Payroll Associate
Finance | North East, MD | Full Time
About Us:
Founded in 1968 to meet the post-secondary and continuing education needs of Cecil County residents, Cecil College has been serving the community and shaping its future for more than 50 years. The College is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the governor. The College’s fifth president, Dr. Mary Way Bolt, reports directly to the Board of Trustees.
Cecil College is centrally located in Maryland’s most northeastern county, just one half mile from Interstate 95. It is easily accessible from Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as from Wilmington, Delaware.
With a diverse student population, Cecil College enrolls approximately 2,500 credit students and 3,400 non-credit students. Cecil offers associate degrees, certificate programs and non-credit classes. Cecil offers a variety of associate degree and certificate programs.
Through its open admissions policy, Cecil College provides learning opportunities for all who have the desire and ability to benefit from its courses and programs, regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic status.
Employees of Cecil College, including instructors for online and virtual courses, must be residents of Maryland or the contiguous states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, or the District of Columbia.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US, as the College does not offer Visa sponsorships.
Position Description
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were actually written out in this job description.
JOB SUMMARY:
Reporting to the Accounting Manager, and working closely with the Payroll Compliance Coordinator, the Payroll Associate is responsible for successfully processing bi-weekly payroll as well as related obligations for the College.
Given the interaction with employees and college community, this position requires in-person presence. The position is eligible for telework.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
- Responsible for bi-weekly processing of full cycle payroll in collaboration with other College personnel, and for maintaining an electronic payroll file for each payroll according to current electronic file structure.
- Responsible for updating online pay periods in payroll system to enable timecard entry and processing of hours worked and leave time for all pay periods.
- Responsible for ensuring all timecards are approved by supervisors by the designated deadline; saving timecard reports; processing timecard adjustments received after the deadline and saving appropriate documentation.
- Responsible for manual pay adjustments including vacation pay, leaves of absence adjustments, payroll corrections, etc.
- Responsible for updating GTL Policy Face Value in payroll system when pay increases occur.
- Responsible for validating FICA Exempt status for Work Study students.
- Responsible for insuring SRA limits are not exceeded, and FICA limits are adhered to.
- Responsible for reviewing all tax and direct deposit forms and entering them into the payroll system. Once processed, file the forms electronically according to the current electronic employee file structure.
- Responsible for reconciling FICA taxes and making any necessary set up correction prior to running each bi-weekly payroll.
- Responsible for running bi-weekly payroll reports to insure employee state withholding tax set up matches resident state.
- Responsible for calculating and processing final pay and vacation pay outs for terminated employees, on separate checks when applicable.
- Responsible for inactivating terminated employees in the payroll system and any deductions, benefits and direct deposit. Also, for confirming no pay is generated on the payroll immediately following the final pay.
- Responsible for receiving bank notifications of direct deposit changes and returns from the Accounting Manager, resolving existing issues, communicating with employees and maintain documentation according to the current electronic employee file structure.
- Responsible for receiving garnishments, wage attachments and child support orders from various agencies; provide copies of orders to employees when required; interpret correct calculation of deduction amount; set up deduction in payroll system; ensure automatic creation of A/P invoice for deductions being paid by check and communication to A/P.
- Responsible for garnishment tracking to be updated with each payroll, tracking totals when applicable for balance tracking and for when judgements are satisfied. Inactivate deductions when judgements are satisfied.
- Responsible for receiving live checks returned as undeliverable, obtaining corrected mailing addresses and ensure change of address form is completed and processed, reissue pay as direct deposit if appropriate.
- Responsible for processing voided pays ensuring proper dates, accounts, and account numbers are used, and for reissuing voided pays when applicable.
- Responsible for verifying address change forms received from HR are entered correctly into the system, and confirming any necessary payroll tax changes are made and tax forms are received. Also, for filing the forms electronically according to the current electronic employee file structure.
- Responsible for updating address changes with the State of Maryland for any pension plan participants.
- Responsible for processing post payroll payment transactions including child support payments, wage garnishment payments, and any other payments associated with payroll. Extract appropriate documentation from payroll reports and save according to current electronic file structure.
- Responsible for creating and entering journal entries for all post payroll payment transactions, and saving documentation according to the current electronic file structure.
- Responsible for creating and entering the salary and employer FICA accrual on a monthly basis for ten-month faculty. Responsible for creating and entering the reversal of the ten-month faculty salary and employer FICA accruals in July and August.
- Responsible for generating and saving current, QTD and YTD payroll tax reports for each payroll.
- Responsible for creating and entering journal entries for reclassification of 75% of work study wages for reimbursement to the correct G/L account.
- Responsible for running and saving bi-weekly leave accruals for Vacation, Sick Leave and Personal Leave, reviewing the reports for negative balances, processing applicable adjustments and communicating to employees and supervisors.
- Responsible for working closely with Payroll Compliance Coordinator and Accounting Manager at fiscal and calendar year end to complete all payroll processes and related tasks on an accelerated basis.
- Responsible for working with Payroll Compliance Coordinator to process annual W2’s and related reporting.
- Responsible for assuring compliance with the College’s structure of internal controls, especially as it applies to payroll preparation.
- Responsible for communicating with the Accounting Manager on a regular basis regarding the status of each payroll and any other projects, assignments and duties, as well as any problems that may arise.
- Shared responsibility for monitoring Payroll email account.
- Other duties as assigned.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Minimum Requirements to Perform Work: Associate’s Degree in Business or Accounting required. Will consider applicants who will have an earned Associate’s degree who within 2.5 years of hire date from an accredited institution.
- Minimum 2-3 years of payroll experience with a working knowledge of payroll related accounting.
- Experience working in an automated payroll system.
- Experience working in higher education preferred
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES:
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office products including Excel, Outlook, and Word.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
This position classifies the physical exertion requirements as sedentary work involving lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like docket files, ledgers, and small tools. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally, and other sedentary criteria are met.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
Work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts which require normal safety precautions typical of such places as office or meeting and training rooms, e.g., use of safe work place practices with office equipment, avoidance of trips and falls, and observance of fire and building safety regulations, and traffic signals when driving.