Accounting Associate

JOB OPENING

Position Title: Accounting Associate

Reports to: Accounting Manager

Status: Full-time, Non-Exempt

Date: September 20 , 2024

Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From our base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through our acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

With a capital campaign and new five-year strategic plan, Aperture is preparing to move from Chelsea to a new, permanent home on 380 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of New York City in 2025.

POSITION SUMMARY

Aperture is seeking an organized, enthusiastic, and detail-oriented Accounting Associate to join our close-knit accounting team. The position will handle all duties related to the accounts payable function, as well as provide general accounting department support. The position reports to the Accounting Manager.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Accounts Payable

• Prepare and perform weekly check runs and electronic payments
• Process vendor invoices accurately and efficiently, ensuring proper approval, coding, and matching to purchase orders/receipts.
• Work collaboratively with other departments to process requests in timely fashion and provide financial information as needed.
• Maintain vendor relationships, responding to inquiries and resolving issues promptly.
• Reconcile vendor statements and resolve discrepancies in a timely manner.
• Update and maintain vendor information in Acumen accounting system
• Review open purchase orders monthly to ensure that vendor invoices have been sent in a timely fashion
• Review open payable reports and track outstanding invoices
• Distribute credit card reports to card holders and upload transactions into Acumen
• Prepare sales tax payable on monthly basis
• Generate and process royalty reports and payments twice year, as well as ad hoc reports
• Assist with month-end closing activities related to accounts payable
• Assist with audits and provide necessary documentation as requested.

Customer Invoices and Cash receipts

• Prepare daily cash report
• Scan and distribute incoming check and ACH/wire payment information to key revenue-generating staff for coding
• Record all receipts in check or payment log
• Prepare bank slips for deposit by Accounting Manager
• Prepare occasional customer invoices upon request
• Handle bank reconciliations on selected accounts

Other

• Contribute to process improvements and system enhancements to streamline accounts payable functions.
• Ensure compliance with company policies and procedures as well as regulatory requirements.
• Process annual 1099s
• Perform G/L coding, batching, editing procedures
• Process and distribute departmental activity report
• Provide payroll support to Accounting Manager
• Assist with mail review and distribution to appropriate staff
• Perform other duties and special projects as requested

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of three years of related work experience
• B.S. degree in Accounting preferred
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
• Ability to multi-task under deadline
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, with exceptionally strong Excel and Word skills. Knowledge of AcumenBook software a plus.
• Accounting experience in the book publishing or nonprofit industry a plus
• Appreciation of photography and the arts a plus

At Aperture, we value all types of experience. A successful candidate has many of the qualifications listed, and the desire and capacity to learn the rest on the job. If much, but not all, of a posting describes you, then we welcome your application.

Aperture seeks to build a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcomes all applications, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, cultural background, disability, age, or religion. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of our strategic thinking, and reflected in the selection of artists and writers that we publish, the engagement programs we present, and our ongoing work to diversify our staff and board.