Finance Controller

Role Summary
The Finance Controller is singularly responsible for all accounting, finance, and administrative needs of a small communications and marketing company with approximately 10 full-time employees, 10 +/- steady 1099 consultants, and additional staff/contractors that fluctuate to meet contract-by-contract client service needs. The Finance Controller owns day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping operations, produces GAAP-compliant financials, manages budgeting and cash flow forecasting, supports client/job costing, and ensures accurate reconciliation of paid media buys. The Finance Controller will administer payroll (via ADP or QuickBooks), maintain strong internal controls and documentation, and prepare monthly GAAP compliant financial statements.

Compensation: $1,500–$2,200/month for qualified candidate that owns this end-to-end
Work Hours: 10a-6p U.S. Eastern Time Zone; 40 hours/week

Key Responsibilities
Full-Cycle Accounting & Close
• Own and execute the full-cycle accounting function (A/P, A/R, general ledger, journal entries, accruals, and month-end close).
• Prepare and deliver monthly/quarterly/year-end financial statements in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
• Maintain a clean chart of accounts and ensure accurate coding/classification of all transactions.
• Manage bank, credit card and balance sheet reconciliations; investigate and resolve discrepancies.
• Manage vendor billing and client invoicing.
QuickBooks Online Ownership
• Serve as QBO administrator, maintaining classes and projects, and optimizing QuickBooks Online (QBO) configuration, workflow integrity, and reporting.
• Ensure QBO data integrity and clean documentation supporting all accounting activity and audit readiness.
Taxes
• Maintain accurate tax records
• Support external tax preparer (CPA)
• Coordinate quarterly and annual filings, including support of K1 owners tax filing needs.
Budgeting & Cash Flow Forecasting
• Build and maintain annual budgets in QuickBooks Online (or supported tools tied into QBO)
• Maintain updated project-level forecasts, including P&L by job/client contract
• Maintain and update cash flow forecasts based on revenue forecasts from Executive Management, as well as receivables, payables, payroll timing, and media/client commitments.
• Provide leadership with visibility into cash needs and variances, runway, and actual spending vs. planned.
Time Tracking & Client/Job Costing
• Track employee hours (QBO timekeeper) and allocate/charge time to the appropriate billable client jobs/accounts.
• Support client billing, reporting, and internal profitability analysis by client/project, including labor, ODC, travel and paid media pass-through allocations.
Media Buy Reconciliation (U.S. Broadcast & Digital)
• Reconcile media buys acrossbroadcast, digital, social, and programmatic placements.
• Match vendor invoices to insertion orders (IOs), schedules, impressions/units, and proof-of-performance.
• Flag and resolve discrepancies and coordinate resolution with internal stakeholders and vendors.
• Ensure accurate pass-through billings and QBO bookings.
Payroll Administration
• Prepare and process payroll using ADP or QuickBooks.
• Maintain payroll records, ensure hours and allocations are correct, and support periodic payroll reporting.
• Maintain accurate deductions, job allocations, and payroll documentation.
• Manage payroll changes related to onboarding/offboarding.
HR/ Benefits Administration (Accounting Perspective)
• Manage financial onboarding/offboarding, payroll setup, and benefit deductions.
• Ensure timely renewals and payments for all benefit programs (medical/dental/vision insurance, 401K contributions and payments, etc).
• Maintain insurance renewals, payments, COIs, and compliance.
Administrative Support (as needed for a small company)
• Support routine finance/admin needs typical of a lean organization (vendor setup, documentation, basic process creation, etc.).
• Maintain organized records for audits, tax preparation, and compliance (in coordination with external providers, if applicable).
• Administer government and client invoice portals, registration portals, and required reporting.
• Maintain multi-state business registrations and renewals (FL, CA, TX, GA, etc.), and pays annual or regularly scheduled fees on-time..
• Manage Duns & Bradstreet profile to maintain excellent standing.
Required Qualifications
• 6+ years of full-cycle accounting experience; experience as sole or lead accountant (Finance Director, Controller, Accounting Manager, etc).
• Significant, hands-on experience serving as the primary controller or accountant for a small business (owning end-to-end accounting).
• Advanced proficiency with QuickBooks Online (required).
• Demonstrated ability to prepare GAAP-compliant financial statements.
• Strong experience building budgets and cash flow forecasts, ideally within or alongside QBO.
• Experience with timekeeping and allocating labor to billable client accounts (job costing/project accounting).
• Experience reconciling complex vendor billing against orders—ideally including media buy reconciliation.
• Payroll processing experience (via ADP and/or QuickBooks Payroll).
• Experience with government portals, client invoicing systems, and multi-state compliance.
• High attention to detail, strong organization, and ability to work independently with minimal oversight.
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience in advertising/media, agencies, or environments with media buying, proper allocation of labor hours per client billable work and vendor reconciliations.
• Experience improving/standardizing processes and internal controls in a small company setting.
Key Competencies
• Ownership mentality and ability to operate independently
• Strong judgment and discretion with confidential information
• Clear communication with non-finance stakeholders
• Deadline management (close, payroll, vendor cycles)
• Analytical problem-solving and reconciliation skills

Application Package: Please include in your message:
• If you have experience running payroll from QBO or include the name of other payroll platforms with which you’ve worked;
• The names of companies and positions where you worked autonomously to own accounting, bookkeeping responsibilities end-to-end; and,
• The specific workstreams that you ran 100% on your own within the finance department.