About us
Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System (LASERS) is state retirement system in Baton Rouge, LA. We are professional, innovative, customer-centric and our goal is to provide a sound retirement plan for our members through prudent management and exceptional service.
Our work environment includes:
- Modern office setting
- Wellness programs
Supplemental Information
No Civil Service test score is required in order to be considered for this vacancy.
Job Description
Must have knowledge of:
- Louisiana Revised Statutes.
- Generally accepted accounting principles including pension accounting and financial reporting requirements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
- Agency internal Statements of Investment Objectives on General Issues and Investment Manager Guidelines.
- Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)
- LASERS internal policies and procedures.
- Integrated accounting and computer systems
Regular attendance is an essential job function.
This Investment Accountant position is unique in state government and is highly specialized. Position requires several years of on-the-job training to master required investment terminology, reconciliations, and analysis duties.
LASERS is the only State retirement systems that does internal fund management. The Investment Accountants function as the back office for internal fund management, which consists of balancing and reconciling assets with custodian bank as well as affirming trades.
LASERS portfolio has evolved through time into alternative investments which consist of reconciling fee payments for alternative investment managers to contracts.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
95% - INVESTMENT FINANCIAL REPORTING
- Assists with the specialized accounting and analysis of complex investment transactions to ascertain proper classification, reporting, and compliance with established guidelines and controls that include transactions related to foreign and domestic equities/fixed income securities, foreign currency exchange, alternative investments including hedge funds, real estate and venture capital partnerships.
- Assists with the monthly close and generation of LASERS financial statements.
- Assists with the external audit and preparation of year-end financial reports which include Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and Summary Annual Report (PAFR). This includes preparation of the specialized fair value, deposit, and investment risk disclosures that are part of LASERS annual financial statements that must be compliant with GASB standards. Also, this includes the preparation of the specialized Investment Section of LASERS ACFR which must comply with Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA) guidelines.
- Reviews accounting work papers to verify accuracy of the financial information presented.
- Prepares required analytics, investigates questionable data, and recommends corrective action (if necessary).
- Prepares journal entries.
- Prepares monthly reconciliations of assigned general ledger accounts.
- Reviews and posts entries to General Ledger and subsidiary ledgers as needed.
- Coordinates and communicates with management, other agency division heads, outside state agencies, external auditors and third party vendors concerning issued reports.
- Assists in training division managers and staff on use of general ledger applications, when needed.
- Assists in the maintenance of an independent in-house investment software (TickeX) and third-party investment accounting software (Q2) used exclusively for tracking, affirming, and reconciling all investment activity of internally managed portfolios.
- Reviews and analyzes investment manager invoices for contractual compliance and submits invoices and analysis for approval and payment.
- Participates in the development of new accounting techniques in the design and implementation of accounting subsystems, compilation of manuals for accounting and computer application, and preparing managerial reports.
5% - OTHER DUTIES
- Other special projects as assigned
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Three years of experience in accounting, auditing, financial operations, payroll, or banking; OR
Six years of full-time experience in any field plus twenty-four semester hours in accounting; OR
A bachelor’s degree with twenty-four semester hours in accounting; OR
A bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, management, economics, or statistics; OR
An advanced degree in accounting, finance, business administration, management, economics, quantitative methods, or statistics; OR
Possession of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license.
EXPERIENCE SUBSTITUTION:
Every 30 semester hours earned from an accredited college or university will be credited as one year of experience towards the six years of full-time work experience in any field. The maximum substitution allowed is 120 semester hours which substitutes for a maximum of four years of experience in any field.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $44,990.00 - $110,531.00 per year
Benefits:
- 457(b)
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Retirement plan
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Education:
Experience:
- accounting, finance, or investment: 1 year (Preferred)
License/Certification:
Ability to Commute:
- Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (Required)
Ability to Relocate:
- Baton Rouge, LA 70809: Relocate before starting work (Required)
Work Location: In person
