city funds.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, city officials; ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing.

Demonstrated analytical and technical/computer skills using government accounting systems, and proficient in the use of personal computers and software packages, including specific knowledge of Excel, Word, and Lotus Notes.

Experience with independently identifying and analyzing complex accounting and financial systems problems and appropriately managing/delegating implementation of solutions through staff.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the Controller, auditors, management personnel from other departments, employees and the Administrative public.

Interest in team-building, strategic planning, organizational change and performance management.

Dedicated, but flexible team player that utilizes good judgment and discretion.

Ability to work under stress and handle stressful situations.

Ability to meet deadlines.

Ability to operate tools and equipment listed.

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT USED:

Ten-key / Internet / H T E Software / Wells Fargo CEO (Commercial Electronic Office Internet software / personal computer / Scanner / Shredder / Telephone system / Fax / Copier / Printers / Calculator / Software skills needed to perform daily duties include: Word, Excel, Adobe, Lotus Notes, and IBM AS/400 governmental software

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; and reach with hands and arms.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The work environment is a normal office setting. Noise level is usually quiet.

WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, M/F/D/V.

Current Openings for INTRA DEPARTMENT Enterprise Accountant Jobs at City of Farmington