State of Maryland

A Fiscal Accounts Clerk Trainee is the entry level of work reviewing, verifying, recording, adjusting and balancing financial transactions. Employees in this classification do not supervise other Fiscal Accounts Clerks.

Employees in this classification receive close supervision from a Fiscal Accounts Clerk Supervisor, a professional accountant or other designated administrator.

Positions in this classification are evaluated using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of a class specification.

The Fiscal Accounts Clerk Trainee, Fiscal Accounts Clerk I and Fiscal Accounts Clerk II are differentiated on the basis of degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees. The Fiscal Accounts Clerk Trainee learns to perform duties under close supervision, the Fiscal Accounts Clerk I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed and the Fiscal Accounts Clerk II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Learns to review and verify source documents such as bills, receipts, transmittal sheets, invoices, benefit claims, vouchers, purchase orders, check registers, payroll reports and requisitions for application to proper agency accounts;

Learns to compute credits and debits for accounts according to standardized codes, regulations and procedures promulgated by internal and external fiscal control entities;

Learns to enter, post and record credits and debits to established ledger accounts;

Learns to prove account balances posted in ledger accounts with source document totals to identify record discrepancies;

Learns to research discrepancies in account balances by retrieving and examining original chronological records for miscalculations or posting errors;

Learns to correct inaccuracies in account balances and adjust accounting records to balance with source document totals;

Learns to record account totals on agency ledgers and fiscal control accounts;

Learns to maintain accurate data by entering and updating accounts when additional source documents are received;

Learns to summarize numerical data using computer programs or calculators for use in the preparation of financial records reports;

Learns to communicate with external and internal customers regarding incomplete or inaccurate invoices or reports or delinquent accounts;

May learn to compute and process all or a portion of an agency's payroll;

May learn to verify that transactions submitted by the agency were entered correctly into a fiscal control accounting system, resolve differences and notify the fiscal control agency of necessary adjustments;

May learn to prepare a trial balance of an account ledger for use by higher-level accounting staff;

May learn to contact fiscal control agencies such as Department of Budget and Management and Comptroller of the Treasury for clarification of accounting policies and procedures;

Performs other related duties.

Ability to learn the principles and practices of reviewing, verifying, recording, adjusting and balancing financial transactions;

Ability to learn the principles and practices of bookkeeping;

Ability to learn the organization of common books of accounts and the process of monitoring financial records;

Ability to learn to post and balance accounts and calculate percentages;

Ability to learn to resolve problems associated with incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting source data and to reconcile and correct errors in specialized accounts;

Ability to learn to manage work time efficiently and effectively under deadlines;

Ability to learn to use a computer or business machine to access, input and extract data;

Ability to communicate effectively;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with agency fiscal staff, data processing clerks, payroll personnel, vendors and representatives from fiscal control agencies.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: None

Notes:

1.  Experience calculating and recording financial, statistical or other numerical data may be substituted on a year-for-year basis for the required high school education.

2.  Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a non-commissioned officer in Financial Clerical/Financial Technicians classifications or Financial Clerical/Finance Technician specialty codes in the Financial field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required education.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.  

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit B, Administrative, Technical and Clerical classes.  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are exempt from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation.  An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime, as provided by the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series. NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.