Accountant Lead - Accounting

Description

The Accountant Lead is responsible for preparing general ledger month-end journal entries in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, reviewing journal entries as assigned, and performing financial statement analysis relevant to their assigned functional accounting team.

Functional Accounting Teams are as follows:

• Cash Accounting
• Fixed Assets Accounting
• Corporate Accounting
• Payroll Accounting
• Investments and Foundation Accounting
• Prepaid Asset, Deferred Revenue, and Notes Payable Accounting
• Inventory and Supplies Accounting
• Physician Guarantees and Physician Fees Accounting
• Purchased Services and Non-Patient Accounts Receivable Accounting
• Contract Labor and Utilities Accounting
• Joint Venture Accounting
• Intercompany Accounting, Allocations, and Eliminations
• Lease Accounting
• Technical Accounting
• Health Plan Accounting
• Physician Group Accounting
• Grant Accounting

This job requires a strong understanding of United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). The Lead Accountant should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of the journal entries they are recording to the general ledger, evaluate the appropriateness of the entry (including the GL accounts used and the financial statement line item classification), and explain the impact on the financial statements.

The Lead Accountant will typically be assigned to areas of higher risk and more complex accounting within the functional accounting team. They are responsible for ensuring appropriate and relevant supporting documentation is attached to the journal entry and for evaluating the source of the information for their journal entries, asking follow‑up questions to ensure documentation is appropriate. In some cases, appropriate support will include developing estimates of the current month activity based on financial analysis of historical data.

The Lead Accountant is expected to develop an understanding of healthcare specific accounting issues relevant to the assigned functional accounting area. Previous healthcare experience is preferred but not required. The Lead Accountant is responsible for analyzing and providing variance explanations (from budget and trend) related to assigned areas and for completing monthly balance sheet account reconciliations related to the assigned functional accounting area.

The Lead Accountant reports directly to the Accounting Manager and is responsible for assisting the Accounting Manager with the supervision and training of accountants on the assigned functional team. The Lead Accountant will be assigned lower risk areas to review journal entries and balance sheet reconciliations. The Lead Accountant is expected to function at a high level of accounting knowledge coupled with the ability to direct others and give daily feedback on work product.

Overall performance evaluation is not the direct responsibility of this job; however, the expectation is for the Lead Accountant to provide specific and documented feedback on the work of the accountants to the Accounting Manager for inclusion in performance evaluations.

The Lead Accountant is expected to assist the Accounting Manager in ensuring the team meets month‑end close deadlines and communicates timely when any deviation from the close schedule is expected. The Lead Accountant should proactively look for ways to make processes more efficient and maintain or reduce the overall close timeline. Timeliness, accuracy, and the ability to prioritize and meet critical deadlines are essential.

The Lead Accountant is expected to lead efforts in improving processes for the preparation of financial statements and related reports/schedules, ensuring reporting accuracy and building relationships throughout the system that achieve these goals.

For each month‑end close, the Lead Accountant will work with the Manager to accumulate and summarize variance analysis results for both the functional area and the Manager’s assigned regional responsibilities. The Lead Accountant will be responsible for assisting the Accounting Manager in preparing materials for and participating in month‑end financial review calls with the regional CFOs. The…