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Job Description
Marketing Statement
Ride BART to a satisfying career that lets you both: 1) make a difference to Bay Area residents, and 2) enjoy excellent pay, benefits, and employment stability. BART is looking for people who like to be challenged, work in a fast-paced environment, and have a passion for connecting riders to work, school and other places they need to go. BART offers a competitive salary, comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, and the CalPERS retirement program.
Job Summary
PAY RATE
AFSCME Grade F $123,544.42 (Minimum) - $160,609.16 Maximum)
The negotiable salary will be between $123,544.42 - $146,339.09 commensurate on education and experience.
REPORTS TO
Manager of Accounting, General Accounting
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:
First review of applications will be on Monday, September 23, 2024.
The ideal candidate will independently perform full range of more complex accounting duties in the General Accounting Department of the Office of the Assistant Controller, including reviewing, analyzing, and classifying accounting documents and transactions and report preparation. Under general supervision, the incumbent will perform professional work of more complex to difficult nature; performs analysis, interact with budget coordinators and other department personnel inside and outside the District and perform general accounting functions as assigned by the Manager of Accounting.
Selection Process
This position is represented by American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Applications will be screened to assure that minimum qualifications are met. Those applicants who meet minimum qualifications will then be referred to the hiring department for the completion of further selection processes.
The selection process for this position may include a skills/performance demonstration, a written examination, and/or an individual or panel interview.
The successful candidate must have an employment history demonstrating reliability and dependability; provide copies of certificates, diplomas or other documents as required by law, including those establishing his/her right to work in the U. S.; pass a pre-employment medical examination which includes a drug and alcohol screen, and which is specific to the essential job functions and requirements. Pre-employment processing will also include a background check. (Does not apply to current full-time District employees unless specific job requires additional evaluations)
The selection process for this position will be in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
Application Process
External applicants may only apply online, at www.bart.gov/jobs. Applicants needing assistance with the online application process may receive additional information by calling (510) 464-6112.
Current employees are strongly encouraged to apply online, either at www.bart.gov/jobs, or on WebBART. Current employees may also apply using a BART paper application by delivering the completed form to the Human Resources Department, or by mailing it to P. O. Box 12688, Oakland, CA 94604-2688.
All applicants are asked to complete the application in full, indicating dates of employment, all positions held, hours worked, and a full description of duties. On line applicants are invited to electronically attach a resume to the application form to provide supplemental information, but should not consider the resume a substitute for the application form itself.
Applications must be complete by the closing date and time listed on the job announcement.
Examples of Duties
Participates in the more difficult and complex tasks related to financial reporting, general accounting, capital and operating billing, investment accounting, capital asset accounting, payroll, and accounts payable.
Participates in the review, administration, monitoring and preparation of District-wide financial reports involving capital project costs; monitors funding agreements and project expenditures; ensures maintenance of expenditure records which conform to funding agency requirements and District policy. Prepares quarterly, semi-annual, or annual reporting required by funding agreements and provides support to related compliance audits.
Handles more complex construction or funding contracts and ensures capital grant billings are done in compliance with guidelines; tracks amounts billed and to be collected and coordinates with various grantors on the status of the billings. Analyzes and maintains project retention records for use in the capital billing. Resolves billing issues with project manager and addresses grantor inquiries.
Analyzes, reviews and reconciles all capital assets maintained by the District. Responsible for reviewing, analyzing, and accounting for transactions, including the required reconciliations, associated with leases and subscription-based information technology arrangement in compliance with GASB 87 and GASB 96.
Performs comprehensive review of all operating and capital revenue and expense accounts for monthly close and ensures cost center revenues and expenses are posted to the correct account and department.
In charge of more complex financial accounts including operating and capital grants and expenses. Prepares required journal entries to update financial records.
Participates in all financial audits, audits of financial statements, compliance audit, audits initiated by granting agencies and internal audit, and provides relevant analyses, roll forward schedules, and required audit supports.
Reviews Trial Balances of assigned Funds and ensures accuracy of account balances, reconciles account balances with related subsidiary ledgers and interfund balances with the District’s General Fund and other Funds, initiate adjustments of project costs, if necessary, ensures collections of receivables, and process fund closeout.
Prepares financial statements related to Post Employment Benefit Trust Account, specifically the Retiree Health Benefit Trust and the Survivor Benefit Trust. Prepares the National Transit Database Report, State Controller’s Report, Schedule of Federal Awards required for the Single Audit and other similar reports. Assist in preparing the District’s cash flow statements, Required Supplementary Schedules and Statistical Information included in BART’s audited Annual Financial Comprehensive Report.
Handles the biweekly reporting and reconciliation of CalPERS contributions. Analyzes employee records and reconciles BART records with CalPERS records. Communicates and coordinates with internal departments and CalPERS to ensure earning records are in accordance with CalPERS rules and regulations. Handles and processes corrections of employee records with CalPERS.
Analyzes, monitors, and accounts for invoices that are needed to be accrued at the end of the fiscal year to ensure that the District’s records conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Analyzes construction in progress account per project and coordinates with project managers to ensure completed projects are properly capitalized to ensure correct reporting and disclosure in the financial statements.
Analyzes and accounts for transactions associated with bond issuances and or refunding, including the accounting of bond proceeds, property tax collected for debt service, periodic accrual of interest expense and interest income on funds held, amortization of bonds/investments premiums or discounts, bonds refunded, and revaluation of investments to fair market value. Analyzes the refunding and calculates the deferred loss or gain. Prepares cash and investments schedules in accordance with GASB 40, debt related roll-forward schedules, and handles the associated annual audit and required footnote disclosures.
Develops and recommends improvements to computerized financial management system and accounting procedures for efficiency, to conform with federal or state laws and generally accepted accounting principles, and to strengthen internal control.
May train assigned employees in their areas of work including cost collection and analyses.
Represents their division at various meetings with other departments and divisions; communicates information and activities with others as appropriate and participate in special projects
Perform other tasks as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
Education
A Bachelor's degree in business administration, accounting, economics or a closely related field from an accredited college or university. CPA certification is preferred.
Experience
The equivalent of three (3) years of fulltime, professional level relevant general accounting, financial reporting, and/or auditing experience.
License or Certificate
A valid certificate as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is preferred.
Substitution
Additional professional experience as outlined above may be substituted for the education on a year-for- year basis.
Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge of :- Advanced principles, practices and procedures of Accounting and Financial Reporting.
- Laws and regulations relating to the financial administration of public agencies and transportation authorities in the State of California.
- Principles of financial and operational analysis.
- Principles of Construction in Progress and asset capitalization.
- Federal, State and local funding programs, associated guidelines and processes.
- Principles and practices of project costing and how labor and non-labor data flow and are accounted for in the District’s financial reports.
- Principles of Project Cost billing.
- Principles of Operating Cost billing.
- Organization of voluminous financial data using advanced Excel and macros.
- Accounting for Investments and how transactions are presented in the financials.
- Accounting for Trust accounts.
- Principles and practices of financial record keeping and reporting.
- Principles of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) guidelines.
- Current office procedures, methods and equipment including computers.
- Applicable financial computer software applications.
- Related Federal, State and local codes, laws and regulations.
Skill in :- Independently performing the most difficult financial and accounting analyses and data organization.
- Interpreting and explaining department policies and procedures.
- Leading, organizing and reviewing the work of staff from various departments in finance, specifically Payroll, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Financial Reporting.
- Analyzing account issues and problems, identifying alternative solutions and implementing recommendations.
- Performing accurate complex financial calculations.
- Utilizing, maintaining and updating computerized financial/project management systems and reports.
- Developing, organizing, reviewing and analyzing financial data related contracts and reports.
- Exercising a high degree of individual initiative, discretion, diplomacy, accuracy, and judgment.
- Understanding and following oral and written instructions.
- Communicating clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
- Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work including internal departments, vendors, and consultants.
Equal Employment Opportunity GroupBox1
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age (40 and above), religion, national origin (including language use restrictions), disability (mental and physical, including HIV and AIDS), ancestry, marital status, military status, veteran status, medical condition (cancer/genetic characteristics and information), or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.
The BART Human Resources Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination process to accommodate persons with disabilities or for religious reasons. Please advise the Human Resources Department of any special needs in advance of the examination by emailing at least 5 days before your examination date at employment@bart.gov .
Qualified veterans may be eligible to obtain additional veteran's credit in the selection process for this recruitment (effective Jan. 1, 2013). To obtain the credit, veterans must attach to the application a DD214 discharge document or proof of disability and complete/submit the Veteran's Preference Application no later than the closing date of the posting. For more information about this credit please go to the Veteran's Preference Policy and Application link at www.bart.gov/jobs .
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) prides itself in offering best in class benefits packages to employees of the District. Currently, the following benefits may be available to employees in this job classification.
Highlights- Medical Coverage (or $350/month if opted out)
- Dental Coverage
- Vision Insurance (Basic and Enhanced Plans Available)
- Retirement Plan through the CA Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
- 2% @ 55 (Classic Members)
- 2% @ 62 (PEPRA Members)
- Reciprocity available for existing members of many other public retirement systems (see BART website and/or CalPERS website for details)
- 6.65% employer contribution up to annual maximum of $1,868.65
Closing Date/Time: Continuous -
ABOUT THE COMPANY
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BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
Show moreThe BART story began in 1946. It began not by governmental fiat, but as a concept gradually evolving at informal gatherings of business and civic leaders on both sides of the San Francisco Bay. Facing a heavy post-war migration to the area and its consequent automobile boom, these people discussed ways of easing the mounting congestion that was clogging the bridges spanning the Bay. In 1947, a joint Army-Navy review Board concluded that another connecting link between San Francisco and Oakland would be needed in the years ahead to prevent intolerable congestion on the Bay Bridge. The link? An underwater tube devoted exclusively to high-speed electric trains.
Since 1911, visionaries had periodically brought up this Jules Verne concept. But now, pressure for a traffic solution increased with the population. In 1951, the State Legislature created the 26-member San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission, comprised of representatives from each of the nine counties which touch the Bay. The Commission's charge was to study the Bay Area's long range transportation needs in the context of environmental problems and then recommend the best solution.
The Commission advised, in its final report in 1957, that any transportation plan must be coordinated with the area's total plan for future development. Since no development plan existed, the Commission prepared one itself. The result of their thoroughness is a master plan which did much to bring about coordinated planning in the Bay Area, and which was adopted a decade later by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
The BART Concept is Born
The Commission's least-cost solution to traffic tie-ups was to recommend forming a five-county rapid transit district, whose mandate would be to build and operate a high-speed rapid rail network linking major commercial centers with suburban sub-centers.The Commission stated that, "If the Bay Area is to be preserved as a fine place to live and work, a regional rapid transit system is essential to prevent total dependence on automobiles and freeways."
Thus was born the environmental concept underlying BART. Acting on the Commission's recommendations, in 1957, the Legislature formed the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, comprising the five counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo. At this time, the District was granted a taxing power of five cents per $100 of assessed valuation. It also had authority to levy property taxes to support a general obligation bond issue, if approved by District voters. The State Legislature lowered the requirement for voter approval from 66 percent to 60 percent.
Between 1957 and 1962, engineering plans were developed for a system that would usher in a new era in rapid transit. Electric trains would run on grade-separated right-of-ways, reaching maximum speeds of 75-80 mph, averaging perhaps 45 mph, including station stops. Advanced transit cars, with sophisticated suspensions, braking and propulsion systems, and luxurious interiors, would be strong competition to "King Car " in the Bay Area. Stations would be pleasant, conveniently located, and striking architectural enhancements to their respective on-line communities.
BART employees in the 1970s.
Hundreds of meetings were held in the District communities to encourage local citizen participation in the development of routes and station locations. By midsummer, 1961, the final plan was submitted to the supervisors of the five District counties for approval. San Mateo County Supervisors were cool to the plan. Citing the high costs of a new system-plus adequate existing service from Southern Pacific commuter trains - they voted to withdraw their county from the District in December 1961.
With the District-wide tax base thus weakened by the withdrawal of San Mateo County, Marin County was forced to withdraw in early 1962 because its marginal tax base could not adequately absorb its share of BART's projected cost. Another important factor in Marin's withdrawal was an engineering controversy over the feasibility of carrying trains across the Golden Gate Bridge.
BART had started with a 16-member governing Board of Directors apportioned on county population size: four from Alameda and San Francisco Counties, three from Contra Costa and San Mateo, and two from Marin. When the District was reduced to three counties, the Board was reduced to 11 members: four from San Francisco and Alameda, and three from Contra Costa. Subsequently, in 1965, the District's enabling legislation was changed to apportion the BART Board with four Directors from each county, thus giving Contra Costa its fourth member on a 12-person Board. Two directors from each county, hence forth, were appointed by the County Board of Supervisors. The other two directors were appointed by committees of mayors of each county (with the exception of the City and County of San Francisco, whose sole mayor made these appointments).
The five-county plan was quickly revised to a three-county plan emphasizing rapid transit between San Francisco and the East Bay cities and suburbs of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The new plan, elaborately detailed and presented as the "BART Composite Report, " was approved by supervisors of the three counties in July 1962, and placed on the ballot for the following November general election.
The plan required approval of 60 percent of the District's voters. It narrowly passed with a 61.2 percent vote District-wide, much to the surprise of many political experts who were confident it would fail. Indeed, one influential executive was reported to have said: "If I'd known the damn thing would have passed, I'd never have supported it. "
The voters approved a $792 million bond issue to finance a 71.5 mile high-speed transit system, consisting of 33 stations serving 17 communities in the three counties. The proposal also included another needed transit project: rebuilding 3.5 miles of the San Francisco Municipal Railway. The new line would link muni streetcar lines directly with BART and Market Street stations, and four new Muni stations would be built.
The additional cost of the transbay tube -- estimated at $133 million -- was to come from bonds issued by the California Toll Bridge Authority and secured by future Bay Area Bridge revenues. The additional cost of rolling stock, estimated at $71 million, was to be funded primarily from bonds issued against future operating revenues. Thus, the total cost of the system, as of 1962, was projected at $996 million. It would be the largest single public works project ever undertaken in the U.S. by the local citizenry.
After the election, engineers immediately started work on the final system designs, only to be halted by a taxpayer's suit filed against the District a month later. The validity of the bond election, and the legality of the District itself, were challenged. While the court ruled in favor of the District on both counts, six months of litigation cost $12 million in construction delays. This would be the first of many delays from litigation and time-consuming negotiations involving 166 separate agreements reached with on-line cities, counties, and other special districts. The democratic processes of building a new transit system would prove to be major cost factors that, however necessary, were not foreseen.
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