Senior Staff Accountant

Client is seeking a detail-oriented, execution-focused Senior Staff Accountant to own the firm's day-to-day financial operations and full monthly close cycle. This role is the operational backbone of the finance function, managing bookkeeping, bank and credit card reconciliations, accounts receivable collections, accounts payable processing, and contractor pay calculations across the firm and affiliated companies.

This role requires someone who takes complete ownership of transactional accuracy and close cycle integrity, operates with discipline under recurring deadlines, and proactively identifies and resolves discrepancies before they compound. The ideal candidate finds genuine satisfaction in clean books, tight reconciliations, and a close that runs on schedule, understanding that precision in this role directly enables the firm's financial reporting and strategic decision-making. Proficiency in QuickBooks Online is not optional as this is the operational system this role lives in daily.

Core Responsibilities

Bookkeeping & Reconciliations

• Maintain accurate general ledger entries on a daily basis, including bank feed clearing and transaction coding.

• Prepare and post month-end and quarter-end journal entries on a fixed recurring schedule.

• Record intercompany and adjusting journal entries on an adhoc basis as required across the firm and affiliated entities.

• Reconcile bank and credit card accounts in alignment with statement dates.

• Perform monthly reconciliations, ensuring financials and data are accurately captured, documented, and reconcile to records.

• Support trust account reconciliations as needed, with the potential to take full ownership of trust accounting over time as reliability and familiarity with firm protocols are demonstrated.

Accounts Receivable & Collections

• Monitor and manage AR collections on a daily and weekly basis, proactively following up on outstanding client balances.

• Conduct monthly AR aging reviews, ensuring the aging schedule is current and accurate.

• Identify, document, and process credit memo and client-driven discount adjustments monthly, coordinating with the Finance Associate where data feeds into downstream reporting.

Accounts Payable & Payroll Support

• Process vendor invoices on a bi-weekly cycle, ensuring accurate coding, supporting documentation, and compliance with internal controls.

• Calculate contractor pay on a recurring bi-weekly basis, applying correct rate structures and reconciling amounts to supporting agreements.

• Process recurring expense payments on a fixed monthly schedule.

• Support payroll processing coordination, including validation of hours and proper application of U.S. payroll tax rules and deadlines, with the potential to take full responsibility for payroll administration over time as skills and reliability are demonstrated.

Monthly Close & Financial Review

• Own the end-to-end monthly close cycle, ensuring all journal entries, reconciliations, invoice adjustments, and AR clean-up tasks are completed on schedule.

• Ensure compliance with internal controls and reporting standards throughout the close cycle and in all financial documentation.

• Prepare and deliver the monthly financial review to the CFO as the formal close sign-off, serving as the gate for downstream financial analysis.

• Proactively surface discrepancies, timing issues, or data irregularities to the CFO before the close is finalized.

• Support the annual financials review, organizing and reconciling year-end records for CFO sign-off.

• Coordinate the annual tax return review, reconciling draft tax returns against internal financials and liaising with external CPAs under CFO direction.

Process Improvement & Team Support

• Actively collaborate with operations, administrative, and legal teams to support finance-related workflows across the full transaction cycle.

• Collaborate with the Finance Associate to ensure clean and timely data handoffs.

• Identify inefficiencies in recurring transactional and reconciliation workflows and propose practical improvements.

• Use approved AI and automation tools to reduce manual work and improve accuracy in bookkeeping and reconciliation tasks, in compliance with firm data policies.

Success Profile

• Ownership-driven - takes complete responsibility for the accuracy and timeliness of the close cycle without requiring daily oversight

• Execution-focused - finds precision and reliability in recurring, deadline-driven work genuinely satisfying, not monotonous

• Proactive and detail-oriented - maintains accuracy across high-volume transactions and reconciliations, catches discrepancies before they compound, and surfaces issues to the CFO immediately, not after the fact

• Calm under deadline pressure - manages a compressed monthly close window without sacrificing accuracy or documentation quality

• Process-disciplined - follows established workflows rigorously, documents deviations clearly, and builds institutional knowledge over time

Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
  

• 4 to 6 years of demonstrated experience in bookkeeping, GL accounting, and reconciliation work with full close cycle ownership.
  

• Must come from a compliance-conscious environment with a strong emphasis on accuracy, documentation, and process adherence; professional services, legal, or accounting firm background highly preferred. Small business experience will be considered.
  

• Stable work history with demonstrated consistency and ownership of recurring deadlines and responsibilities in prior roles, with no pattern of task escalation or incomplete handoffs.
  

• Experience managing end-to-end accounts receivable and accounts payable.
  

• Strong reconciliation discipline, capable of independently managing monthly reconciliations, catching discrepancies early, and documenting resolution clearly and completely.
  

• Working knowledge of U.S. GAAP and professional services billing structures.
  

• Familiarity with tax reporting and tax return validations.
  

• Familiarity with U.S. payroll support, payroll tax compliance, and trust accounting practices is an advantage, as these are within the intended future scope of this role.
  

• QuickBooks Online proficiency is required. ProAdvisor Certification is strongly preferred; candidates without certification must demonstrate equivalent operational fluency.
  

• Clio Manage experience is strongly preferred.
  

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel for bookkeeping and reconciliation work, including formulas, pivot tables, conditional formatting, Power Query, and data cleaning functions.
  

• Demonstrated ability in responsibly using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Microsoft Copilot to improve accuracy and efficiency in transactional workflows.
  

• Proficient in Microsoft Office 365 Suite (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint) and project management tools such as Monday.com or Microsoft Planner.
  

• Highly proactive, detail-oriented and solutions-focused mindset with excellent organizational and problem-solving skills, including a curiosity to understand processes and challenge inefficiencies.
  

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively cross-functionally and with clients.
  

• Ability to work independently while proactively seeking input and alignment when needed, and handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.