Accountant Controller |
Cape Town - South Africa
Job Summary
Position:Accountant / Controller
Location: Remote:LatAm/SA/PH
Work Schedule: 8a-5p PST
Salary:Market Related
Accountant / Controller
Overview
We are a portfolio of four US-based small businesses: Upper East Slice our primary restaurant operation which is expanding to a second location plus three additional related entities. We are consolidating bookkeeping month-end close reporting and finance operations into one senior offshore contractor role.
Approximately 75% of the work will support the restaurant business and 25% will support the other three entities. You will own day-to-day accounting and month-end close across four QuickBooks Online company files deliver clean financial packages maintain cash forecasting and help ownership make informed operating decisions.
This is a hands-on accounting/controller role not an entry-level bookkeeping position. We are looking for someone autonomous detail-oriented trustworthy and comfortable surfacing issues before they become problems.
Core Responsibilities
1. Multi-entity accounting ownership
- Own bookkeeping across four QuickBooks Online company files.
- Categorize bank and credit card feeds manage receipts enter bills maintain AP schedules and prepare payment runs for owner approval.
- Keep vendor records organized and current.
- Maintain clean supporting documentation for all material transactions.
2. Month-end close and balance sheet quality
- Perform bank credit card loan merchant processor and delivery-platform reconciliations.
- Prepare journal entries accruals prepaids fixed asset tracking loan activity and intercompany entries as needed.
- Review balance sheet accounts monthly and resolve stale unsupported or incorrect items proactively.
- Deliver tax-ready books by the agreed close deadline with a target of the 10th business day unless otherwise agreed.
3. Financial reporting and cash forecasting
- Deliver monthly P&L balance sheet and cash-flow reporting for each entity with concise plain-English commentary.
- Maintain a rolling cash-flow forecast per entity.
- Highlight revenue margin labor food-cost recurring-expense and cash-risk trends for ownership.
4. Restaurant and multi-location reporting
- Design and maintain the Upper East Slice QuickBooks Online Class/Location structure for accurate location-level P&L reporting as the second store opens.
- Make sure the reporting structure is clean at setup consistently applied and easy for ownership to use.
- Support restaurant metrics such as food cost percentage labor percentage delivery-channel margin tips sales tax merchant fees and payroll allocations.
5. POS payroll and delivery-platform reconciliation
- Learn and own Toast POS/Payroll workflows and/or similar systems. Toast experience is strongly preferred but not required if you have strong accounting judgment and POS reconciliation experience.
- Review Toast-to-QBO sync activity and journal entries; identify mapping issues and correct them at the source where possible.
- Reconcile POS and merchant-processor payouts to bank deposits.
- Reconcile Uber Eats DoorDash Grubhub and other delivery-platform payouts commissions fees refunds and chargebacks; report on channel-level margin.
6. Vendor cost and finance operations support
- Serve as the primary finance point of contact for vendor account questions statement reconciliations missing invoices and billing discrepancies.
- Proactively review recurring costs especially food paper supplies merchant fees software subscriptions insurance and other operating expenses.
- Surface cost-savings opportunities vendor negotiation ideas and process improvements.
7. Contractor/vendor documentation and compliance support
- Collect and maintain W-9s for US vendors/contractors and W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E forms for non-US vendors/contractors as applicable.
- Prepare annual 1099 reporting workpapers and coordinate 1099 filings for reportable US payees with ownership CPA or filing provider.
- Maintain a compliance calendar for annual reports business licenses sales tax filings insurance renewals and recurring agency filings.
- Prepare filing support and submit routine filings only where authorized; escalate judgment-heavy tax legal and compliance items to ownership or the US-based CPA.
8. Insurance and administrative support
- Coordinate insurance renewal documents certificates of insurance insurance invoices and coverage questions with brokers and ownership.
- Provide ad hoc budgeting analysis administrative and back-office finance support as needed.
Controls Authority and Security
- This role prepares and recommends; ownership retains final approval over cash movement payment release vendor payment/bank-detail changes filings that create legal or tax obligations and major accounting-policy decisions.
- The contractor is expected to maintain strict confidentiality use secure systems follow 2FA and password-manager practices and handle financial documents appropriately.
- The role should proactively flag errors risks overdue items unusual transactions and decisions needed from ownership or the US-based CPA.
Required Qualifications
- 3 years of full-cycle accounting experience supporting US-based small businesses preferably across multiple entities.
- Advanced QuickBooks Online proficiency including multiple company files and Class/Location tracking.
- Strong technical accounting skills: complex reconciliations journal entries accruals prepaids fixed assets loans and balance sheet account analysis.
- Experience producing monthly financial statements with useful commentary not just exported reports.
- Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills including supporting schedules reconciliations and cash forecasts.
- Familiarity with POS merchant processor payroll or revenue reconciliation workflows; direct restaurant accounting experience is helpful but not required.
- Fluent written and spoken English; comfortable on live calls with US-based ownership and vendors.
- Comfortable with Microsoft Teams Outlook Microsoft 365 Google Workspace and cloud file systems such as Box Dropbox OneDrive and Google Drive.
- Highly organized self-directed proactive and trustworthy with full financial visibility.
- Reliable internet a secure workspace and ability to maintain agreed US Pacific Time overlap.
Strongly Preferred
- CPA Philippines or equivalent senior accounting credential.
- Restaurant hospitality food-service multi-unit retail or franchise accounting experience.
- Direct Toast POS and Toast Payroll experience especially QBO integration and mapping.
- Experience with Uber Eats DoorDash Grubhub or similar delivery-platform payout reconciliation and channel-margin reporting.
- Prior controller assistant controller accounting manager or fractional-CFO support experience for US small businesses.
- Experience with California or other US state sales tax filings annual reports business licenses insurance renewals and vendor/contractor compliance.
- Ability to identify cost savings operational process improvements and reporting improvements without waiting to be asked.
What Success Looks Like
- All four QuickBooks Online files are current reconciled and tax-ready each month.
- Monthly reporting is delivered reliably with useful commentary not just exported statements.
- Restaurant location-level P&L reporting is set up properly as the second store opens.
- POS merchant payroll delivery-platform and bank-deposit activity reconciles cleanly.
- Payment runs vendor documentation filings insurance renewals and compliance dates are tracked with no surprises.
- Ownership gets clear timely visibility into cash margins and cost issues.
Note on Tax Work
This role keeps the books clean supports routine agency filings and prepares documentation for annual federal and California income tax returns will continue to be prepared by a US-based CPA. Familiarity with US/California filing requirements is helpful but this role is not expected to provide expert US tax or legal advice.
About Company
Somewhere, formerly Support Shepherd. We find you amazing employees who cost 80% less than US equivalents, backed by our 6-month Perfect Hire Guarantee.