Accounting Operations Manager

Full-Time | Remote | Canada

Firm Five is a fast-growing online accounting firm serving Canadian and U.S. businesses with approximately $2M–$50M in annual revenue.

We provide bookkeeping, accounting, financial operations, controller, and fractional finance support to growing companies that need a stronger finance function without building a large internal team.

We’re growing quickly, and we’re looking for an Accounting Operations Manager to help us build the systems, processes, and operating rhythm required to scale.

This is not a traditional management role where you sit above the work and simply review dashboards, assign tasks, and attend meetings.

You’ll oversee accounting operations and help lead the team, but you’ll also stay close to the work (no caseload of clients, just popping in and out if and when necessary).

When something needs to get done, you should be comfortable jumping into a client file, helping solve an accounting issue, supporting a month-end close, reviewing a reconciliation, working through an AP problem, or helping the team get a difficult client deliverable across the finish line.

You’ll sit at the intersection of accounting delivery, operations, client experience, team management, process improvement, and technology .

Your job is to make sure all clients are receiving excellent service, our team knows exactly what needs to happen, and nothing falls through the cracks.

What You’ll Own

Accounting Delivery & Client Operations

- Oversee accounting delivery across Firm Five’s client portfolio
- Ensure recurring bookkeeping, month-end close, reporting, payroll, AP, and controller deliverables are completed accurately and on time
- Stay close enough to client work to understand what is actually happening, rather than managing purely through reports and status updates
- Jump directly into client work when additional support is needed
- Help complete or review reconciliations, month-end work, reporting, cleanup projects, AP workflows, payroll issues, and other accounting tasks when required
- Work closely with Controllers and accounting team members to solve delivery issues before they become client issues
- Step in when a team member is overloaded, a deadline is at risk, or a difficult accounting issue needs another set of hands
- Help establish clear ownership and accountability across every client
- Review client workflows and identify opportunities to improve efficiency or quality
- Help ensure new clients transition smoothly from sales into onboarding and ongoing delivery
- Become familiar with our key clients, their businesses, their accounting environments, and the challenges our team faces while serving them

We do not expect you to personally perform all of the accounting work. We do expect you to be capable and willing to roll up your sleeves when the situation calls for it .

Practice Management

- Own and continuously improve our use of Karbon
- Build and maintain recurring workflows, templates, deadlines, assignments, and client work plans
- Monitor team workloads and capacity
- Identify overdue work, blocked tasks, and operational risks
- Help build visibility into how much time and effort we are spending by client
- Ensure our internal systems reflect what is actually happening in the business
- Use your direct exposure to client work to identify where workflows or budgets are unrealistic
- Work alongside the team periodically so you understand where processes are breaking down in practice, not just in theory





We want someone who can build systems because they understand the work those systems are supporting. Process & SOPs
- Document and improve Firm Five’s operating procedures
- Turn recurring work into clear, repeatable processes
- Identify areas where the team is relying too heavily on tribal knowledge
- Standardize onboarding, month-end close, payroll, AP, client communication, and other recurring workflows
- Work directly with the team while building processes so SOPs reflect how the work actually gets done
- Test new processes yourself when appropriate before rolling them out broadly
- Work with the team to automate repetitive administrative work where practical
- Continuously look for ways to make the firm easier to operate

We don’t want someone building processes from a distance. The strongest processes usually come from someone who understands the details, gets into the workflow, identifies the friction, and then improves it.

Client Experience

- Help us deliver a genuinely excellent client experience
- Monitor client satisfaction and proactively identify accounts that may require additional attention
- Build relationships with key clients and understand what matters most to them
- Step directly into client situations when additional support, accounting expertise, or problem-solving is needed
- Help resolve urgent client issues rather than simply escalating them
- Coordinate regular client check-ins where appropriate
- Help manage service issues, communication gaps, and escalations
- Identify opportunities where clients may benefit from additional Firm Five services
- Ensure clients feel supported, informed, and confident in their finance function

At times, this may mean joining a client call, investigating an accounting problem yourself, helping prepare a report, or working directly alongside the delivery team. Team & Capacity Management
- Help coordinate work across our Canadian and Philippines-based team members
- Monitor workload and identify capacity constraints before they become problems
- Support hiring and onboarding as the delivery team grows
- Help clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations
- Coach team members on accounting quality, operational discipline, and client service
- Review work and provide practical feedback
- Help team members solve difficult accounting and operational problems
- Jump into the work alongside the team when additional capacity is needed
- Help create an environment where great accountants can focus on great accounting rather than chasing information or figuring out what to do next

We want someone the team respects because they understand the work and are willing to help — not someone who manages entirely from above.

Firm Operations

You’ll also become a trusted operational partner to the founders.

Depending on your experience, this may include:

- Tracking gross margin and client profitability
- Identifying underpriced or operationally difficult client engagements
- Investigating why certain clients consistently require more time than expected
- Supporting software implementation and process changes
- Coordinating internal security and IT initiatives with external providers




- Improving onboarding and offboarding procedures
- Helping evaluate vendors and technology
- Building internal dashboards and operational reporting
- Helping solve one-off operational problems as they arise

Who We’re Looking For You are highly organized, commercially minded, technically strong, and comfortable taking ownership. You don’t need someone to give you a checklist for every problem. You can look at a messy situation, understand what is happening, jump into the details when necessary, create a process, assign ownership, and make sure it gets resolved.

You are equally comfortable

- Reviewing the overall health of the client portfolio
- Managing team capacity
- Improving a workflow
- Talking to a client
- Reviewing a reconciliation
- Helping troubleshoot QuickBooks
- Working through a month-end issue
- Coaching a team member
- Building a better process afterward so the issue doesn’t happen again

You probably have:
- 5+ years of experience in accounting, finance operations, public accounting, outsourced accounting, or a similar environment
- Strong hands-on understanding of bookkeeping and month-end accounting workflows
- Experience managing multiple clients, projects, or workstreams simultaneously
- Experience managing or coordinating accounting teams
- The technical accounting ability to jump into client work confidently when required
- Strong project management and organizational skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Strong judgment and the confidence to raise issues early
- Comfort working in a technology-driven, remote workplace
- Strong experience with QuickBooks Online and/or Xero

Experience with tools such as Karbon, Dext, BILL, Plooto, Float, Wagepoint, Gusto, Rippling, Shopify, Amazon, A2X, or inventory systems is helpful but not required. A CPA designation is an asset, but it is not required if you have strong accounting knowledge, excellent judgment, and exceptional operations experience.

You’ll Probably Love This Role If You:

- Get satisfaction from making messy businesses organized
- Like being both a manager and a doer
- Naturally notice when something is falling through the cracks, works with high urgency
- Are the type of person who jumps in when the team needs help
- Enjoy solving accounting problems rather than simply delegating them
- Like building processes but hate unnecessary bureaucracy
- Enjoy working with accountants but think operationally
- Are comfortable telling a founder, “This process makes no sense — here’s what we should do instead”
- Care deeply about client experience
- Like technology and are constantly looking for better ways to work
- Want significant responsibility rather than a narrowly defined corporate job
- Enjoy environments where no two days are exactly the same

You Probably Won’t Love This Role If You:
- Want a management role where you are completely removed from day-to-day client work
- Believe being a manager means you should no longer have to perform accounting work
- Prefer delegating every problem rather than occasionally solving it yourself
- Need highly structured instructions before taking action
- Prefer managing one narrow area rather than owning problems end-to-end
- Avoid difficult conversations
- Are uncomfortable operating in a growing company where processes are still being built
- Believe operations means creating more meetings, approvals, and bureaucracy

We want simple systems, clear accountability, excellent communication, solid accounting fundamentals, and great execution .

📌 Accounting Operations Manager (Canada)
🏢 Firm Five Accounting
📍 Canada