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

Aprio•Conyers, GA

24d

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 role guides clients from signed engagement through stabilization and transition to recurring accounting services, establishing clear timelines, systems, responsibilities, and communication. The manager serves as the primary accounting contact and trusted advisor for a client portfolio, connects financial results to operational insights, and drives continuous improvement across engagements. The role also coaches and develops accounting professionals and helps make onboarding, implementation, and recurring delivery practices more consistent and scalable.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Project Management, or a related field.
At least five 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 clearly explain data-driven insights 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 client onboarding from internal handoff and kickoff through stabilization and transition to the recurring accounting team.
Build and manage project plans defining scope, milestones, owners, dependencies, decisions, and target dates.
Manage onboarding and client initiatives within signed service scopes; identify and document potential add-on or out-of-scope work and obtain approval before proceeding.
Lead kickoff, status, and transition meetings and align clients and internal stakeholders on progress, responsibilities, risks, and outstanding items.
Identify delays, missing information, cleanup needs, scope gaps, and other risks early; develop recovery plans and escalate as 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, and well-supported workpapers documenting account activity, reconciliations, conclusions, and audit trails.
Establish consistent workpaper standards and keep supporting schedules organized, current, and ready for review.
Apply accounting expertise and judgment to identify trends, investigate anomalies, and recommend practical solutions.
Serve as primary accounting contact and trusted advisor for assigned clients.
Lead financial reviews that connect operational context and financial data and make results and key performance drivers actionable.
Help clients improve reporting, forecasting, and workflows to improve business visibility and decision-making.
Lead client initiatives such as system conversions, integrations, workflow redesign, reporting implementations, and process standardization.
Turn client goals into actionable plans with deliverables, success criteria, resources, budget considerations, and governance.
Coordinate work across accounting, Technology, Accounts Payable, Cash Management, Tax, Operations, and third-party providers; manage dependencies and handoffs.
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 for accurate, repeatable reporting.
Assess historical accounting records and coordinate cleanup, catch-up, or corrective work to ensure opening balances, reconciliations, and financial statements are complete and accurate.
Create reusable templates, playbooks, dashboards, and status reporting to improve execution across the client portfolio.
Coach engagement teams and build 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 for 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, to improve accuracy, efficiency, analysis, and client experience.
Monitor scope, efficiency, and profitability and help scale successful workflows across engagements.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance beginning on the first day of employment.
Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care Account.
401(k) with profit sharing.
Nine or more holidays and discretionary time off structure.
Parental leave 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.
Wellness program.
Flexible working environment, including remote and hybrid options.
Competitive compensation.
Growth opportunities and continuous learning and advancement.