Accountant – Oakland, CA

Are you interested in using your accounting skills to help support the largest  anti-poverty social justice nonprofit law firm in the Bay Area?  Join BayLegal’s dynamic finance team and become an advocate for justice!

Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) is on the front lines fighting for our clients’ rights. Last year, BayLegal removed legal barriers to health, safety, and stability through representation, legal advice and information, referrals, community education, and advocacy for more than 75,000 low-income individuals and their families throughout seven Bay Area counties.

As a regional anti-poverty civil law firm that has been serving our local communities since the 1960s, we are committed to working alongside our clients and community partners to address inter-generational poverty and social inequality.  We have built upon our origins as separate neighborhood legal services organizations into a regional non-profit law firm with over 150 employees.  We practice in multiple legal substantive areas to help our clients protect their livelihoods, their health, and their families. BayLegal works to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault, increase economic stability, protect consumers, expand access to healthcare, and prevent homelessness.  Our clients include the working poor, families with children, foster youth, seniors, immigrants, veterans, individuals impacted by the criminal justice system and persons with disabilities. By serving clients at a wide range of access points, including our six regional county offices, our mobile advocacy clinics, and our nationally recognized legal hotlines, BayLegal has a unique viewpoint to identify patterns of illegal practices and barriers to our clients’ rights in need of broader advocacy and potential impact litigation. For our clients, BayLegal makes the difference between staying in poverty and thriving toward a brighter future.

Position

BayLegal seeks an experienced Accountant with a strong commitment to public interest and social justice advocacy to join our team.  This position is based in our Oakland office. As a member of BayLegal’s finance team, you will play a key role and provide critical support to the senior accountant.  See below description of our current work environment due to COVID-19.

As a BayLegal Staff Accountant you will have the opportunity to:

• Support processing of accounts payables and coding of invoices;

• Assist with payroll processing and payroll tax filings;
• Assist with accounts receivable payment processing, monitor A/R aging;
• Maintain grants folder;
• Analyze Balance Sheet accounts and account balances;
• Prepare journal entries as needed and enter into accounting system;
• Support benefits administration and payment reconciliation;
• Provide support for month-end closing and analysis;
• Maintain employee folders, file PAN forms and other documents;
• Engage in other tasks as assigned.

Requirements/Qualifications/About the Successful Candidate:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting/finance.
• One to two years general ledger accounting experience is required.
• Strong technical accounting background.
• Excellent Excel and database skills.
• Possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong personal work ethic and ability to organize time, manage diverse activities, and meet critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Excellent organizational skills, with ability to be detail-oriented.
• Curious and self-directed with an ability to anticipate what needs to be done.
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects while maintaining a firm grasp of individual project details.

Temporary COVID-19 remote work

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, all BayLegal employees are primarily working remotely. While BayLegal has implemented detailed health and safety protocols to minimize risk of exposure and has an evolving plan for reopening our local offices, we anticipate remaining primarily remote throughout much of 2021. All employees are expected to be available to travel to BayLegal offices and services locations as needed and in compliance with public health advisories. Employees are expected to reside in California and at a distance allowing them to commute to the physical BayLegal base location or service delivery location within the San Francisco Bay Area.

While BayLegal remains primarily remote, all employees are issued BayLegal computers and provided appropriate supplies. BayLegal has implemented and continues to explore additional technologies to make working remotely as efficient and connected as possible.  All employees receive a flat-rate monthly amount to reimburse for work-related use of personal IT equipment, including internet, and home office. Due to the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on personal lives, BayLegal is open to providing flexibility regarding work schedules and part-time or full-time employment to the extent feasible for the position.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer a diverse, family friendly environment, and competitive compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. BayLegal’s benefits package includes 100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and up to 40-50% for dependents; long term disability insurance; stipends for bilingual employees whose language skills are used in the provision of work tasks; student debt repayment program; dependent childcare employer contribution program and 401k retirement plan following first year.  Paid leave policy includes: sick leave; parental leave; 14 holidays each year and vacation (starting at 13 days and increasing with additional years of employment).

Applications

BayLegal thrives on our diversity and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a culturally diverse workplace and strongly encourage women, persons of color, LGBTQ individuals, veterans, persons with disabilities, and persons from other underrepresented groups to apply.  Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Please send (1) cover letter including response to question below (cover letter need not be limited to one page), (2) resume, and (3) references to: Human Resources Department, e-mail to jobs@baylegal.org. Please reference Accountant Position in the subject of your email.

As part of your cover letter, please address the following:

BayLegal’s clients are low- and very low-income members of our communities. They include persons of color, LGBTQ individuals, the working poor, seniors, veterans, persons with disabilities, and persons from other underrepresented groups. To ensure our organization is best serving these populations, BayLegal strives to promote an evolving set of behaviors and attitudes amongst our staff, as well as policies that enable us to work effectively in all cross-cultural situations, with clients, with our coworkers, and with the community. We see this as a commitment to enhance the provision of our services to all clients; to raise the level of positive client outcomes; and to create an inclusive and respectful workplace in which differences are acknowledged and valued.

How do you think your personal background or experiences, professional or otherwise, have prepared you to serve our client base effectively and to contribute to our commitment to humility, inclusion and diversity? Feel free to think broadly about your response to this question, applying various aspects of your life and personal experiences.