Accountant II

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Position Title

Accountant II

Job Category

Academic Staff

Employment Type

Regular

Job Profile

Accountant II

Job Duties

The Accountant II performs advanced accounting duties following generally accepted accounting principles and procedures. Audits and reviews payroll tax transactions in accordance with university, state, and federal tax regulations. Develop and maintain accounting policies and procedures to ensure the accurate recording and reporting of the system’s payroll transactions.

Work Location

The office location is located at 660 West Washington, Madison, WI. An in-office requirement is expected three (3) days per week, and two days may be remote. Telecommuting agreements are subject to change at any time.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Organizes, prepares, and updates basic payroll financial statements, monthly and year-end adjustments, reports for various financial needs within an automated payroll system to ensure accurate recording and reporting of payroll wage and tax withholding transactions
• Prepares and analyzes payroll tax data, reports and records, identifies discrepancies, investigates, recommends, and implements basic solutions as needed
• Assists with accounting and reviewing reconciliations, tax payments, schedules, and reports
• Answers questions and provides accounting related information to internal and external stakeholders according to established policies and procedures
• Assists in preparing monthly, quarterly and annual tax liability reporting and reconciliation
• Reviews, prepares and audits taxable wage/withholding transactions and payments
• Develops and maintains automated financial systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity

Department

UW-Shared Services provides payroll, benefits, HR, business services, and reporting services to UW employees and universities. UW-Shared Services exists to standardize processes, consolidate operations, and streamline administrative practices to provide high-quality services while improving administrative efficiency and effectiveness. In addition to providing high-quality services, Service Operations brings value to UW institutions by reducing administrative burden and cost, thereby allowing them to invest time and resources into activities which are more central to their mission.

Payroll Administration: This functional team focuses on tasks related to Payroll domestic and foreign national tax areas. Tasks include, but are not limited to, validating tax payments are entered accurately and timely, validating and correcting tax application, working with foreign national employee data for accurate data alignment; auditing employee information with reporting for payroll tax compliance and accuracy; and perform other processes and interfaces to sync data between databases.

Compensation

The Accountant II is a full-time, salaried (exempt), academic staff-ongoing, position. Well-qualified candidates can expect a starting annual salary within a range of $65,000-$75,000 commensurate with the candidate’s education, related experience, and qualifications.

Required Qualifications

• Associate’s degree in accounting, finance or related field of study OR 3+ years related professional work experience in tax preparation, compliance, audit, or tax resolution.
• Ability to interpret policies, develop and maintain an accounting program in a complex environment
• Proficiency in identifying discrepancies, reconciling tax accounts, and diagnosing root causes.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with various levels of employees
• Intermediate Excel skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance or related field of study OR CPA certificate
• Experience in the interpretation, development, and implementation of complex policies, procedures, and rules relating to international tax law
• Experience analyzing financial systems and establishes internal control mechanisms
• Ability to create queries and analyze data sets to resolve complex problems
• Experience with working in complex ERPs

Application Details:

Applicant screening will begin immediately and be ongoing through November 1, 2026. However, applications may be accepted until the position has been filled. To receive full consideration, applicants are required to apply online and provide:

• Resume (PDF Format)
• Cover letter addressing your experience and education as it applies to all minimum and preferred qualifications (PDF Format)

Contact Information: Questions may be addressed to angie.koppen@uwss.wisconsin.edu.

Accommodation Request

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request by contacting uwshr@wisconsin.edu.

Criminal Background Check and Reference Check Policy

This offer of employment is conditional pending the results of a criminal background check and a reference check process that includes questions regarding employee misconduct, sexual violence, and sexual harassment. If you have prior work history within the past 7 years with the Universities of Wisconsin, your personnel file will also be reviewed for employee misconduct. If the results are unacceptable, the offer will be withdrawn or, if you have started employment, your employment will be terminated.

Employment Authorization

Please note that successful applicants are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to work in the United States (i.e., a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of employer sponsorship) on, before, or after the effective date of appointment.

Confidentiality

The Universities of Wisconsin will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. §. 19.36(7).

Benefits Information

Universities of Wisconsin employees receive an excellent benefits package. To learn more about the benefits package, review the Faculty, Academic Staff & Limited Appointees or University Staff Please see this link for total compensation information: Universities of Wisconsin Health & Retirement Contributions Estimator to provide you with total compensation information.

Clery Act information

The Universities of Wisconsin provides statistics on campus crime in its Annual Security Report. For more information on university campus statistics see https://www.wisconsin.edu/compliance/clery/.

UW is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other bases protected by applicable federal or State law and UW System policies. We are committed to building a workforce that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills, and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.