Director, Accounting Operations

The Director, Accounting Operations is responsible for leading the day-to-day activities of Aprio's accounting and finance operations function. This role serves as the operational backbone of the Finance department, ensuring that core accounting processes are executed accurately, efficiently, and in compliance with firm policies and GAAP. A core responsibility is safeguarding the integrity of financial data at the source — ensuring every transaction is captured with the dimensions, classifications, and tracking attributes required for accurate reporting across entities, practice areas, and management views. The Director will lead and develop a team of accounting professionals, own key monthly close processes, and drive continuous improvement across the operations they oversee. 

This is a high-visibility role that requires both technical accounting depth and a strong operational mindset. The ideal candidate is organized, detail-oriented, and a proactive communicator who can work effectively across practice areas and functional teams.

Responsibilities:

Monthly Close Leadership 

• Own and manage the end-to-end monthly financial close cycle, from pre-close planning through final financial statement delivery. 
• Maintain a detailed close calendar with assigned owners, hard deadlines, and dependency mapping. 
• Drive accountability across all contributing teams — GL, AP, AR, payroll, and revenue — to ensure on-time, accurate close completion. 
• Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in the close process through process redesign, automation, and clear escalation protocols. 
• Produce and review monthly journal entries, accruals, prepaid schedules, and balance sheet reconciliations. 
• Establish and monitor KPIs related to close timelines and reconciliation quality. 
• Partner with the FP&A team to ensure GL activity is accurately reflected in management reporting and variance analysis. 

Data Integrity 

• Apply knowledge of GAAP to review and approve journal entries, ensuring proper recognition, classification, and matching of revenues and expenses. 
• Oversee data tagging at the transaction level across 7 different data tags.  
• Manage the chart of accounts structure to ensure financial data is properly coded for reporting, analytics, and compliance purposes. 
• Identify, document, and track EBITDA addbacks at the source, ensuring consistent classification and clear audit trail to support lender reporting and management views. 
• Partner with the Financial Reporting team to ensure month end close output directly supports P&L, balance sheet, and management reporting deliverables. 

Controls, Compliance & Process Excellence 

• Design and maintain a robust internal control environment to safeguard financial data accuracy and completeness. 
• Support external auditors by preparing audit schedules, responding to requests, and coordinating the annual audit process. 
• Ensure compliance with debt covenant reporting requirements and support preparation of lender reporting packages. 
• Document accounting policies and standard operating procedures; maintain updated close playbooks for all key processes. 
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to reduce close cycle time without compromising accuracy. 

Treasury Management 

• Oversee day-to-day treasury operations, including cash management and bank account oversight. 
• Partner with the FP&A team to monitor cash balances and forecasts to ensure adequate liquidity for operations. 
• Review and approve cash disbursements and ensure proper controls over payments. 
• Partner with leadership on optimizing cash flow and banking relationships. 
• Maintain and improve treasury-related processes, controls, and reporting. 

Team Leadership & Development 

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of accounting and operations staff, setting clear expectations and providing ongoing coaching and feedback. 
• Manage and integrate offshore service delivery teams into the close and operational workflows, ensuring consistent quality, clear handoffs, and on-time delivery. 
• Manage workload distribution across the team to ensure deadlines are consistently met without sacrificing quality. 
• Foster a culture of accountability, accuracy, and continuous improvement within the team. 
• Support hiring, onboarding, and performance management for direct reports. 
• Demonstrate urgency and ownership in driving outcomes through to completion. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Process Improvement 

• Serve as a key finance operations partner to practice area leaders, HR, and other internal stakeholders on matters related to GL activity, Treasury, Procurement, Accounts Payable (AP) and Travel & Expense (T&E). 
• Identify and lead process improvement initiatives across accounting operations, including automation opportunities and workflow enhancements. 
• Maintain and update standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all processes within the team's scope. 
• Support system implementations, upgrades, or integrations that touch GL, Treasury, Procurement, AP or T&E workflows, including testing and documentation. 
• Assist with ad hoc projects and analyses as requested by Finance leadership. 

Qualifications:

Required 

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting. 
• 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 4 years in a management or supervisory role. 
• Knowledge of GAAP and general ledger accounting principles. 
• Demonstrated experience managing a month-end close process. 
• Experience administering or overseeing a T&E program, including policy compliance and expense reporting tools. 
• Strong proficiency with ERP systems (preference given for experience with Workday ERP) and Microsoft Excel. 
• Experience designing and operating internal controls in an audit-readiness environment. 
• Exceptional attention to detail with a strong track record of accuracy in a high-volume environment. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to work effectively with both finance and non-finance stakeholders. 

Preferred 

• CPA or CPA candidate strongly preferred. 
• Experience in a professional services firm (accounting, consulting, or legal). 
• Familiarity with Workday, Practice Engine, Concur, or similar ERP, practice management and expense platforms. 
• Experience supporting an audit or working with external auditors. 
• Exposure to multi-entity or multi-practice-area accounting environments. 
• Experience with process automation tools or workflow improvement initiatives. 

Core Competencies 

• Operational Excellence — maintains high standards of accuracy and efficiency across all processes; identifies and removes friction before it becomes a problem. 
• Accountability — takes ownership of outcomes, follows through on commitments, and holds the team to the same standard. 
• Communication — translates accounting complexity into clear, actionable information for partners, staff, and leadership. 
• Leadership & Development — builds team capability through coaching, clarity, and high expectations. 
• Collaboration — works across teams and functions with a problem-solving mindset and a service orientation. 
• Adaptability — thrives in a dynamic, growth-oriented environment where priorities can shift quickly. 
• Project Management — plans and sequences work across competing priorities; sets clear milestones, owns dependencies, and drives initiatives to on-time completion.