Accounting Division

The Accounting Division’s mission is to monitor fiscal affairs of the County; process vendor payments; approve payroll; and provide financial reports in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.  This includes disbursing funds in a timely manner and in accordance with the County’s adopted budget, grant requirements, contractual specifications and obligations.  The Accounting Division is also charged with recording receipts in accordance with the adopted budget and reconciling transactions with the Treasurer’s Office. 

To accomplish these objectives, the Accounting Division is subdivided into the following sections:

Accounting section prepares two interim reports, a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for the County, a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal and State Awards for Single Audit and monthly financial statements for the Allegheny County Retirement Board.  It is responsible for creating and maintaining financial system accounts included in the County’s Operating, Capital, Grants, Special Accounts and Agency Fund budgets;  processing and posting capital asset purchases to the Capital Asset Ledger; preparing financial information for issuance of bond official statements and creating vouchers for debt principal and interest payments. 

Operations section is divided into four areas: Pre-Processing, Contracts, Pre-Audit and Verification, that comprise the Accounts Payable department for Allegheny County.  All payment requests for services and purchases are entered, audited and verified in accordance with standard operating procedures and applicable laws.  Contracts are reviewed for adherence to the County’s Charter and Administrative Code.  Requests for payments over $5,000 are reviewed to determine if quotes were attained or further action is required while other payments are reviewed for contract compliance prior to processing.  The Operations Section produces the County’s warrant runs; issues 1099 tax records; monitors uncashed payments escheated to the State; electronic file processing; travel reimbursements according to the County’s Travel Policy and numerous other processing duties. 

Receipts, Reports, Reconciliations, and Accounting A/P Payroll section is responsible for ensuring funds deposited by the Treasurer’s Office are recorded in the proper account as directed by the department; preparing real estate tax entries based upon receipts and other reports; ensuring the Treasurer’s Office cash balances agree with the County’s Financial System,; reconciling accounts; recording payroll entries in the County’s Financial System; releasing payment of payroll liabilities and filing various tax reports. The section also issues timely Monthly Financial Status Reports to County Council and monitors accounts receivable collections.

Payroll section reviews payroll input to determine reasonableness and ensures proper authorization, such as, PAA-100s and applicable Federal, State and Local laws.  It pre-audits increases, attributable to union contracts; monitors overtime and investigates one-time or unusual payments. In addition, this section is responsible for processing employee garnishments on a bimonthly basis.