Principal Account Clerk Typist

The work involves responsibility for performing professional accounting tasks requiring knowledge of accounting principles and procedures in the development, review, analysis and oversight of financial and accounting records including the preparation of related reports. Work is performed under general supervision of the Department Head in accordance with outlined policies and procedures allowing for the exercise of independent judgment in planning and carrying out the details of the work. This class differs from that of Senior Account Clerk Typist by the more difficult and complex nature of the assignments and the independence allowed in carrying out the work and/or the oversight responsibility of lower level positions. Does related work as required.

Either:
a) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four year college with a Bachelor's Degree in business administration, accounting or a closely related field and one (1) year of full-time experience or its part-time equivalent maintaining financial accounts or records ; OR
b) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered two year college with an Associate’s degree in business administration, accounting or closely related field and three (3) years of full-time experience or its part-time equivalent maintaining financial accounts or records; OR
c) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and five (5) years of full-time experience or its part time equivalent maintaining financial accounts and records; OR
d) An equivalent combination of training and experience as described by the limits of (a), (b) and (c).
Notes:
1. Successful completion of coursework in accounting, business administration, or closely related field at a regionally accredited college or university, or one accredited by the New York State Board of Regents to grant degrees, may be substituted for two (2) years of the required experience with three (3) semester credit hours of related coursework as indicated above being equivalent to three (3) months of experience.
2. Degree(s) must be awarded by a college or university accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the US Department of Education/US Secretary of Education. If the degree was awarded by an educational institution outside the United States and its territories, the candidate must provide independent verification of equivalency. A list of acceptable companies who provide this service can be found on the internet at http://www.cs.ny.gov/jobseeker/degrees.cfm . Candidates will be required to pay the evaluation fee.
3. Applicants may be approved conditionally to take civil service examinations if the minimum educational requirement is met within twelve
(12) months from the examination date.
4. As proof of satisfactory completion of the minimum educational requirement, conditionally approved candidates are responsible for submitting appropriate documentation within twelve (12) months of taking the exam.
5. Names of conditionally approved candidates will be restricted on the eligible list and will not be certified for appointment(s) until appropriate documentation is received.
6. Verifiable part-time experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements. The use of Calculators is RECOMMENDED for this exam ination.

A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and/or abilities in the following areas:
1. UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING WRITTEN MATERIAL - These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.
2. ARITHMETIC COMPUTATION WITH CALCULATOR - These questions test for the ability to use a calculator to do basic computations. Questions will involve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. You may also be asked to calculate averages, to use percents, and to round an answer to the nearest whole number.
3. UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING TABULAR MATERIAL - These questions test your ability to understand, analyze, and use the internal logic of data presented in tabular form. You may be asked to perform tasks such as completing tables, drawing conclusions from them, analyzing data trends or interrelationships, and revising or combining data sets. The concepts of rate, ratio, and proportion are tested. Mathematical operations are simple, and computational speed is not a major factor in the test.
4. SUPERVISION - These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices employed in planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of a work unit toward predetermined objectives. The concepts covered, usually in a situational question format, include such topics as assigning and reviewing work; evaluating performance; maintaining work standards; motivating and developing subordinates; implementing procedural change; increasing efficiency; and dealing with problems of absenteeism, morale, and discipline. Test guide: A Guide for the Written Test for Higher Level Account Clerical is available at the New York State website: https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm. Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

There are no residency requirements for this examination. However, preference in appointment may be given to successful candidates who have been residents of Otsego County for at least one month immediately preceding the scheduled date of the written examination.

The eligible list resulting from this examination will be used to fill vacancies as they occur in County departments under the jurisdiction of the Otsego County Personnel/Civil Service Department.