Controller

Position Summary:
- Run the accounting function for a three hotel portfolio and its management company with very little supervision.
- Treat numbers as a tool for making the company money rather than a record of what already happened.
- Own the close, the controls, the cash, and the monthly conversation with General Managers about financial results.

Key Responsibilities:
- Run month-end and year-end close across four entities.
- Deliver a complete set of statements, including the statement of cash flows.
- Ensure financial statements are accurate and early enough that tax returns are filed in March.
- Maintain a 1 percent accuracy standard on all financials.
- Ensure no unexplained balances exist at month-end.
- Tie property systems, the outsourced ledger, bank accounts, and credit cards to each other.
- Work the monthly exception report from the bookkeeping provider down to zero, including items carried over from prior periods.
- Explain every variance found during reconciliation.
- Audit and release payroll.
- Approve and release vendor payments.
- Calculate and release management and franchise fees.
- Keep preparation separate from approval at every step.
- File and reconcile occupancy and sales tax.
- Rebuild the process when a property changes systems.
- Manage lender and franchisor reporting, escrow and mortgage activity, FF&E reserve to capital spend reconciliation, and retirement plan contributions.
- Justify every expense from zero every time, starting with labor.
- Use productivity data to manage labor costs.
- Apply zero-based budgeting discipline to personal priorities and communicate it to the General Managers.
- Meet with each General Manager monthly to review results and coach them on decisions behind line items.
- Identify and remove manual work in the department.
- Build AI and automation into workflows and track the hours saved.
- Own accounting SOPs and the control environment.
- Keep SOPs current as systems change and ensure they are followed.
- Manage and develop one full-time accountant.
- Decide work distribution for the team.
- Serve as the point of contact with the outsourced bookkeeping provider, tax preparer, banks, and lenders.

Qualifications:
- Minimum 6 years in US accounting, including at least 2 years as a Controller or Senior Accountant owning the close.
- Experience in full-cycle close and preparation of all three financial statements including cash flow.
- Demonstrated ability to reconcile balances across different systems and resolve discrepancies independently.
- Experience in multi-entity accounting, including intercompany activity and management fee structures.
- Experience operating on top of an outsourced bookkeeping model.
- Evidence of using AI or automation to eliminate manual work.
- Track record of finding savings and driving cost decisions.
- Self-starting, highly organized, and able to set and defend priorities.
- Strong written English and availability for working overlap with US Central business hours.
- High emotional intelligence with the credibility to hold General Managers and vendors accountable.
- Preferred experience in hotel accounting, including USALI, occupancy and sales tax, franchise and management fees, FF&E reserves, and night audit flow.
- Preferred experience with Nimble Property, Bill.com, Divvy, AMEX, payroll platforms, and hotel PMS systems.
- Desire to learn and grow professionally.

Location: Remote - GMT-07:00 to GMT-05:00

Skills required for this job:

• Account reconciliation
• Accounting
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Automation
• Bill.com
• Cash flow statement
• Cost reduction
• Excise tax
• Financial statements
• Franchise accounting
• Furniture fixtures and equipment (FF&E)
• Hotel accounting
• Intercompany accounting
• Month End Close
• Multi-site accounting
• Property Management System (PMS)
• US taxes
• Year-end closing