Accounting Specialist - AP & Payroll

National Equipment & Service Corporation•Irvine, CA

21h•$75,000 - $90,000•Onsite

About The Position

Accounting Specialist - AP & Payroll National Equipment & Service Corporation Saving Lives & Keeping the Economy Humming About NES Our Belief Most people don't think about loading docks and rollup doors -- until one fails. Then a distribution center goes down, a shipment sits, and a crew stands idle. We started NES because we believe the businesses that keep Southern California's economy moving deserve a service partner they can actually count on. Our Approach That belief shapes how we operate. We don't chase volume at the expense of quality. We build technicians who are genuinely skilled -- not just available. When something breaks at a critical moment, the right person with the right knowledge shows up and fixes it. That's the standard we hold ourselves to every day. Our Work NES is Southern California's premier dock and door service company, specializing in loading dock equipment, rollup doors, and industrial access systems for warehouses, distribution centers, and commercial facilities across Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire. Why You We're at an inflection point. The team we're building now will define what NES looks like at twice our current size. The people who join us in this window will have more ownership, more visibility, and more opportunity to shape how we grow than anyone who joins later. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to build a career, keep reading. The Role Department: Accounting Reports To: Controller Location: Irvine, CA (On-site) Employment Type: Full-Time Compensation: $75,000 - $90,000 annually Core Purpose Own the integrity of how money moves out of NES. Every vendor invoice is verified against a purchase order and receipt. Every technician hour is coded correctly and paid accurately. Every close cycle lands on time with clean AP and payroll data. This role ensures disciplined scrutiny that protects the business, strengthens financial controls, and supports a clean, audit-ready set of books.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field - or equivalent combination of experience and accounting coursework.
5+ years of combined accounts payable and payroll experience, with at least 2 years owning both functions end-to-end in a single role.
Proven working knowledge of California wage-and-hour compliance - meal and rest premiums, daily and weekly overtime, split-shift premiums, travel pay - with demonstrated experience applying these rules in a live payroll environment.
Hands-on experience with QuickBooks Online and a PEO or full-service payroll platform (BBSI, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, TriNet, or comparable).
Demonstrated experience scrutinizing AP - matching bills against purchase orders, holding payments for missing documentation, identifying billing errors, and enforcing internal controls.
Industry experience in field service, construction, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, forklift service, fleet services, or a comparable trade-based business where technician timesheets, job costing, and field-related expenses are part of daily work.
Month-end close experience, including AP accruals, sub-ledger reconciliation, and cut-off testing.
Strong Excel skills - pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, conditional logic, and reconciliation-focused formulas.
Disciplined Skepticism. You don't pay what's submitted just because it's submitted. You've held up an invoice - or a credit card transaction - because something wasn't right, and you're comfortable with the short-term friction because the long-term integrity of the books matters more.

Nice To Haves

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) through the American Payroll Association.
AIPB Certified Bookkeeper designation or QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification.
Experience with ServiceTitan or a comparable field service management platform.
Experience building or significantly improving a PO-matching process in a growing service business.
Experience in a growth-stage environment where financial processes are being actively built and formalized -- not just maintained.

Responsibilities

Payroll Processing & Timesheet Audit (35%) Conduct daily review of field technician time entries in our operations software - auditing clock-ins and clock-outs against dispatched jobs, verifying job coding, and resolving discrepancies with supervisors before they reach payroll. Apply California wage-and-hour rules with precision - meal and rest premiums, daily and weekly overtime, split-shift premiums, travel pay - catching compliance exceptions proactively rather than correcting after the fact. Prepare, submit, and verify weekly payroll through the company's payroll processing platform, including PTO, sick leave, expense reimbursements, garnishments, bonuses, and adjustments. Maintain accurate payroll records, audit each cycle against prior periods for anomalies, and partner with People & Culture on new hires, terminations, pay rate changes, and status updates. Serve as the first point of contact for employee payroll questions - resolving pay, timesheet, deduction, and garnishment issues with clarity and speed.
Accounts Payable & Expense Scrutiny (40%) Process vendor invoices monthly in our accounting software, matching every bill against its purchase order, receiving documentation, and contract terms before scheduling payment. Scrutinize every credit card transaction - track down receipts, verify business purpose, confirm correct GL coding, and hold statements until documentation is complete. Challenge vendors on pricing discrepancies, duplicate invoicing, unauthorized charges, and payment-terms violations. Don't pay what's submitted just because it's submitted. Maintain vendor master data - W-9s, 1099 tracking, payment terms, banking information - and keep clean, audit-ready vendor files. Produce weekly AP aging reports with payment prioritization recommendations, and flag cash-flow-impacting items to leadership in advance.
Month-End Close Support (15%) Own AP-side close tasks - cut-off testing, AP accruals, sub-ledger reconciliation, and variance review. Deliver complete, reconciled AP and payroll data to the Controller within established close deadlines. Research and resolve AP coding errors identified during the close, documenting root cause and corrective action so the same issues don't repeat.
Process Improvement & Internal Controls (10%) Partner with the Controller to formalize the PO process - approval thresholds, three-way matching controls, and escalation paths that meet audit-ready standards. Design and enforce a credit card and receipt compliance program -- card policies, receipt submission timelines, and clear consequences for non-compliance. Document AP and payroll SOPs, keep them current, and continuously identify automation and efficiency opportunities as transaction volume grows.

Benefits

Base Pay - $75,000 - $90,000 annual salary, commensurate with experience.
Quarterly performance incentives - when the company wins, you share in it.
Medical, Dental & Vision - NES contributes to every employee's medical coverage, and as you advance we increase those contributions and add to Dental and Vision.
401(k) - retirement plan available to all employees.
Vacation - 2 weeks to start, with more earned as you advance.
Sick leave - 1 week of dedicated sick time.
8 paid holidays - available to all employees.
Weekly 1:1 coaching with your direct manager.
Structured onboarding and ongoing skill development.
We look to promote from within first, as new roles and opportunities emerge.
Our next phase of growth is building more leaders that will help guide how we grow.
Leadership development resources (like executive coaching and certifications).