Office Specialist-Payroll

Office Specialist-Payroll

We continually strive for a workforce that reflects the growing diversity within the State of Illinois. Bilingual skills welcome. Reasonable Accommodation Statement The State of Illinois is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Further, federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Sponsorship for Employment The State of Illinois does not provide sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g. H-1B visa status), nor is the State able to provide extensions of optional practical training (OPT) under the STEM-designated degree program for F-1 students.

To be considered for permanent employment with the State of Illinois, applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Disclosure of Salary Information In compliance with the Illinois Equal Pay Act, 820 ILCS 112/1 et seq., the State does not seek, request, or require a job applicant's wage or salary history. Employment decisions are not made based on an applicant's wage or salary history.

To that end, please do not include wage or salary information in your resume or other profile or application materials.

Position Overview:

COME JOIN A TRANSFORMATIVE TEAM, with a record of proven, positive impact to the State of Illinois. The Illinois Office of the Comptroller is seeking applicants for the position of Office Specialist for Payroll. The Comptroller is the chief fiscal control officer for the Illinois government, charged by the Constitution with maintaining the state's central fiscal accounts and ordering payments into and out of the appropriate funds.

The office processes more than 16 million transactions annually and serves as a "fiscal watchdog" to ensure that all state payments meet the requirements of the law. The Comptroller's office provides meaningful and timely fiscal information to help state policymakers adopt effective policies. The office continually seeks new ways to improve how it serves the public. The Comptroller has updated and streamlined the Comptroller's website and has led the process of updating the state's payroll and accounting systems.

Comptroller Mendoza is committed to running the Office of Comptroller as a financial watchdog for the interest of Illinois citizens and to installing the most modern and transparent systems to make the state's financial information available to all.

Major Function Under administrative direction of the Senior Public Service Administrator
- Payroll Unit; the Office Specialist audits the accuracy of payroll vouchers and compares them against the electronic files sent by state agencies. The incumbent prepares vouchers for warrant writing through logging, coding, data entry and comparison checks; processes duplicate tax statement requests for state employees and retirees; verifies address file accuracy, notifies agencies regarding employee social security number discrepancies, and assists in W-4 card entry for state employees.

The Office Specialist prepares monthly payroll schedules and assists in maintaining the workload entering the payroll unit and acts as a back-up to various positions as may be needed.

Job Responsibilities Audits payroll vouchers for accuracy and in comparison, to electronic voucher files submitted by agencies in preparation of payroll warrant writing. Verifies payroll files against hard copy signed vouchers supplied by the agencies. Contacts outside agencies regarding issues, replacement payroll files, and/or missing payroll vouchers. Reports discrepancies or errors to a supervisor as needed. Logs payroll vouchers, inputs payroll schedule information into the payroll system setting the scheduled pay date and notifies the Accounting Professionals what payrolls are ready to process for warrant writing.

Assists Accounting Professionals in the audit review of 114 reports in comparison with the paper vouchers. Reports any discrepancies to a supervisor and notifies agencies of these issues. Oversees the quarterly review of Social Security Administration mismatch reports. Prepares letters and reports for employing agencies regarding missing or invalid employee information such as name, date of birth, and/or social security number.

Submits information to agencies and follows up as needed to resolve errors. Assists in maintaining the workload entering the payroll unit. Validates authorized signatures on payroll vouchers, sorts and distributes mail entering the payrol unit. Assists with filing duplicate W2 requests, answering telephones, data entry, mailing tax statements, and filing the request documentation. Prepares and distributes monthly payroll schedules based on the annual IOC (Office of Comptroller) payroll schedule and average agency payroll arrival dates.

Provides back up to Accounting Specialist and/or Accounting Professional when needed. Performs other duties as assigned which are reasonable to the duties…