Senior Staff Accountant

About the Organization

Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. NILC’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S. regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential. Together, NILC and the affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)(4) organization, work to advocate more directly for immigrant justice including direct federal immigration policy reform. NILC is committed to advancing its mission — which intersects race, immigration status, and class — through racial, economic, and gender justice and equity orientation. 

NILC is at an exciting moment in its organizational trajectory, supporting our five-year strategic framework and scaling the organization and its work through influencing systems, policy advocacy at the federal and state levels, engaging in movement and power building, and narrative and culture strategies in addition to continuous improvements to our operational model. We are looking for entrepreneurial, results-driven, relationship builders who are committed to NILC’s mission and values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty.

About the Position 

The Senior Staff Accountant plays an integral role on NILC’s Finance team providing day-to-day accounting and finance support across the full range of accounting activities. The Senior Staff Accountant will support and may lead financial operating duties in support of a timely and accurate month-end close and year-end close, payroll, related compliance tasks and other vital accounting functions with a focus on adhering to best practices and effective internal controls in the financial accounting for NILC and its affiliate organizations. The role requires someone with a wide range of accounting experience who is comfortable with accounting software and work as a liaison across NILC’s departments to provide support and ensure successful accounting & finance practices across the organization.

The Senior Staff Accountant is responsible for driving success in the following key areas:

Specific Position Responsibilities

•Manages month-end close process by completing and/or reviewing journal entries, adjusting entries, & preparing reports. 

•Reviews invoices for appropriate documentation and approval, credit card entries for errors, and issues checks and/or ACH payments for payables due including payment for all NILC credit cards. 

•Review accounting transactions, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, deposits, and all other accounting entries with GAAP accounting standards and internal controls. 

•Manages various cash receipts and disbursement processes including batch processing and reconciliations. May oversee disbursements, including manual checks, wires and ACHs. 

•Ensures compliance with federal, state and local laws regarding employer registrations, and payments to required state agencies for employers, including but not limited to, state unemployment, paid leave programs (where applicable) and workers compensation funds.

•Identify journal entries needed to ensure accurate financial reporting; ensure all journal entries are recorded properly with appropriate reviews. 

•Works with Development team to issue fund codes for new grants, record grant revenue in the accounting system, and reconcile all grants and donations received. 

•Working with the Human Resources team, maintains and reviews the payroll processing system (UKG) for the timely and accurate processing of payroll transactions including salaries, timesheets, benefits, taxes, deductions, and garnishments. 

•Process payroll, reconciles employee benefits, and performs any other payroll functions timely and accurately, ensure processing of payroll updates including new hires, terminations, changing to payrates, benefits deductions, etc. in collaboration with other members of the Finance team. 

•Reconciles bank accounts and resolves any issues that may come up, including uncleared checks & differences.

•Maintains fixed assets, depreciation, benefit, and IJF shared cost schedules.

•Secures financial information including main accounting files, payroll, accounts payable, deposits, and credit cards and creates electronic back up files.

•Acts as administrator of expense reporting system, including training to all staff and assist with any ongoing questions or issues, and running expense reports. 

•Lead audit review processes and filing activities including preparing and/or reviewing documentation for external auditors & support other annual reporting including 990 preparation. 

•Supports or oversees various accounts payable and expense reporting activities, including annual 1099 and 1096 reporting. •Coordinates and supports program staff, financial, and accounting related inquiries and tasks.

•Assists in the transition of the financial, accounting systems, AP, and AR systems as needed, including software implementation.

•Contribute to work identifying, researching, and implementing improvements in financial systems and processes to create workflow efficiencies and cost-saving techniques. 

•Provide leadership to the Finance team by helping to develop both the accounting and relationship management skills of the Staff Accountant[s], and other team members. 

•May be a part of a larger cross functional project using the MOCHA framework/methodology

Supervisory Responsibilities

•May manage or supervise outside consultants, third party administrators, and vendors as needed.

Shared Organization Responsibilities

•Champions NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income by demonstrating a commitment to human rights, and racial, economic, and social justice 

•Attends and actively participates in NILC meetings at the organization, department, project, and individual level 

•Develops relationships and supports NILC and IJF colleagues across all teams, recognizing that each individual brings a unique background and perspective to the work and assuming good intent from each other. 

•Follows through on commitments acting with a clear sense of ownership individually and collectively by taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures, establishing clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results, and designing feedback loops into work. 

•Learns quickly when facing new situations by experimenting to find fresh solutions, taking on the challenge of unfamiliar tasks, and extracting lessons learned from failures and mistakes. 

•Acts with integrity by following through on commitments, being direct and truthful, keeping confidences, and showing consistency between words and actions. 

•Commits to centering NILC’s values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty in all decisions and actions 

In recognition of the fluidity of the work and ecosystem that NILC operates in, other duties may be assigned depending on organizational need.

What We’re Looking for in This Role

•Commitment to NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income and a demonstrated commitment to human rights, racial, economic, and social justice, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice for all. 

•Collaborative, proactive, and action oriented working style with a strong service mentality promoting mutual accountability and inspiriting trust and confidence from colleagues, other NILC team members, and NILC leaders alike.

•Expressed ability to manage complex projects, seen as 1st line of question for staff.

•Demonstrates sound judgement in decision-making, high integrity, and utmost respect for confidentiality. 

•Comfortable with diverse groups of people, communication style and cultural competence. 

•Makes accurate and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward.

•Excellent verbal and written communication skills: ability to read, analyze, and interpret as well as draft documents such as reports, correspondence, and presentations for various audiences.

•Self-starter with a strong ability to move daily tasks forward in alignment with NILC’s broader organizational needs and goals.

•Approaches challenges with a sense of urgency and prioritizes according to impact and project timelines.

•Excellent customer service skills, with the ability to smoothly and accurately help employees with any challenges they face with accounting-related functions including expense reimbursement. 

•Ability to understand the organization’s internal policies and procedures and organizational budgets and apply them to accounting duties.

Qualifications Required

•High school diploma required 

•7 – 10+ years of accounting experience including work in the following key areas of responsibility: AP, AR, and Payroll; non-profit sector experience preferred. 

•Demonstrated ability to adapt to changing priorities, strategies, and circumstances. 

•Strong knowledge of financial principles including accounting policies and procedures and GAAP rules and requirements. 

•Demonstrated ability to maintain a high level of accuracy in preparing and entering financial information.

•Proficiency with Microsoft Excel at an intermediate level, including formulas and pivot tables. 

•Proficiency with in-office and virtual environments and software such as MS Office, internet research, and virtual collaboration tools. 

Preferred Qualifications

•Experience with financial management, accounting and HR software including Sage Intaact, Martus, Concur, and Paylocity preferred. 

•Bachelor’s degree in accounting, or related field preferred. 

•CPA, CMA or other relevant designations preferred. 

At NILC, we know that talented people may have different backgrounds or experiences, and if your education and experience doesn’t exactly align with the above that’s okay! NILC believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants. NILC’s goal is for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve and to ensure representation of people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities in our organization. We encourage you to apply and let us know in your cover letter why you are qualified and the right fit for this role and NILC. 

Work Environment

Location & Travel: 

NILC's office is located in Washington, D.C. For this role, up to 10-20% of overnight interstate travel may be required; travel is typically quarterly to the NILC Washington, DC office or another location within the US for 3-5 nights. 

Remote work locations are as follows: (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin). To be considered, applicants must live in one of the work locations.

Compensation & Benefits:

NILC’s compensation and benefits philosophy is to provide a competitive offering in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization. The salary range for this role is $84,200 - $105,300.

NILC provides an incredible benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)-retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer-paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance. NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy, 15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).

NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. To learn more about the program, please visit https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

Physical Demands

•Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods

•Communicating with others to exchange information.

•Repeating motions, like typing or answering a phone, that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers.