Senior Accounting Manager

Job Title: Senior Accounting Manager

Job type: Hourly, with some overlapping hours with the Chicago (CST) time zone expected. Hours can range from 5 - 30 hours per week, depending on the candidate's availability.

*Please note that this position is classified as an independent contractor and does not include medical coverage or retirement benefits. Also, be advised that as an independent contractor, you will be responsible for withholding and filing your own taxes.

About Khulas

At Khulas Finance & Accounting Partners, we pride ourselves on delivering world-class accounting and bookkeeping services to American startups and small businesses. We are a team of international finance experts who can work remotely from anywhere in South Africa. It is our mission to assist CEOs/CFOs based in the U.S. with all their accounting and bookkeeping needs.

Summary

We are seeking a fully remote Senior Accounting Manager to join our growing accounting team. In this role, you will own end-to-end, full-function accounting for a portfolio of small business clients while leading and supporting a team of accountants responsible for delivering high-quality accounting and financial reporting services.

This is a fast-paced, high-responsibility position that requires managing multiple clients, meeting demanding deadlines, and ensuring the accuracy and quality of the team’s work. You will serve as a key point of contact for clients, providing guidance, resolving complex issues, and maintaining a consistently high level of customer service. From time to time, urgent client issues may arise, and you’ll be expected to step in and help resolve them, including outside standard business hours when necessary.

Much of this work won’t come with a playbook. You might inherit messy books, an ambiguous client request, or a process that doesn’t exist yet and we’ll expect you to work out the answer, document your approach, and keep moving. We give context and support, not scripts. If you need every step laid out before you can start, this role will frustrate you. If you’d rather be handed a problem than a procedure, you’ll do well here.

The person who succeeds in this role balances client management, team leadership, and technical accounting work without dropping threads. You communicate clearly, build strong relationships with both clients and team members, and hold your own work, and your team’s to a high standard of accuracy and professionalism.

This is a highly hands-on role. While you will oversee client portfolios and staff accountants, you are equally comfortable rolling up your sleeves, solving problems, and stepping into the details yourself to ensure deliverables are completed accurately and on time. You thrive in a dynamic environment where priorities shift quickly and take pride in helping both clients and team members succeed.

Key Responsibilities:

• Full-Cycle Ownership: Own a portfolio of client engagements end to end, from daily transactions through reconciliations, close, and reporting, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and timely delivery
• Month-End Close: Run and review month-end close processes across all client accounts
• Financial Reporting: Prepare, review, and approve financial statements and reporting outputs
• Cash Flow Forecasting: Maintain a 13 week cash flow forecast
• AR, AP & Payroll: Manage accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll processes to ensure accuracy and consistency
• Quality Control: Ensure high-quality accounting deliverables across all client engagements
• Team Leadership: Manage, mentor, and develop Staff Accountants
• Performance Management: Monitor team performance, deadlines, and overall productivity
• Capacity Planning: Manage team workload and allocate resources effectively across clients
• Client Escalations: Act as the escalation point for complex client and accounting issues
• Client Relationships: Maintain oversight of client relationships and support key interactions as needed
• Audit Support: Manage audit processes and ensure timely and accurate responses
• Compliance: Ensure adherence to accounting standards and compliance requirements
• Process Improvement: Drive process improvements and standardization across engagements
• Hiring & Onboarding: Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members

Minimum Qualifications:

• Degree in Accounting or Finance
• A minimum of 12 years of experience in a similar/equivalent position
• Able to run the complete accounting cycle independently, end to-end, transactions, reconciliations, close, and reporting, without your work needing line-by-line review
• You love partnering with small businesses and you constantly look for additional ways to be helpful
• You constantly look for a better, more efficient way to complete tasks
• You build and maintain your own systems for tracking deadlines and deliverables across clients; nobody needs to chase you for status
• Strong client-facing experience, with the ability to communicate clearly with internal teams and clients while managing multiple priorities simultaneously
• Ability to commit to a 24-hour response time
• The kind of person who catches a $4 variance before the client does and can’t let it go until you know why it’s there
• When something is unclear, your instinct is to research, decide, and flag it, not to wait for instructions
• Access to a computer, a webcam, a reliable internet connection, and a private, quiet space for video conference calls. We require a minimum Ookla speed test of 30 upload and 30 download.

Preferred Qualifications:

• SAIPA or SAICA articles
• Knowledge of U.S. GAAP
• Experience with QuickBooks
• Advanced knowledge in G Suite, Excel



Why Join Us?

While we provide the highest level of customer service to our clients, we’ll also work to make a difference for you. Working with Khulas provides these unique benefits:

• The opportunity to gain exposure to U.S. standards of accounting and finance, making you more marketable for future international employment opportunities
• Career development & training in the latest software on the market
• The flexibility of fully remote work
• Critical early member of a rapidly growing startup team
• And finally, our team spirit and culture! We cultivate an environment of community, connection and collaboration