2A64
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS ANALYSIS SUPERVISOR

This is second supervisory level work directing a staff of clerical employees engaged in the review, analysis and/or verification of municipal expenditures, payroll and pension computations, contract and bid documents prior to authorization, and municipal receipts, and providing direction and assignments for auditors engaged in this work. The employee in this class ensures that work conforms to proper procedures and is performed both accurately and on a timely basis. The employee participates in the work process to resolve discrepancies and assure continuous examination and flow of documents, and performs the more difficult or complex assignments. Contact with departmental officials, fiscal personnel and organizations doing business with the City to obtain information and to resolve problems is an important aspect of the work. Work is performed under the direction of an administrative superior. When the administrative superior is unavailable or absent, the employee in this class is responsible for authorizing all expenditures involving the City, including payroll, pension, daily expenditures, and debt service.

• The position must review and analyze a variety of municipal financial documents, records, and transactions and examine policies and processing procedures for effectiveness and efficiency.
• The position must supervise, through subordinate supervisors, the activities of a staff of clerical employees and provide direction to auditors engaged in determining the propriety of municipal expenditures prior to authorization of funds and municipal receipt documents.
• The position must be located in the Pre-Audit Division of the City Controller's Office.

• Supervises clerical staff and provides technical direction to auditors engaged in financial accounting, verification, procedures development and computerized voucher processing as part of a Citywide accounting system; supervises a staff performing a review of payroll documents received from the Finance Department to assure that payrolls have appropriate authorization, classification, processing, substantiation, and adherence to Civil Service Regulations; supervises a staff performing a review of all pension and terminal leave payments to assure that terminal leave payments have appropriate authorization and classification and adherence to all Civil Service Regulations, Union Contracts and Mayor’s Executive Orders; directs employees conducting analyses of operations to streamline processing, eliminate unnecessary functions and maximize utilization of personnel; works with the immediate supervisor of the clerical staff in distributing work assignments and training; provides input in the performance evaluation of auditors.
• Monitors accounts payable files to determine that proper procedures are being followed and to expedite payments where possible; notes areas where potential payment problems exist; reviews the more complex payment problems such as those requiring interpretations of ordinances or regulations or additional documentation to determine that services contracted for have been satisfactorily supplied by vendors; communicates with vendors to obtain necessary information and to provide explanations for delay in processing payment; prepares periodic status reports of outstanding purchase orders and encumbrance documents.
• Reviews Revenue Department data to identify vendors, contractors, and suppliers of services who are delinquent in tax payments to the City; secures amount of the delinquency from the Revenue Department; withholds payment to delinquent vendor; initiates correspondence for Controller's signature informing vendor that future payments will be withheld until the delinquency is satisfied or agreement reached on the method of satisfaction.
• Studies needs for modifications in procedures for completing and forwarding purchase orders, receiving reports, invoices, and related financial documents to avoid delays in authorizing payments for goods and services supplied by outside sources; contacts administrative and fiscal officers of city agencies to resolve problems such as inaccurate or incomplete information, failure of department to submit authorizations for payment, or other causes for the delay of the timely processing of financial documents to effect proper remuneration; makes recommendations for modifications to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in policies and procedures.
• Assigns subordinate to monitor bid opening process to ensure that proper documentation is present and required procedures are followed; consults on inconsistencies uncovered and contacts procurement administrators and buyers to rectify problems; supervises staff performing an independent verification of the number of bids submitted.
• Plans, assigns and reviews the activities, directly or through a subordinate, of a staff of clerical employees in examining payment vouchers for proper coding, classifications, necessary authorization and signatures, and comparing purchase order to contracts for terms and corresponding prices for determining the propriety of municipal expenditures prior to authorization of funds; inputs and analyzes data on unit activities to determine problem areas and trends; prepares a variety of reports analyzing problem areas and identifying probable causes; recommends and implements corrective action; monitors proper filing and maintenance of documentation resulting from municipal financial transactions; directs annual culling and storage activities and authorizes record retrieval from storage; reviews expenditures processing activities to improve efficiency and accuracy of work; reviews recommendations from subordinate supervisor regarding procedural changes and approves implementation; recommends policy modifications to administrative superior and implements changes.
• Assigns work to a clerical staff engaged in examining and verifying statements of municipal revenues, including cashiers' settlement sheets and consolidated summaries of deposits and daily statements from the City Treasurer; supervises a staff engaged in recording data from selected cashier's receipts through the use of random sampling methods including the extraction of such information as name of department, type of fund, nature of payments, and amount paid; contacts revenue department officials to resolve questionable items or refers such items to administrative superior.
• Supervises employees engaged in verifying the accuracy of employee payroll records and reviewing the records of employees who were added or deleted from departmental elements, payroll reports, and funding summaries; examines and approves special payrolls that have been generated as a result of court orders, grievances, retroactive payments, refunds and adjustments; trains and instructs employees in the auditing of pension transactions for accuracy of computations, eligibility for pensions and length of service credit; consults on any discrepancies uncovered in payroll or pension records due to errors in calculation or non-compliance of Civil Service Regulations; contacts departmental personnel or central payroll unit to explain required adjustments.
• Maintains control of prior year's encumbrances to see that accounts are closed out within authorized time periods; studies and reports on special fund obligations to insure that all applicable charges are reflected in current year's activities; evaluates payments in process at end of year to obtain account payable figures required by the city, state and federal funding; determines current status of accounts for which payments have been withheld because of tax delinquencies, breach of contract, default, or non-conformance with labor standards.
• Performs related work as required.

KNOWLEDGE OF:
• Standard accounting, budgeting, and procurement procedures relative to the processing of a variety of financial documents in manual and automated systems.
• Basic auditing and accounting.
• Principles and practices of bookkeeping.
• Standard office practices and procedures.
• Laws, ordinances, and departmental policies pertaining to the verification of governmental revenues.
• Procedures used in auditing the preparation and documentation of payroll, the accuracy and compliance of pension records, and bidding.
• Internal accounting control procedures.
• Database, spreadsheet, and word processing application personal computer software, as well as mainframe software.
• Computerized accounting database utilized by the city.
• Computer software for government and general accounting and financial reporting.
• Office management.
• Public administration as applied to a large centralized accounting operation.
ABILITY TO:
• Explain and interpret finance procedures and regulations to departmental officials.
• Evaluate payment procedures and to develop modifications to facilitate timely payment.
• Make judgmental decisions where several courses of action are required.
• Analyze and detect possible deficiencies in receipts, payroll or procurement documents.
• Learn in detail those provisions and interpretations of city and departmental regulations applicable to the receipt of funds, calculation of payroll and pension amounts, and processing of procurement vouchers.
• Present ideas effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Plan, assign, and review the work of subordinate employees engaged in the review and verification of financial transactions.
• Learn and adapt to a variety of new computer software.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with departmental officials, representatives of other departments and taxing agencies, vendors and the public.

EDUCATION
• Education equivalent to completion of the twelfth school grade.
AND
GENERAL EXPERIENCE
• Two years of clerical experience in a Pre-Audit program.
AND
SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE
• Four years experience at the advanced clerical or paraprofessional level in the City Controller's Pre-Audit program evaluating and resolving a variety of problems relative to the processing of financial documents prior to authorization of expenditures.
AND

Two years of experience supervising personnel in the advanced clerical or paraprofessional level within the City Controller's Pre-Audit division.

OR

Any equivalent combination of education and experience determined to be acceptable by the Personnel Department that has included the specific experience described above.

PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to physically perform the duties and to work in the environmental conditions required of a position in this class.