Finance and Accounting Data Specialist

Position details:

• Part-time employee (expanded hours or full-time possible in future, contingent on funding)
• Location: Anywhere. LMA/LMF is a virtual organization. You need only reliable internet access and a commercial airport nearby for occasional travel, once conditions allow.
• Starts: As soon as possible.
• Reports to the LMA director of finance and accounting.
• Compensation: ~$20/hour, 20-25 hours per week.

Summary:

Local Media Association strives to help local news/media organizations achieve their business goals. To ensure smooth operations, accurate and timely service, accounting, payables and receivables activities, LMA needs a part-time Finance and Accounting Data Specialist. The ideal candidate will be excellent at data entry and management, basic accounting activities, querying online data sets in our customer management platform, generating financial and membership reports, and communicating with association members and other constituents.  

Essence of the job:

Most of the Specialist’s efforts will focus on these responsibilities:

• Daily posting and reporting of cash receipts:
  • Post payments and donations into our association management system from PayPal, Authorize.net, ACH, bank deposits.
  • Pull transaction reports from donation and payment platforms to identify and record donations.
  • Create/post/close all transaction batches.
  • Create and maintain a folder of PDF backups of all cash receipts for audit purposes. Upload those PDFs at audit time.

• Invoicing:
  • Create invoices as needed.
  • For the association’s online Digital Club, renew monthly subscriptions, maintain the database of members, create new autopayments, post payments.
  • Create invoices for conference sponsors.

• Month-end reporting:
  • Prepare and deliver all month end reports for every association product and service, accounts receivable and dues, as well as ad hoc reports on request. 

• Membership:
  • For monthly membership renewals, create invoices and send emails.
  • Send reminder emails as needed for outstanding invoices.
  • Maintain dues status report spreadsheets.
  • Edit membership database listings for organizations and individuals.
  • Enter new members, invoice as needed, and send welcome emails.
  • Cancel memberships when appropriate.

• Create GLs in association management platform:
  • Create new GLs in the system for all products/services for both LMA and LMF, such as new funds, subscription programs, events.

• Products/merchandise:
  • Create new product/merchandise records for ecommerce and offline sales as needed (funds, published reports, training, etc.).

• Annual fundraising campaign:
  • Record donations in association management system.

• Events:
  • Create and configure new conference events in association management system, including pricing, registration forms and instructions.
  • Help event attendees with registration difficulties, and/or manually register people as needed.

• Database management, queries, reporting:
  • Upon request, pull data from association management system via standard reporting, or when needed, build a query using system’s query tools.

We know no candidate will come in knowing how to do all this on Day 1. Training will be provided — but we do need someone who has aptitude, relevant skills and interest in the work we are describing.

Characteristics we seek:

• Understanding of basic accounting and bookkeeping principles.
• Speed and accuracy in data entry, editing and management.
• Familiarity with the common activities of industry/trade associations and online association management platforms; Impexium experience is a huge plus.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills and the ability to instruct and inform members and constituents via email or other online means in a polite, gracious manner.
• Initiative and self-reliance; ability to manage several equivalent priorities; ability to collaborate with peers inside and constituents outside of LMA; and ability to get “hands-on” as a key member of the LMA operating team.
• Familiarity and experience with the North American local media landscape (local newspapers, TV and radio stations, digital news sites) is a plus but not required.

It probably won’t work out if:

• You are not comfortable in a hands-on, fast-paced role with high expectations of accuracy and quality in your work.
• You struggle to react quickly and positively to changing requirements or shifting priorities.
• You require close supervision in daily work, or in learning new platforms or processes.
• You have no interest in or passion for the missions of LMA or local journalism.

Want to be considered?

Send a résumé and cover letter explaining why you’re ideal for this role to: Janice Norman, finance and accounting director, janice.norman@localmedia.org.

This position will remain open until filled. LMA and LMF strive for diversity, equity and inclusion in our industry and our own team. Women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people are encouraged to apply.

About Local Media Association / Local Media Foundation

Local Media Association brings all media together to share, network, collaborate and more. More than 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital publications, and research and development partners engage with LMA as members or constituents of our programs. As a 501(c)(6) trade association, LMA is focused on the business side of local media. Its programs and labs focus on revenue growth, sustainability and new business models.

Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, serves as the innovation and transformation affiliate of LMA. Incorporating our four strategic pillars — business transformation, journalism funded by philanthropy, industry collaboration, and sustainability for publishers of color — LMF helps provide local media companies the strategies and resources for meaningful innovation and impactful journalism projects.