Full-Charge Accountant / CPA - QuickBooks Online, MarginEdge, Toast Payroll

WORKING HOURS: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM US Eastern Time (8:00 PM - 5:00 AM Manila), Monday to Friday.

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WHO WE ARE
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We are Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co. - a US specialty coffee roaster, cafe group, and franchisor based in Roswell, Georgia, with a related commercial real estate entity. We operate company-owned cafes, a coffee roastery, a franchise network across several US states, and a small leasing portfolio. "Drink Coffee. Do Good." is not just a slogan for us - a share of what we make goes back into farming communities in Rwanda.

That means several legal entities, several US states, several sales tax jurisdictions, and a real month-end close. This is NOT a simple one-company bookkeeping job.

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WHO I AM LOOKING FOR
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My accountant of the last few years is moving on, and I am hiring her replacement directly - full time, long term, one company.

I am looking for someone who is genuinely excellent. Not someone who can "do bookkeeping," but an accountant who can own the finance function of a multi-entity US business, catch problems before I do, and give me numbers I can make decisions on without double-checking them.

If you are a Philippine CPA with real US small-business accounting experience, this role is built for you.

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WHAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY DO
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MONTH-END CLOSE (the core of the job)
- Own the month-end close for multiple entities and close on schedule - books closed by the 10th business day, every month, without me asking
- Full bank, credit card, and loan reconciliations across multiple Chase accounts and entities
- Journal entries, accruals, prepaids, deferred rent, depreciation, and intercompany entries between the roastery and the cafes
- Reclass miscoded transactions - for example, keeping linen, laundry, janitorial, and supplies out of COGS where they do not belong
- Reconcile QuickBooks Online COGS to MarginEdge reconciled actuals for each store, each month, and investigate any variance
- Produce the monthly P&L, Balance Sheet, and Transaction Detail by Account per entity and deliver them without being chased

DAILY AND WEEKLY ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS
- Accounts payable: vendor bills, approvals, ACH and check runs, MarginEdge Bill Pay, vendor statement reconciliation
- Accounts receivable: franchise royalty invoicing, weekly franchise billing reports, tenant rent invoicing, collections follow-up on past-due royalties and rent
- Daily cash position - check bank balances across entities each morning and flag anything that will not cover what is scheduled
- Weekly MarginEdge reporting: Category Report and Controllable P&L exports per cafe, plus flagging any store manager who is behind on uploading invoices
- Sales reporting from Toast POS - store-level sales summaries, year-over-year comparisons, and historical sales packages when a landlord or lender asks for them

PAYROLL
- Run payroll for multiple locations in Toast Payroll
- Payroll cash requirement reports before each run so we know what has to be in the account
- Payroll tax setup, filings, and resolving failed debits, returned deposits, and notices with the provider
- Employee onboarding and offboarding in payroll and in our systems, and new-location payroll account setup

SALES TAX, LICENSING, AND PERMITTING
- Prepare and file multi-state and multi-city sales tax returns on time (currently Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington DC jurisdictions)
- Reconcile Toast POS net sales and tax collected against what gets filed
- Handle state and city tax notices, deficiency letters, and penalty and interest waiver or payment plan requests - including calling the tax office yourself
- Track and renew business licenses, occupational tax certificates, health permits, fire permits, alcohol licenses, and certificates of insurance so nothing lapses
- File final closures for licenses and tax accounts when a location is sold or closed, including the supporting financials the agency asks for

BUSINESS SUPPORT
- Support our outside CPA firm and the annual audit - pull schedules, tie-outs, and documentation and answer their requests directly
- Franchise transitions: reconcile pre- and post-takeover balances when a store changes hands, and invoice the incoming franchisee
- Draft professional correspondence to landlords, lenders, tenants, franchisees, and government agencies for my review
- Keep a daily end-of-day report in Notion so I always know what moved, what is stuck, and what needs me

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SYSTEMS YOU MUST KNOW
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REQUIRED:
- QuickBooks Online - advanced. Multi-entity, chart of accounts design, class and location tracking, closing the books, transaction detail reporting
- Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets - advanced. Pivot tables, lookups, building a clean reconciliation schedule from raw exports
- US sales tax filing on state and city portals
- US payroll processing

STRONGLY PREFERRED:
- MarginEdge (restaurant invoice and cost management, including Bill Pay)
- Toast POS and Toast Payroll
- Restaurant, cafe, hospitality, or franchise accounting
- Notion, Google Workspace

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REQUIREMENTS
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- Philippine CPA, or a BS Accountancy graduate with 5+ years of hands-on US accounting experience
- Proven multi-entity, multi-state US accounting experience - please say in your application how many entities and which states
- Excellent written and spoken English. You will email landlords, lenders, franchisees, and US government tax offices in my company's name, and you will get on the phone with them. Your writing has to be clean and professional with no help from me
- Reliable high-speed internet plus a working backup connection
- Backup power (UPS, generator, or a co-working arrangement you can get to). Power outages cannot be the reason a payroll deadline is missed
- A quiet place to take calls
- Available 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM US Eastern, Monday to Friday

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WHAT THIS ROLE REQUIRES FROM YOU - PLEASE READ THIS PART
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I have been burned by unreliability. I would rather pay well and hire once than hire cheap three times. So I am going to be very direct about what I need:

1. DEADLINES ARE REAL. Payroll, tax filings, license renewals, and month-end close have hard dates. Missing them costs real money in penalties. If you cannot hit a deadline, I need to hear it from you 48 hours before, not the day after.

2. ESCALATE EARLY. I do not get upset about problems. I get upset about finding out late. A returned payment, a failed debit, a tax notice, or a reconciliation that will not tie - tell me the same day, with what you have already tried.

3. CLOSE THE LOOP. If you tell me a vendor is going to re-debit an account, I expect you to confirm it actually happened and tell me. "I followed up" is not a status. "Done, confirmed, here is the proof" is.

4. KNOW YOUR OWN NUMBERS. If I ask "where did this figure come from?" you should be able to answer immediately and show the source. Every number you give me, you should be able to defend.

5. OWN THE OUTCOME, NOT THE TASK. I do not want to manage a checklist. I want to hand you the finance function and get accurate reports on schedule.

6. DAILY EOD REPORT. Short and honest: done today, in progress, blocked and needs me.

If that sounds like too much pressure, this is not the right role and that is fine. If that sounds like a normal professional standard and you are tired of clients who do not appreciate it - apply.

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WHAT I OFFER
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- Stable, long-term, full-time work with one company - not a rotating agency roster
- Direct access to me, the founder. No layers, no account manager
- Real ownership of the finance function of a growing US business
- Pay at the top of the market for this work, reviewed at 6 months
- 13th month pay, paid holidays, and a performance bonus after 90 days
- Genuine appreciation. I know exactly how hard this job is

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HOW TO APPLY
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Applications that do not follow these steps will not be read. This is the first test.

SUBJECT LINE: CLOSE THE LOOP - [Your Name] - Full-Charge Accountant

--- PART 1: Answer these five items in order. Keep the whole thing under one page. ---

1. Are you a Philippine CPA? Yes or no, and your license number if yes.

2. Name the accounting systems you have used and your honest skill level on each (Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced): QuickBooks Online, MarginEdge, Toast Payroll, Excel.

3. How many separate legal entities have you closed the books for in one month, and in which US states did you file sales tax? Name the states. If you have not filed US sales tax, say so plainly - I would rather know.

4. SHORT SCENARIO - answer in 3 to 5 sentences. A cafe's QuickBooks COGS for a closed month shows $5,374. MarginEdge, which is reconciled with a physical inventory count, shows $2,960 for the same month. What are the first three things you check, and how do you d ---------- what the correct number is?

5. What time zone do you currently work, and can you commit to 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM US Eastern long term? Do you have backup power and backup internet? Describe them specifically - brand, capacity, how long it lasts.

--- PART 2: Send a short video. This is REQUIRED. ---

Record 2 to 3 minutes (unlisted YouTube, Loom, or Google Drive link) and cover these three things:

1. Why you would be a good fit for THIS role specifically. Not why you are a good accountant in general - why this business, with multiple entities, restaurants, franchises, and multi-state sales tax.

2. Tell me about a mistake you made that cost a client money, or a problem you caught before it cost them money. What happened, and what did you do?

3. What is the one thing a boss can do that makes you do your best work? I am asking because I want to know how to work with you well.

Speak naturally. I am not looking for polish or a produced video - I am looking for how you think, and I want to hear your spoken English. A plain video from your desk is completely fine.

ALSO ATTACH OR LINK: your resume, and if you have one, a sample reconciliation or month-end reporting package with the client details removed.

Shortlisted applicants will do a SHORT PAID TEST TASK - reconcile one sample month and answer three questions about it - before the final interview. I pay for your time on it.

I read every application that follows the instructions. Thank you for taking the time.