Payroll and Benefits Accountant

Payroll accounting and financial reporting

• Prepare, review, and post payroll journal entries for wages, salaries, overtime, bonuses, incentives, PTO, payroll taxes, garnishments, and employee deductions.

• Record employer-paid benefit costs, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, retirement-plan contributions, HSA/FSA contributions, workers’ compensation, and other benefit programs.

• Allocate payroll and benefit expenses by department, cost center, legal entity, provider, location, grant, project, or other organizational reporting dimension.

• Partner with Payroll and HR to validate employee master-file changes, compensation changes, deductions, benefit elections, leave activity, terminations, and other transactions affecting payroll and accounting.

• Review payroll registers before processing or posting to identify unusual items, duplicate payments, negative net pay, incorrect deductions, coding errors, and other exceptions.

• Reconcile benefit carrier invoices and third-party administrator statements to payroll deductions, employee enrollment records, and general-ledger balances.

• Investigate discrepancies involving benefit eligibility, employee deductions, employer contributions, retroactive adjustments, and vendor billing.

• Coordinate with benefits vendors, retirement-plan administrators, brokers, HR, and payroll providers to resolve payment, enrollment, deduction, or reporting issues.

• Support annual open enrollment by validating deduction setup, effective dates, benefit-plan mappings, and payroll-system configuration.

• Assist with employee payroll and benefits inquiries that require accounting, deduction, payment, or reconciliation research.

Process improvement and systems

• Maintain and improve standardized payroll and benefits reconciliation templates, procedures, checklists, and month-end close calendars.

• Participate in payroll, HRIS, timekeeping, ERP, benefits-administration, and general-ledger system implementations, upgrades, testing, and process changes.

• Develop reports and dashboards for payroll expense, benefits cost, headcount, overtime, labor distribution, and payroll-liability trends.

• Use Excel and reporting tools to analyze large data sets, identify exceptions, and improve reporting efficiency.

• Cross-train with payroll, accounts payable, HR, and accounting personnel to support continuity of operations.

Competencies and Qualifications

Must-Have

• 1-3 years of experience in benefits/payroll processing, HR coordination, and administrative support.

• Proficiency in Excel for updating and reviewing existing spreadsheets, identifying discrepancies, and entering data accurately (advanced formula skills not required).

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

• Exceptional attention to detail, organization, and confidentiality.

• Ability to work independently in an offshore environment, managing multiple deliverables and deadlines.

• Proven experience using an HRIS platform (such as Paylocity or a comparable system like ADP, Workday, or BambooHR) for data entry, reporting, and process execution.

• Demonstrated ability to efficiently manage and organize complex calendars and high-volume email inboxes for executive or team support.

Nice-to-Have

• Familiarity with US-based HR operations, benefits, and compliance processes.

• Prior experience supporting executives.