Position: Senior Accountant

Department: Finance

FLSA Status: Full-Time Exempt

Reports to: Director, Finance

Date Issued: January 29, 2021

Date Revised: March 2024

About Program

Polaris is leading a data-driven social justice movement to fight sex and labor trafficking at the massive scale of the problem - 25 million people worldwide deprived of the freedom to choose how they live and work.

For more than a decade, Polaris has assisted thousands of victims and survivors through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, helped ensure countless traffickers were held accountable, and built the largest known U.S. data set on actual trafficking experiences. With the guidance of survivors, we use that data to improve the way trafficking is identified, how victims and survivors are assisted, and how communities, businesses and governments can prevent human trafficking by transforming the underlying inequities and oppressions that make it possible. More details about our programs and history can be found on our web site at www.polarisproject.org.

About Opportunity

Polaris is seeking a Senior Accountant on a full-time basis. Under the direction of the Director of Finance the Senior Accountant will be a key member of the Finance Team and will support staff across the organization. The Senior Accountant is responsible for overseeing payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivables, credit card administration, ensure accuracy in the general ledger accounts and will assist the Director in producing accurate and timely financial reports.

Responsibilities

Payroll

• Verify timesheet logs for all staff;
• Ensure all timesheets are approved by supervisor;
• Submit bi-weekly payroll to payroll provider;
• Enter payroll data in accounting system in a timely and accurate manner;
• Maintain and update payroll records and reconciliation reports;
• Audit payroll information for accuracy
• Research and resolve all payroll discrepancies;
• Reconcile payroll on a monthly basis.
• Reconcile payroll to quarterly 941 reports

Accounts Payable

• Prepare and process all invoices and reimbursements for all vendors and staff reimbursements;
• Ensure payables are in compliance with budgetary guidelines and GAAP;
• Update and maintain files and documentation thoroughly;
• Reconcile payable as required, i.e. credit statements and AP ledger.

Accounts Receivable

• Create invoices for all federal, foundation, contractual and other agreements on a timely basis;
• Perform accounts receivable reconciliations and investigate and resolve any irregularities;
• Maintain W-9 tax information for all customers;
• Maintain customer agreements, contracts and files;
• Report outstanding balances to stakeholders on a monthly basis;

General Ledger and Financial Reporting

• Journal entry preparation when required;
• Perform balance sheet account reconciliations;
• Maintain fixed assets and prepaid schedules;
• Assist with preparing monthly internal financial statements;
• Assist with month-end and year-end close;
• Assist with preparing external audit schedules as needed.

This job description provides a summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by individuals in this position. Incumbents may be asked to perform other tasks not specifically written in this job.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of progressive accounting experience in a non-profit setting;
• Experience processing payroll for staff of 60+;
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of GAAP;
• Ability to compile, analyze, evaluate and interpret data and transactions;
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail;
• Experience with cloud based accounting software;
• Customer service oriented;
• Proactively problem-solves and effectively communicate with team members.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of principles and practices for contracts/grant administration and monitoring;
• Familiar with Intacct accounting software and Paylocity;
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting;

Communication

• Internal: Ability to communicate with supervisors and peers.

Working Conditions

• Typical office setting

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged sitting, chiefly at a computer terminal.

Grant Funding Status

This position is grant funded and is subject to modification or termination in accordance with grant agreement or suspension of funding. Polaris reserves the right to maintain the position and personnel based on organizational needs. Polaris Project is an at-will employer, and neither you nor Polaris Project is bound to continue the employment relationship if either chooses, at its will, to end the relationship at any time once your employment has begun.

Values Statement

The work of Polaris is grounded in a set of values and organizational beliefs that provide a common starting point for all of our activities. At Polaris, we look for talented individuals who are passionate about combating all forms of human trafficking and who will strive to embody and model these values within the Polaris community and in the anti-trafficking field. Please take a moment to make yourself familiar with these values and our mission statement before submitting your application. You can find a full description of our values here.

Diversity Statement

Polaris designs and implements data-driven strategies to prevent and disrupt human trafficking, and restore freedom to survivors. Achieving this ambitious goal requires both trafficking-specific systemic interventions and broader cultural and structural shifts that reduce the inequities that lead to human trafficking. While Polaris alone cannot build a more diverse, just, equitable, and inclusive society, both the success of our work and our organizational values require modeling in the workplace the change we want to see in the world.

This means cultivating a workforce, organizational culture, and priorities that respect and celebrate a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team made up of individuals with different identities, lived experiences, and backgrounds. Within both our team and across every part of our work, we strive to integrate and elevate the full range of survivor voices.

This is a living commitment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are values to be manifested daily, in the work we do, the decisions we make, and the way that we treat each other and the people we seek to serve. This means creating space where staff can be included, heard, valued, and set up for success, and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, best selves to work. We will not check boxes and consider it done. We will push new innovations and different ways of thinking, and treasure the community built and strengthened by each of our contributions.