Senior Finance Manager

Senior Finance Manager

Leading Mid-Sized Law Firm
Location: Central Nassau County Long Island NY (Hybrid - 3 days in office / 2 days remote)
Salary: 200000 - 225000 (based on experience)

Our client a well-respected and growing mid-sized law firm with offices across the Tri-State area and Florida is seeking a Senior Finance Manager to join their leadership team. This is a critical hands-on role reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer.

This is not a general accounting role. We are looking for a finance professional with significant prior experience in a law firm or professional services environment (accounting finance or controllership in a partnership-based organization such as a law firm accounting firm consulting firm or similar professional services setting).

Essential Responsibilities:

Financial Management & Partnership Accounting

• Oversee all general accounting operations including general ledger financial reporting month-end/year-end close A/P A/R trust/IOLTA accounting fixed assets and cash management.
• Manage law firm-specific accounting functions including client trust accounts WIP monitoring fee participation calculations and distributions to partners.
• Prepare and review monthly quarterly and annual financial statements with supporting analysis for firm leadership.
• Ensure full compliance with trust accounting regulations ethical standards and all relevant financial reporting requirements.
• Coordinate annual audits and work closely with external auditors and tax advisors.
• Analyze billing realization collections performance and key financial metrics to drive strategic insights.

Benefit and Tax Administration

• Oversee 401(k) audits and benefit plan compliance including preparation of Form 5500s.
• Manage tax filings including 1099s sales & use tax Commercial Rent Tax PTET and K-1 distributions to partners.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead mentor and develop the accounting and finance team.
• Partner closely with Billing Collections and Operations to improve processes collections and overall financial performance.
• Support budgeting forecasting and strategic financial planning initiatives.

Systems & Process Improvement

• Optimize financial systems and reporting tools to increase efficiency and visibility for leadership.

Qualifications (Required):

• Bachelors degree in Accounting or Finance required; CPA strongly preferred.
• Minimum 7 years of progressive accounting/finance experience with at least 4 years specifically in a law firm or professional services environment (this is a hard requirement).
• Strong expertise in law firm partnership accounting trust/IOLTA accounting and professional services financial operations.
• Prior management or supervisory experience required.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with legal-specific accounting systems (Elite Aderant SurePoint or similar) is highly preferred.
• Excellent leadership communication and analytical skills with a collaborative solutions-oriented mindset.

This is an outstanding opportunity to join a welcoming stable and growing law firm with excellent benefits available from day one.

Required Skills:

Bank ReconciliationbudgetingFinancial ReportingFinancial PlanningAderantGeneral LedgerPartnership AccountingworkflowsManagementLeadershipsystems integration