Finance Assistant

Who We Are: Mass Farmers Markets (MFM) partners with farmers, consumers, and communities to improve the health of individuals, strengthen community vitality, and enhance local farm viability through farmers markets. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

As part of our work, MFM manages five farmers markets, 6 days per week, in the cities of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville from May to November. The Central Square Farmers Market runs every Monday (12-6 PM); the Copley Square Farmers Market runs every Tuesday and Friday (11AM-6 PM); the Davis Square Farmers Market runs every Wednesday (12-6 PM); the Kendall Square Farmers Market runs every Thursday (12-6 PM); and, the Fish & Farm Market at the Boston Fish Pier (Seaport) runs every Saturday (9:30 AM to 1:30 PM).

Who You Are: The Finance Assistant role at MFM reports directly to the Director of Finance and serves as the primary finance and accounting support staff person at MFM. In this role, you will be exposed to a wide range of finance and accounting tasks which may include, but not be limited to: financial data entry, financial reporting, invoicing, check deposits and issuances, bank reconciliations, board reporting, audit reporting, periodic filings for compliance with city, state and federal requirements and other potential tasks. You will interact with a wide range of people in this role too, from employees, to customers, farmers, vendors, state and local officials, consultants, auditors, and MFM’s Board of Directors. The Finance Assistant role will have a mandatory in-office requirement but can also be remote at times as well. The schedule may change over the year as MFM’s business needs fluctuate seasonally, and, accordingly, the Finance Assistant’s hours may vary as we move from one season to another.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Support Director of Finance with all accounting and finance tasks, as required. Likely initial tasks include:
  • General Finance and Accounting: Accounts Receivable and Payable Support, Generation of Invoices, Printing and Depositing Checks;
  • Daily monitoring of operating cash flow accounts and electronic payment accounts;
• Fundraising/Donations support: annual appeal, donation acknowledgements, direct participation, and coordination of vendors at annual Big E;
• Membership and Markets: work with Directors of Member Services and Market Development on required invoicing and A/R; oversee member liability insurance program; provide support for all Fiscal Sponsorship clients
• Food Access: Oversee coupon matching and pass-through reimbursement programs for member farms and member markets; review/reconcile coupon matching work done by food access team and ensure proper entry of all coupon and reimbursement payments into Quick Books
• Audit and compliance support: Assist Director of Finance and auditors as necessary for annual audits, Form PC and IRS 990 filings and other city, state and federal filing requirements.

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of and passion for farmers markets and growing the local food community.
• Personal confidence and the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of people.
• Must have a strong work ethic, be punctual, be customer service focused, reliable, enthusiastic and a team player.
• Good problem solving and organizational skills along with strong time management skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks at once.
• Must have access to reliable transportation
• Must be able to work non-standard hours, from time to time, as required
• Proficient with cloud office suite such as Google Workspace, and comfortable learning new tools and technologies as needed in this role.

Preferred Qualifications:

• BA/BS in accounting or finance desired, but not required.
• Bookkeeping, finance and/or accounting experience preferred.

Employment Details:

Hours & Work Schedule: Generally, Monday - Friday, 12-20 hours per week. Specific schedule may vary over the year, based on seasonal needs of business. Fall season (October/November) hours generally higher than rest of the year.