Residence Requirements:

 CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT.  At present there is one vacancy at the Department of Health and one vacancy at the Department of Senior Services.

A promotion examination will be held at the same time as this examination. The list resulting from the promotion examination will be used first but appointments from this open competitive examination are anticipated. Use of the list may be suspended after it is one year old for any position which it is practical to fill through a new promotion examination.

Examples of Duties:

A Supervising Chief Account Clerk supervises and coordinates the maintenance of fiscal, budgetary, and accounting records as well as clerical activities for the Department to which assigned; 

Supervises the fiscal management and account clerical operations for the department to which assigned;

Implements rules and regulations as defined by relevant local, State and Federal regulations;

Maintains appropriate ledgers, books of account, registers of vouchers, requisitions, purchase orders and related records;

Summarizes and journalizes transactions for entry and posting to financial records, invoices and other financial documents for accuracy and completeness;

Prepares financial reports, budget estimates and analysis of accounts;

Examines financial records prepared or maintained by others;

Takes charge of petty cash fund;

Develops, designs and implements new policies as needed to ensure the timely payment of expenses;

Resolves complex payment disputes;

Instructs clerical staff on methods, departmental policies and procedures;

Provides training;

Assigns work;

Supervises and advises clerical staff;

Supervises and participates in the development of system procedures;

Interacts with outside agencies, vendors or individuals in connection with the maintenance of financial accounts;

Prepares financial reports as needed.

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered two (2) or four (4) year college or university with an Associate’s degree and four (4) years experience in financial recordkeeping operations; at least two (2) years of which was in a supervisory position; or:

B) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and six (6) years experience in financial recordkeeping operations; at least two (2) years of which was in a supervisory position; or:

C) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A), and (B).

Notes:

1. *A supervisory position is defined as a position in which supervision was a major responsibility of the job. Occasional or partial supervision of work crew is not acceptable supervisory experience.

2. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.

3. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices. A grade of "D" or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed. If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates: Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application.
All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

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.

Subjects of Examination:

Subjects of Examination: A test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas.

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.

Fundamentals of account keeping and bookkeeping
These questions test for a knowledge of basic principles and practices of account keeping and bookkeeping. The questions test for recognizing account keeping and bookkeeping terms, concepts and relationships; recording financial transactions; and solving elementary problems in account keeping and bookkeeping.

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. You should bring with you a hand-held battery- or solar-powered calculator for use on this test. You will NOT be permitted to use the calculator function of your cell phone.

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.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES:  It is recommended that candidates use a quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculator.  Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited.  You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.