Principal Accountant - Bessemer Utilities

Job Summary

The Bessemer Utilities Department is seeking a Principal Accountant to provide strategic direction and oversee the department’s daily financial operations. In this role, the Principal Accountant may perform or supervise a variety of duties, including, but not limited to, maintaining accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), banking, general ledger (GL), grant, and budgetary accounts. The incumbent ensures compliance with federal, state, and local laws and guidelines, including Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) standards.

The incumbent may also use Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) software to produce and support financial statements and oversee audits of financial records. Work is performed in an office setting and may involve direct supervision of staff, including Accounting Assistants, Accountants, and Senior Accountants.

03/20/2026

Grade 27

Full time

The City of Bessemer provides competitive pay and comprehensive benefits packages to include medical and dental insurance, employer-sponsored retirement plan (pension), generous paid holidays, sick and vacation leave, and more. The pay range for this job is presented below:
City of Bessemer: $62,171 - $96,428

The following are job-related qualifications that are required for employment consideration for this position:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration.
• Experience leading the accounting functions for a department or organization such as preparing general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial statements, payroll, or budgets.
• Experience with periodic financial reporting (e.g., balance sheets, income statements, transaction process reports, daily cash reports) for oversight, compliance, and/or to fulfill legal requirements.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration.
• Experience as a Senior Accountant in the Merit System.

The following are job-related qualifications deemed desirable by Merit System agencies. These qualifications may be considered by a hiring agency when reviewing applications and inviting candidates to participate in subsequent steps in the selection process.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting.

• Oversees the Accounts Payable (AP) and/or Accounts Receivable (AR) process by entering requisitions and payments, generating invoices and account statements and reconciling funds using accounting software in accordance with professional standards to maintain finances for a department or jurisdiction.
• Oversees internal and external audits of financial records by acting as the point of communication, distributing audit‑related tasks, and implementing changes identified during the audit consistent with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and auditor transaction testing techniques to maintain compliance with professional standards and regulations.
• Oversees the maintenance of banking records by researching banking and account information to provide recommendations to the department or jurisdiction regarding which banking institutions to utilize.
• Prepares, monitors, and administers departmental or organizational budget by reviewing spending trends, expenditure reports, analyzing financial data and ensuring expenditures are within annual budgetary limits.
• Performs the financial closing process at the end of an accounting period (i.e., monthly, quarterly, yearly) by analyzing account balances and performing balance sheet reconciliations to ensure compliance with federal, state and local guidelines and laws.
• Oversees the maintenance of the general ledger (GL) by reviewing and approving journal entries, auditing the GL for accuracy, creating journal entries and general ledger adjustments, and reconciling the general ledger to other financial records to ensure completeness of information and compliance with federal, state and local guidelines and laws.
• Oversees the maintenance and reporting of confidential governmental financial records according to federal,…