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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Accounts

💰 $110,000 - $160,000

AccountingFinanceManagementLeadership

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Accounts is accountable for the integrity of the general ledger, timely and accurate financial close, and the delivery of statutory and management reporting. This role leads the accounts payable, accounts receivable, general accounting, fixed assets, and intercompany accounting functions; develops and enforces financial policies and internal controls; and serves as a key finance business partner to operations, sales, and executive leadership. The Director drives efficiencies through automation, ERP optimization, and process standardization while coaching and developing a high-performing accounting team.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Accounting Manager with full-cycle accounting responsibility
  • Controller or Assistant Controller with multi-entity exposure
  • Finance Manager with strong general ledger and reporting experience

Advancement To:

  • Vice President of Finance / VP of Accounting
  • Corporate Controller (for larger organizations)
  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Director of Financial Reporting
  • Head of Shared Services / Shared Services Director
  • Director of Revenue Recognition

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead, coach and manage the accounts team (AP, AR, general ledger, fixed assets, intercompany) to deliver accurate monthly, quarterly and annual closes in compliance with GAAP/IFRS and company policies.
  • Own the month-end and quarter-end close calendar, ensuring timely journal entries, reconciliations, variance analysis, and delivery of financial statements and management packs to senior leadership.
  • Oversee the preparation and review of statutory, tax and management financial statements; coordinate with tax advisors to ensure timely tax filings and compliance.
  • Serve as the primary liaison with external auditors and manage the year-end audit process, ensuring schedules, documentation and internal controls meet audit standards.
  • Implement and maintain robust internal controls, SOX processes (where applicable), and documentation to mitigate financial risk and ensure regulatory compliance.
  • Manage accounts payable operations to optimize vendor payment terms, controls, invoice processing, and fraud prevention while improving working capital.
  • Oversee accounts receivable, collections strategy, credit management, invoicing accuracy, and dispute resolution to minimize DSO and ensure timely cash inflows.
  • Direct cash management and bank reconciliation processes, forecast short-term cash needs and work with Treasury to optimize liquidity and cash forecasting.
  • Maintain the general ledger structure and account mapping, ensuring chart of accounts design supports reporting, consolidation and auditability.
  • Lead month-to-month reconciliation and variance analysis for key balance sheet accounts, investigate discrepancies and drive corrective action.
  • Drive continuous process improvement and automation of accounting processes using ERP tools (NetSuite, Oracle, SAP, Dynamics) and financial automation solutions.
  • Partner with FP&A and business unit leaders to support budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning with accurate historical insight and accounting perspective.
  • Establish and monitor accounting KPIs (close cycle time, DSO, DPO, error rates) and implement action plans to meet or exceed performance targets.
  • Manage fixed assets lifecycle accounting including capitalization, depreciation, impairment analysis and reconciliations with operations and procurement.
  • Ensure accurate revenue recognition in accordance with ASC 606/IFRS 15 or applicable standards, partnering with Revenue teams to validate contract accounting.
  • Oversee payroll accounting, benefits accounting and payroll reconciliations (in-house payroll or third-party payroll vendors) to ensure payroll integrity.
  • Coordinate intercompany accounting, reconciliations and settlements across legal entities and support transfer pricing documentation where required.
  • Lead system upgrades, ERP implementations or accounting system migrations—define requirements, oversee testing, and manage change control to secure accounting data integrity.
  • Develop and maintain accounting policies, process documentation and standard operating procedures; provide training and policy guidance to finance and cross-functional teams.
  • Support M&A activity and integrations by preparing diligence schedules, clean-up activities, and post-close accounting integration plans.
  • Manage vendor and bank relationships related to accounting services, negotiate service-level agreements, and oversee 3rd-party service providers or shared services.
  • Prepare and present clear, actionable financial insights and risk assessments to the CFO and executive team, translating accounting results into business impact.
  • Hire, develop and retain high-performing accounting talent through performance management, career planning, and targeted training programs.
  • Ensure data governance, security and confidentiality of financial data; collaborate with IT on backup, access controls and segregation of duties enforcement.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc financial analysis requests from business leaders including profitability analysis, project accounting, and contract reviews.
  • Contribute to the organization’s finance transformation roadmap by identifying automation opportunities and supporting pilot projects.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional partners (sales, legal, procurement, operations) to resolve accounting-related issues and ensure process compliance.
  • Participate in cross-departmental projects such as ERP optimizations, billing platform rollouts, and pricing system integrations.
  • Assist with tax planning initiatives by providing accounting data and reconciliation support to tax and legal teams.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise in internal training sessions (e.g., revenue recognition, expense capitalization, procurement invoicing).
  • Support internal audit and compliance functions with scheduled reviews and remediation tracking.
  • Prepare ad-hoc executive-ready materials for board meetings, investor calls or lender reporting as needed.
  • Participate in vendor selection and RFP processes for accounting systems, auditors and third-party financial service providers.
  • Serve as a backup approver for treasury, payroll or high-risk accounting decisions when necessary.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced accounting and financial reporting expertise (GAAP and/or IFRS) with strong technical application to month-end close and financial statements.
  • Deep knowledge of revenue recognition standards (ASC 606 / IFRS 15) and practical experience applying them to contracts and SaaS or subscription models if applicable.
  • ERP systems proficiency—hands-on experience with NetSuite, Oracle EBS/Cloud, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics or similar; ability to lead system implementations and optimizations.
  • Strong technical Excel skills: pivot tables, advanced formulas, Power Query, macros (VBA) and data cleansing techniques.
  • Familiarity with financial consolidation, multi-entity accounting, intercompany eliminations and multi-currency accounting.
  • Experience with cloud accounting platforms, financial close tools (BlackLine, Trintech), reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau) and basic SQL for data extraction.
  • Expertise in internal controls design and SOX compliance, including control testing, remediation and documentation.
  • Competence in audit management—preparing schedules, addressing audit queries and implementing audit recommendations.
  • Cashflow modeling and short-term liquidity forecasting experience, including bank reconciliation and treasury collaboration.
  • Strong experience managing accounts receivable/payable processes, collections, credit policies and vendor management.
  • Payroll accounting and benefits accounting knowledge, including third-party payroll vendor oversight.
  • Familiarity with tax accounting basics (provision, filings support) and working with tax advisors.
  • Project management skills for leading cross-functional implementations and accounting transformations.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic leadership with a focus on building high-performing teams and developing direct reports through coaching and mentorship.
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills—able to convey complex accounting concepts to non-finance stakeholders and executives.
  • Strong analytical mindset and problem-solving skills, capable of driving root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
  • Stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills with a customer-service orientation.
  • Change leadership and influence—comfortable with driving process change, third-party relationships, and ERP transformations.
  • High attention to detail, integrity and professional skepticism to ensure financial data accuracy and compliance.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to manage competing deadlines during close, audits and project work.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, growth-oriented environments.
  • Negotiation skills and commercial acumen to influence vendors, partners and internal stakeholders.
  • Coaching and talent development capability to attract, retain and grow accounting talent.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration.

Preferred Education:

  • CPA, CMA or equivalent professional accounting qualification preferred.
  • MBA, Master of Accounting or other advanced degree a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Information Systems (with accounting focus)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 8–15 years of progressive accounting experience with 5+ years in a leadership or managerial role.

Preferred:

  • 10+ years of accounting experience with at least 5 years leading multi-functional accounting teams (AP/AR/GL/fixed assets).
  • Hands-on experience with ERP implementations, financial consolidations and external audits.
  • Experience in industry-specific accounting (e.g., SaaS, manufacturing, healthcare, retail) or with multi-entity, multi-currency environments is highly desirable.
  • Demonstrated track record of process improvement, automation, and system-driven accounting transformations.
  • Proven ability to prepare executive-level reporting and to partner with CFO and senior leadership.
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