Lead Associate, Accounts Payable (P2)

The Lead Associate, Accounts Payable will serve as point of contact for an assigned business line representing half of the organization-wide AP portfolio. In this role, you are responsible for providing guidance to internal staff payment requestors, budget holder payment approvers, buyers, and vendors. You will maintain a working knowledge of external regulatory requirements to ensure compliance with GAAP, IRS requirements, state sales and use tax requirements, as well as organization-wide policies, procedures and processes impacting AP, and will be held accountable to ensuring the effectiveness of the AP process for your business line, ensuring quality and timely implementation and proactively escalating issues needing leadership support.

This position is contingent upon funding with the possibility of extension up to 24 months.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties) 

Employee Payable Process Execution and Invoice Processing (100%)

• Employee payables management
• Process and review employee expense reports, ensuring accuracy and adherence to company policies
• Verify and reconcile expense claims, receipts, and supporting documentation
• Ensure timely and accurate payments to employees for approved expenses.
• Address and resolve any issues or discrepancies related to employee payables
• Maintain and update employee payables records related to seconded employees
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including Building Operations, P&C, and legal teams, to ensure alignment and adherence to company policies
• Foster positive relationships with employees, managers, and other stakeholders to facilitate effective expense management and compliance
• Travel compliance
• Monitor and enforce compliance with travel policies, including reviewing and approving expense claims and travel advance requests
• Conduct regular audits of travel expenses to ensure adherence to policy and identify any fraudulent or non-compliant activities
• Provide guidance and training to employees on expense reimbursement and advances, and travel policies and procedures
• Follow up with employees on uncleared advances and ensure repayment plans in place
• Analyze fleet and gas card invoices for accurate coding and ensure timely processing
• Partner with Building Operations team in reviewing and reconciling Atlas travel card transactions to ensure complete and accurate for coding allocations and that they match with Wells Fargo credit card reporting
•  Reconciliation, Reporting and Analysis
• Perform PEX cash card reconciliation
• Perform account reconciliation for assigned balance sheet accounts
• Perform intercompany entries between the three entities
• Perform sales tax analysis, prepare journal entries and reporting schedules, and remit to state agencies
• Prepare reclassification journal entries for labor and non-labor transactions, validate journal entries before posting
• Accounts Payable
• Monitors receipt of invoices in Agresso, AP ServiceNow Helpdesk, and the AP OCR Mailbox ensuring timely processing by reviewing based on priority and monitoring ticket quality, complexity, and aging. Also ensuring that requirements are met for weekly payment run, month-end, and year-end close.
• Registers invoices for organization-wide and/or high-complexity vendors and ensures accounting and budget holder reviews are completed
• Reconciles vendor statements and communicates results to vendors and internal staff to ensure timely payment processing against vendor payment terms

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a High School Diploma or equivalent, plus at least 3 years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated experience utilizing financial software to process accounts payable 
• Demonstrated experience in employee payables, expense management or travel compliance
• Familiarity with relevant regulations and compliance requirements, including tax implications and travel expense regulations
• Analytical mindset with the ability to analyze data, identify trends and generate meaningful reports
• Demonstrated data management and compilation skills using excel and formulas
• Demonstrated ability to maintain strict confidentiality and the utmost of integrity
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience processing high volume accounts payable 
• Experience as a non-supervisory process lead
• Non-profit/fund accounting/finance or cost accounting/manufacturing experience
• Experience implementing accounts paya