Accounting and Payroll Specialist

Join a mission-driven team supporting and empowering future college graduates!

At Steppingstone, our mission is to prepare students from under-resourced communities to access, navigate, and graduate from college.

• Through the Scholars Program in Boston, we provide academic, social-emotional, and college readiness programming from as early as fifth grade and continuing through college graduation.
• Through the National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA), we connect the people, practices, and innovations essential for eliminating barriers to college and career success.

The Payroll and Accounting Specialist role is a strong fit for a professional who is passionate about educational access and wants to put their skills to use in a mission-based organization. The ideal candidate will have the skills to maintain accurate records of all the organization’s financial transactions and be responsible for processing the organization’s biweekly payroll.

Start Date:
September 2026

Salary: $65,000

Maintaining Accurate Financial Records

• Review accounts payable transactions in  and resolve discrepancies as they arise;
• Enter accounts receivable, cash receipts & other revenue transactions in Quick Books according to approved procedures;
• Make journal entries and enter data as needed into Quick Books;
• Perform reconciliations for review and approval, e.g. monthly bank statements, credit card statements, reconciling Quickbooks to Salesforce;
• Manage the monthly, quarterly and annual closing processes to finalize financial records systematically;

Financial Reporting

• Generate accurate financial statements including the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement; perform initial analysis and share key takeaways with the CFOO;
• Assist with the preparation of various financial reports and analyses as needed;

Payroll Processing

• Process bi-weekly payroll for the organization; flag anomalies in payroll preview and raise with the CFOO and HR to resolve ahead of finalizing payroll;
• Field questions from employees about paychecks

Budgeting

• Support the creation and management of the organization’s budget;
• Prepare budget variance reports;
  Compare actual expenditure to budgets, examining discrepancies; report discrepancies to the CFOO; work with managers to make corrections as appropriate;

Audit and Compliance Support

• Ensure adherence to financial policies, regulatory requirements and internal controls;
• Ensure that financial reports comply with regulatory standards (e.g., GAAP, IFRS).
• Ensure that the necessary documentation and financial records are available and organized for audits;
• Identify and report potential financial risks within the organization’s finance and accounting processes;
• Support the timely preparation and filing of tax returns, adhering to local, state, and federal regulations.

General Finance Operations Support

• Support employees across the organization with finance-related processes;
• Create and maintain accurate, detailed, internal process documentation for this role;
• Foster an environment where employees know what information is available to them, understand how to find it, and are encouraged and incentivized to utilize the knowledge-sharing tools that are in place; develop communication and training programs to raise awareness of knowledge management initiatives and encourage participation;
• Own the creation and maintenance of Finance-focused knowledge management resources (e.g. finance-related content on Stepping Zone).

• Demonstrated commitment to educational access and success
• Knowledge of basic accounting principles and practices
• Excellent quantitative analysis skills and attention to detail
• Strong customer-service orientation with both internal and external customers
• Experience working with individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences
• Experience as an effective team member in a changing environment; ability to manage multiple projects and priorities
• Strong relationship-building and group facilitation skills across differing stakeholders; resolves conflicts constructively and respectfully
• Demonstrated initiative, flexibility,…