Job Description

The Office of Child Support Services, Fiscal Operations which handles all fiscal related activities is responsible for ensuring that child support accounts are build, updated and maintained so that payments received are disbursed accurately to the correct party timely, and that all misdirected funds are properly rerouted to the correct account resulting in the proper enforcement of child support orders. This department ensures that OCSS records reflect Family and Supreme court orders, accurate public assistance history including desk reviews to ensure excess support and pass-through payments are properly accounted and disbursed to the right parties. Resolves issues with disbursement errors, batch adjustments, and processes returned checks, replacement checks, and stale dated checks; reconciles receipts, batch transactions and daily disbursements; reconciles all SCU bank accounts, exception reporting, including credit card payments. Monitors and reports fraudulent activity and monitors over disbursements. Prepares account statements required for court hearings and keep the appropriate financial controls in place to ensure only proper expenditures or credits are approved.

Under the general supervision of the Account Specialist Supervisor for the Account Auditing, Account Maintenance, Accounting and Payment Adjustment units, with some latitude for independent action, the Account Specialist conducts a thorough review of financial transactions, applicable credits, payment adjustments, prepare account statements, and/or processes documents received from courts or other jurisdictions. The Account Specialist researches and identifies accounts with challenging issues such as undistributed collections, over disbursed monies, un-assignment of arrears, or any other discrepancies. The Account Specialist applies general accounting practices when handling transactions from the court such as new court orders, modifying orders or resolving any other discrepancy; ensures that accounts are accurate and processed within prescribed timeframes. The duties and responsibilities of this position represent all Bookkeeper II/Account Specialist in the Office of Fiscal Operations except the Bookkeeper II in the Accounting unit. The Bookkeeper II/Account Specialist may be interchangeable within these units if necessary.

The Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) is looking to recruit for two (2) Bookkeeper II’s who will:

• Respond verbally and in writing to inquiries and referrals received via telephone, mail, fax or e-mail from custodial parents, non-custodial parents, other jurisdictions, and business counterparts, including internal and external stakeholders. Process requests for account statements for family court proceedings, internal and external audit requests, certified account statements, or requests for information or documents from other jurisdictions, and/or account modifications, by following established agency policies and procedures. Accesses the New York State Call Center Referral System and the New York City Customer Tracking System to retrieve assigned referrals. Submit batch transactions to reconcile balances, updates account remarks if adjustment to the account occurred, and records case remarks of all actions taken on the account. After every case is completed, updates remarks and all applicable statuses and other codes.

• Process work list reports which identify accounts with potential problems. Conduct a holistic review of these accounts by checking the payment histories, detailed financial transactions, and interpreting court orders. Access various systems including the Automated State Support Enforcement and Tracking System (ASSETS), Universal Case Management System or Unified Courts Management System (UCMS) and Welfare Management System (WMS) or other applicable systems to ensure information in these systems are consistent, to view discrepancies and make any necessary adjustments to the account.

• Prepare account statements, by conducting an in-depth analysis and review of account information, remarks, court orders, findings of facts, and other documents. Build and modify court ordered obligations and adjusts accounts according to court orders then enters remarks in ASSETS as applicable in Account and/or Case remarks. Ensure that account statements and transactions provide critical up-to-date and accurate information on the case. As warranted Upon request, completes a desk review audit when pass-thru or monies are retained by DSS.

• Process applicable refunds or resolves Undistributable Collections by utilizing various locate tools to find the custodial and non-custodial parents and disburse money to the intended parties. Review accounts to ensure that the amount of money released is accurate and reviews any other accounts a Non-Custodial Parent may have to determine if the money being held should be applied to another account before issuing a refund.

• Review and resolve items such as misapplied and unapplied payments, rejected transactions due to incorrect account numbers or no sufficient information on the payment, NYS Child Support lottery intercept and Tax Refund Offset (TRO) funds and Unemployment Insurance Benefit (UIB) payments that need to be applied to an account. Confirms the intended account/s and applies the funds utilizing Automated State Support Enforcement and Tracking Systems (ASSETS). Manually applies all tax offset and lottery payments to the intended account within the timeframe, ensures that all transactions and the net due are reconciled.

• Testify in court, if necessary, to explain an account statement, or an audit that was conducted as a result of preparing an account statement.

Work Location: 4 World Trade Center, 150 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007

Hours: 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.

Qualifications

(1) Completion of 30 semester credits from an accredited college or university, accredited by regional, national, professional or specialized agencies recognized as accrediting bodies by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), including 6 credits in accounting; or

(2) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent approved by a State’s Department of Education or a recognized accrediting organization, and two years of satisfactory full-time bookkeeping experience; or

(3) A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience equivalent to "1" or "2" above. College education may be substituted for experience in "2" above on the basis that 15 semester credits from an accredited college may be substituted for each year of required experience. However, all candidates must have a high school diploma or its educational equivalent, and either 6 semester credits in accounting from an accredited college or 6 months of experience as described in "2" above.

To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level III individuals must have, in addition to meeting the minimum requirements, at least one year of experience as a Bookkeeper (40526) or at least four years of satisfactory full-time bookkeeping experience.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.