Senior Accountant - Hospital Disbursement - San Mateo Medical Center (Open & Promotional)

Full Job Description

San Mateo County Health - San Mateo Medical Center is accepting applications for Senior Accountant.

The Senior Accountant plans, oversees, coordinates, and monitors a significant accounting functional area; performs complex professional accounting work relative to either centralized and/or departmental County accounting procedures and records; and performs journal entries providing clear, concise, and adequate supporting documentation and calculations that are GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) compliant.

In general, incumbents in this class exercise a high degree of independent judgment on diverse and specialized projects and have significant accountability and ongoing decision making associated with their work.

Incumbents may identify and implement full accounting activities; utilize, modify, and develop mathematical models; initiate modifications to fiscal recordkeeping methodologies; make projections of revenues and expenditures, and participate in the budgeting process; and assist in representing their responsible areas in audits.

There is currently one regular, full-time vacancy located at the Disbursement department at the San Mateo Medical Center.

The Senior Accountant is responsible for overseeing the accounts payable process and ensuring that vendor invoices are reviewed, approved, and paid accurately and on time.

They supervise the AP team, assign tasks, and help resolve invoice discrepancies with vendors or internal departments.

The role also includes managing payment schedules, maintaining vendor relationships, and ensuring compliance with company policies and internal controls.

In addition, the AP Leader supports month-end closing, reconciles accounts, prepares reports, and helps improve AP processes for better efficiency.

The Disbursement department ensures that its financial transactions are conducted in compliance with County established internal controls, governmental regulations, and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

The department plays a critical role in supporting decision-making processes by providing financial analysis and insights to San Mateo Medical Center and Health System leadership.

The ideal candidate will:

• Possess a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college in accounting, finance, data analytics, statistics, or a closely related field
• Have 3-5 years of journey level accounting experience, preferably in healthcare, hospital or closely related settings
• Have knowledge and understanding of healthcare, hospital non-profit accounting
• Have excellent communication skills and have the ability to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing with staff
• Have the ability to work independently, problem solve, and exercise sound judgment within established guidelines
• Have the ability to solve complex business problems and provide recommendations that enable the organization to make timely and effective operations decisions
• Have strong analytical and strategic thinking skills
• Have strong skills with Microsoft Excel
• Have knowledge of GAAP

Requirements

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide direction, supervision, training, work review and/or evaluation to assigned professional and fiscal support on a project or ongoing basis.
• Provide input into selection decisions and disciplinary matters.
• Prepare and maintain control and subsidiary accounting records involving a variety of transactions and accounts; prepare trial balances and financial reports.
• Coordinate and calculate month-end and year-end closings.
• Prepare journal entries and periodic reconciliations of general ledger, journal, subsidiary accounts and bank statements.
• Compile and prepare financial statements, general and subsidiary ledgers and supporting schedule; maintain expenditure and budgetary control accounts.
• Review, analyze and adjust budgets for County funds.
• Maintain varied departmental cost accounting records, disbursing funds to various accounts and/or billings for reimbursement as required.
• Provide technical support to internal auditors and governmental program auditors.
• Apportion monies, including secured, unsecured, impounded, redeemed and other taxes.
• Review and claim for referral of tax, grant or other monies and prepare claims for reimbursement from various State or funding agencies and/or programs.
• Analyze programs and legislation to determine fiscal and budgetary impact; prepare budgetary appropriation transfers and supplemental budgets.
• Review and recommend modifications to accounting systems and procedures; upon approval, implement new or modified systems and procedures.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Experience and Education:
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge and skills is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required knowledge and skills is:

• Equivalent to graduation from a four year college or university with major coursework in accounting, finance, business administration or a closely related field and one year of journey level accounting experience.
  

NOTE: Successful completion of at least twelve verifiable semester units of college-level accounting coursework is required for Senior Accountant classification.

Knowledge of:

• Basic supervisory principles and practices.
• Principles, practices and terminology of general, fund and governmental accounting.
• Principles and practices of business data processing, particularly as
• Related to the processing of accounting information.
• Principles of public finance.
• Applicable laws regulating public fiscal operations.
• Budgeting principles and terminology.
• Auditing and financial reconciliation principles and methods.

Skill/Ability to:

• Plan, direct, review, and evaluate the work of assigned support staff.
• Train others in work procedures.
• Review, analyze, post, balance, interpret and reconcile complex financial data and accounts.
• Develop and implement accounting systems and procedures.
• Verify the accuracy of financial data and information.
• Ensure proper authorization and documentation for disbursements.
• Interpret and apply complex financial procedures and legal documents.
• Exercise sound independent judgment within established policy guidelines.
• Prepare and direct the preparation of clear, concise and complete financial reports and statements, audit reports and audit work papers.
• Make accurate mathematical and statistical calculations.
• Establish and maintain effective working relations.

Additional Information

Open & Promotional. Anyone may apply.

Current County of San Mateo and County of San Mateo Superior Court of California employees with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in a classified regular, probationary, extra-help/limited term positions prior to the final filing date will receive five points added to their final passing score on this examination.

The examination process will consist of an application screening based on the candidates' application and responses to the supplemental questions (weight: pass/fail).

Candidates who pass the application screening may be invited to a panel interview (weight:100%).

Depending on the number of applicants, an application appraisal of education and experience may be used in place of other examinations or further evaluation of work experience may be conducted to group applicants by level of qualification.

Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through any subsequent phase of the examination.

All examinations will be given in San Mateo County, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.

IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the “Apply” button.

If you are not on the County's website, please go to https://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply. Responses to the supplemental questions must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form.

A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required employment application and supplemental questionnaire.

Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before midnight on the final filing date.TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT SCHEDULEFinal Filing Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026 by 11:59 p.m.

PSTApplication Screening: April 1 - April 6, 2026Civil Service Panel/Departmental Interviews: Week of April 13, 2026

About the County

San Mateo County is centrally located between San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay. With over 750,000 residents, San Mateo is one of the largest and most diverse counties in California and serves a multitude of culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse communities.

The County of San Mateo, as an employer, is committed to advancing equity in order to ensure that all employees are welcomed in a safe and inclusive environment. The County seeks to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community. We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply. Eighty percent of employees surveyed stated that they would recommend the County as a great place to work.

The County of San Mateo is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community.

We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply.