Accounting and Onboarding Manager, Client Accounting & Advisory Services (Restaurant, Franchise, & Hospitality)

Aprio•Atlanta, GA

23d

About The Position

Aprio is seeking an Accounting and Onboarding Manager to lead new client onboarding and oversee ongoing accounting delivery for assigned clients in the restaurant, franchise, and hospitality industries. The manager guides clients from signed engagement through stabilization and transition to recurring accounting, establishing clear timelines, systems, responsibilities, and communication. The role also coaches and develops accounting professionals and serves as the primary trusted advisor for a client portfolio, connecting financial results to operational insight and improving engagement practices. The position owns client onboarding projects and accounting and financial reporting, including month-end and year-end close, workpaper standards, reconciliations, financial statement quality, and scope management. It leads client projects such as system conversions, integrations, workflow redesign, reporting implementations, and process standardization, coordinating internal teams and third-party providers. The manager establishes accounting processes and documentation, assesses historical records, and coordinates cleanup as needed. The role provides team leadership, review, coaching, and workload prioritization while maintaining quality, privacy, documentation, and internal control standards. It also identifies process improvements, including appropriate use of automation and AI, and monitors engagement scope, efficiency, and profitability. Aprio describes itself as a Top 20 CPA and advisory firm with more than 3,200 team members and 40 U.S. office locations, as well as international offices.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Project Management, or a related field.
Five or more years of progressive accounting experience, including hands-on workpaper preparation, account reconciliations, month-end close, and financial statement preparation or review.
Working knowledge of financial reporting, reconciliations, accounting systems, and related workflow dependencies.
Experience leading multiple client-facing projects with competing priorities, cross-functional teams, and deadline-driven deliverables.
Strong knowledge of GAAP, core accounting processes, and professional judgment to evaluate information critically.
Experience guiding, supervising, or reviewing the work of other accounting professionals.
Ability to connect financial results to business operations and explain data-driven insights clearly to non-accounting leaders.
Strong judgment, organization, facilitation, and communication skills, including the ability to distinguish project issues from accounting matters.
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and comfort with Microsoft 365, project-management platforms, accounting systems, workflow technology, and automation.

Nice To Haves

CPA or equivalent certification.
Experience supporting restaurant, franchise, hospitality, multi-entity, or multi-location businesses.
Background in outsourced accounting, CAS, public accounting, implementation consulting, or another multi-client environment.
Experience with accounting-platform conversions, integrations, data migrations, workflow redesign, or reporting implementations.
Project-management certification or formal change-management training.

Responsibilities

Own new-client onboarding from internal handoff and kickoff through stabilization and transition to the recurring accounting team.
Build and manage onboarding project plans with defined scope, milestones, owners, dependencies, decisions, and target dates.
Manage work according to signed service scopes, and identify, document, and elevate potential add-on or out-of-scope work for approval and separate billing before proceeding.
Lead kickoff, status, and transition meetings and keep clients and internal stakeholders aligned on progress, responsibilities, risks, and outstanding items.
Identify delays, missing information, cleanup needs, scope gaps, and other risks; develop recovery plans and escalate when needed.
Own accounting and financial reporting for assigned clients, including agreed deliverables, deadlines, responsibilities, and scope.
Lead month-end and year-end close, using technology and automation where appropriate to improve consistency, identify exceptions, and accelerate routine work.
Prepare and review complete, accurate, well-supported workpapers and establish consistent preparation standards and organized supporting schedules.
Apply accounting expertise and professional judgment to identify trends, investigate anomalies, and recommend practical solutions.
Serve as the primary accounting contact and trusted advisor for assigned clients.
Lead financial reviews that connect operational context and financial data, making results and performance drivers clear and actionable.
Help clients improve reporting, forecasting, and workflows.
Lead client initiatives such as system conversions, integrations, workflow redesign, reporting implementations, and process standardization.
Translate project goals into plans with defined deliverables, success criteria, resources, budget considerations, and governance.
Coordinate work across accounting, Technology, Accounts Payable, Cash Management, Tax, Operations, and third-party providers.
Coordinate system setup, data access, chart-of-accounts and reporting design, workflow documentation, training, and knowledge transfer.
Establish initial accounting workpapers, reconciliations, close schedules, and supporting documentation.
Assess historical accounting records and coordinate targeted cleanup, catch-up, or corrective activity as needed.
Create reusable templates, playbooks, dashboards, and status reporting to improve execution across the client portfolio.
Coach engagement teams and develop their technical, advisory, and leadership capabilities.
Provide timely review and feedback while reinforcing firm standards and sound accounting practices.
Set priorities, balance workloads, and foster accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and thoughtful technology adoption.
Take on increasing leadership responsibility across client relationships, team development, and engagement performance.
Maintain quality, data privacy, documentation, and internal control standards across engagements.
Lead practical process improvements, including appropriate uses of automation and AI.
Monitor scope, efficiency, and profitability and help scale successful workflows across engagements.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance starting on the first day of employment.
Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care Account.
401(k) with profit sharing.
Nine or more holidays and a discretionary time-off structure.
Parental leave coverage for primary and secondary caregivers.
Tuition Assistance Program and CPA support program with a cash incentive upon completion.
Discretionary incentive compensation based on firm, group, and individual performance.
Incentive compensation related to origination of new client sales.
Top-rated wellness program.
Flexible working environment, including remote and hybrid options.
Competitive compensation and industry-leading benefits.
Professional growth opportunities and an environment that fosters continuous learning and advancement.