Experienced Senior, Outsourced Finance & Accounting

BDO USA•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Experienced Senior, Outsourced Finance & Accounting is responsible for performing and overseeing the full cycle general accounting function for small to mid-size organizations. This role involves detailed general ledger reconciliation, accurate transaction recording, financial statement preparation, and client interaction. The position requires a strong understanding of GAAP, financial analysis, budgeting, and client engagement planning. Additionally, the role involves supporting proposals, explaining value propositions, managing workflow, and collaborating with internal teams. The Senior Accountant will also prepare schedules for audit and tax compliance, participate in special projects, and understand tax planning considerations. A key aspect of the role is identifying opportunities for innovation and process improvements, as well as communicating client challenges and potential business growth opportunities to management. Proficiency in technology and the ability to learn new systems quickly are essential. Other duties as required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance OR six (6) or more years performing general accounting transactions and functions without a Bachelor’s degree, required.
Proficient in the use of the Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel and Word, required.
Experience utilizing industry standard accounting software, required.

Nice To Haves

Consultative or business advisory experience, preferred.
Pursuing or passed the CPA certification exam, preferred.
Experience utilizing BSO (BDODrive) platform software such as Intuit’s QuickBooks Online (QBO), Microsoft NAV and Bill.com, preferred.
Ability to effectively guide a team of professionals and delegating work assignments as needed.

Responsibilities

Performs complete general ledger reconciliation including the entire balance sheet and applies accounting knowledge by properly recording transactions in a general ledger.
Creates accounting records such as bill payments, client invoices, payroll, and others; identifies and records adjustments; produces accurate financial statements.
Prepares draft financial statements for review; understands how line items/accounts function (e.g., capital accounts, various forms of liabilities, etc.); properly distinguishes debits from credits; calculates/interprets KPIs for clients; identifies and raises positive and constructive trends to BDO management; understands GAAP and applies it to basic financial statements.
Conducts basic financial statement analysis and understands the finance and accounting functions generally performed by a business (e.g., sales, purchasing, A/R, etc.) and common best practices/processes for how they operate.
Prepares financial budgets and forecasts and communicates actual to budget variances.
Plans basic engagements to include on-boarding and client delivery phases and develops an understanding of engagement economics (i.e., billing and time entry) and adheres to AAO best practices.
Interacts with clients to gain information, documents data necessary to complete assigned tasks; identifies and organizes clients’ financial information; prepares common financial reports and other schedules as requested; formats reports so they are easily read and understood by BDO management and clients; reviews client information for accuracy; uses deductive reasoning to identify anomalies or gaps and communicates significant client issues to supervisor.
Supports drafting proposals and other documents explaining proposed solutions to clients.
Articulates AAO’s value proposition and understands our target market/client profile.
Applies our processes, systems, technology, and resources to manage workflow and ensures proper documentation and workpapers.
Reviews work products and works collaboratively with both AAO and Business Service Center (BSC) team members; produces quality work and sets priorities according to internal and external deadlines and project priority; knows when to raise priority setting conflicts to management.
Takes personal accountability for work products and accepts constructive feedback to guide future actions.
Prepares schedules to support the client’s audit preparation and tax compliance requirements.
Participates in advanced special projects, as required.
Understands and explains tax planning considerations/concepts for various business entities; comprehends the information presented on different tax return forms.
Recognizes opportunities for innovation, including improvements for handling day-to-day matters, and developing an understanding of process improvements.
Listens for and communicates client problems and challenges to management that may be opportunities to grow the business and relationships with clients; proficient in technology packages clients are using to support their accounting/finance functions; learns new technology quickly.
Other duties as required.