Director of Accounting
full-time, remote employment position
WHO WE ARE
Knies & Co. is a boutique accounting and financial advisory firm built for ambitious women business owners who are focused on gaining greater clarity, increased profitability, and long-term value. We primarily work with female founders of creative agencies, marketing agencies, coaches, consultants, and home service businesses who are scaling from the high six figures into the millions and want a trusted financial team behind them as they grow.
We do far more than keep the books. Our services include full-service accounting, proactive tax strategy, and fractional CFO and financial advisory services—giving our clients the financial leadership they need without having to build an entire in-house finance department. We help business owners understand what's really happening in their businesses, make smarter decisions, keep more of what they earn, and build companies that can eventually operate and thrive without everything depending on the owner.
Our clients expect strategic expertise, white-glove service, and responsive communication, and we take that responsibility seriously. We're not the accounting firm that sends a report and disappears until tax season. We're the women behind the numbers for women building remarkable businesses—and we're looking for team members who are technically excellent, proactive, thoughtful, and genuinely invested in helping clients build better businesses. Our job isn't just to manage numbers; it's to help our clients build businesses they're proud to own.
POSITION SUMMARY
Knies & Co is hiring a Director of Accounting to lead our bookkeeping and full-service accounting delivery team and to own the quality, consistency, and responsiveness of everything the firm produces for clients below the CFO advisory level. This is a hybrid leadership and technical role: about half people-management, half hands-on client accounting.
The Director of Accounting manages our Senior Accountants — who in turn manage our Bookkeepers — and is accountable for the accuracy, timeliness, and client experience of every engagement that team touches. The Director will also carry a direct book of clients, working with them at a controller level: reviewing financials, advising on cash flow and tax-savings strategy, and serving as their primary point of contact for higher-level accounting questions.
This role exists so the CEO can step fully into business development, staff development, sales and marketing, and high-level fractional CFO work — the Director of Accounting owns the accounting engine of the firm.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Team Leadership & Oversight
Manage and develop the firm's Senior Accountants, who directly manage the Bookkeepers beneath them — effectively owning the full delivery team.
Set the standard for how work is reviewed, categorized, and delivered across the team so client files are clean, consistent, and audit-ready.
Coach and mentor Senior Accountants on both technical accounting judgment and client communication.
Be the first point of escalation for the team — remove roadblocks quickly so client work never stalls waiting on a decision.
Own hiring input, performance feedback, and workload distribution across the accounting team as the firm grows.
Client Relationship Management (Team-Managed Clients)
Serve as the ultimate quality checkpoint for all clients served by the Senior Accountant / Bookkeeper team.
Build genuine, personable relationships with clients — not just professional correctness, but a warm, likeable presence clients trust and enjoy working with.
Understand each client's business well enough to anticipate their questions before they ask: tax savings, cash flow, growth and scaling, pricing, and the everyday logistics of running a small business.
Exercise servant leadership — proactively look for ways to reduce the client's workload, and default to handling things for them rather than pushing tasks back to them.
Direct Client Work (Controller-Level Engagements)
Carry a personal portfolio of clients and act as their controller-level advisor: reviewing and interpreting financials, guiding cash flow and tax-savings decisions, and answering higher-level accounting and business questions.
Deliver the same standard of technical accuracy and personal, responsive service to direct clients that is expected of the team at large.
Technical Accounting Oversight & Quality Control
Rock-solid understanding of how a balance sheet and P&L work, and what correct looks like on both.
Understands how a small business's finance stack actually works end-to-end, just the books, but how payroll, benefits, banking, and other systems feed into the financials (e.g., knowing how adding staff benefits needs to be configured in payroll software and how that should flow through to the books).
Fluent in bank and credit card reconciliations, loan accounting, the undeposited funds account, and how accounts receivable and accounts payable intertwine with cash flow.
Highly organized and detail-oriented, with a strong point of view on how things should be categorized and presented.
Responsiveness & Communication Standards
Meet the firm's quick response time standard for both internal team questions and client communication.
Make sure the Director's own workload never becomes a bottleneck for the Senior Accountants and Bookkeepers who depend on timely answers to keep client work moving.
Scope Discernment & Servant Leadership
Clearly distinguish between work that is in scope for a client's existing engagement and work that falls outside it.
For out-of-scope requests, default to finding a way to help — flagging it as a billable add-on rather than declining or pushing it back to the client — while protecting the firm's profitability.
Model and reinforce this discernment across the team so it becomes a consistent firm-wide practice, not just a personal habit.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES & DAY-TO-DAY EXPECTATIONS
Beyond the domains above, here's what the rhythm of this role actually looks like week to week.
Daily
Check in on team and client communications and keep everything moving inside the firm's 24–48 hour response standard — many answered same-day.
Be available to Senior Accountants for quick judgment calls so their work (and the Bookkeepers behind them) never stalls waiting on a decision.
Spot-check or review flagged transactions, client files, or open questions that need a second set of eyes.
Weekly
Meet with Senior Accountants individually or as a team to review open client work, workload, and any coaching needed.
Handle escalated client questions and any scope-of-work calls that have come up.
Do hands-on work in your own direct client engagements — reviewing financials, meeting with clients, answering their questions.
Monthly
Oversee month-end close across the team's full client base — confirming reconciliations, AR/AP, and balance sheet accuracy before financials go out the door.
Review categorization and reporting for consistency across clients and team members.
Deliver financials and advisory conversations for your own controller-level clients.
Ongoing / As Needed
Participate in hiring, onboarding, and performance conversations for the accounting team.
Spot process or training gaps and address them before they become recurring problems. Help identify, research, and implement solutions
Represent the firm in new-client onboarding or scoping conversations when relevant.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN THIS ROLE
The team consistently meets the firm's 24–48 hour response standard for client communication and same-day responses for internal communication.
Client financials are accurate, reconciled, and delivered on time, with minimal rework or late corrections.
Clients feel proactively taken care of — few surprises, few complaints about scope, and a clear sense that Knies & Co is looking out for them.
Senior Accountants and Bookkeepers are growing in skill and confidence, and team turnover stays low.
The Director's own client book is well-managed and profitable, modeling the standard expected of the rest of the team.
The CEO can stay focused on business development, sales, marketing, and CFO-level advisory work without being pulled into day-to-day accounting escalations.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
Client-Facing Presence
A genuinely dynamite personality — someone who is warm, personable, and easy to talk to, not just polished and professional.
Comfortable and confident presenting to clients, explaining financials in plain language, and building real rapport.
Small Business Advisory Instinct
A strong intuitive understanding of what keeps small business owners up at night: saving for taxes, managing cash flow, pricing their services correctly, and knowing how and where to grow and scale.
Able to translate accounting data into practical guidance a business owner can act on.
Tax knowledge around small business topics, like S Corporations, retirement plans, fringe benefits, etc. to act as a true advisory partner
Technical Accounting Depth
Rock-solid understanding of how a balance sheet works and what "correct" looks like.
Fluent in bank and credit card reconciliations, loan accounting, the undeposited funds account, and how accounts receivable and accounts payable intertwine with cash flow.
Highly organized and detail-oriented, with a strong point of view on how things should be categorized and presented.
Leadership & Ownership
A strong, natural leader and manager who can own outcomes for a team, not just for their own client list.
A true servant-leader mindset — for the team and for clients — paired with the judgment to protect the firm's time and profitability.
Reliable, fast follow-through; treats the 24–48 hour response standard as non-negotiable.
QUALIFICATIONS
5–7+ years of experience in public accounting, bookkeeping, or full-charge/controller-level accounting management.
Prior experience managing or mentoring a team required
CPA license is a plus but not required — strong hands-on experience and technical judgment matter more than the credential.
Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
Proficiency with QuickBooks Online/Desktop and standard accounting/bookkeeping software; strong Excel skills.
Experience working directly with small business owners or in a client-facing advisory capacity.
EXPECTED WORKING HOURS & SCHEDULE
Full-time, Monday–Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
This is a salaried, exempt role — the expectation is coverage and responsiveness during core business hours so the team and clients can reliably reach you, not a strict hourly clock.
Occasional availability outside core hours may be needed around month-end close or other high-volume periods.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Salary range: $80,000–$110,000, based on experience + bonuses based on performance.
Retirement Plan Match
Flexible Schedule
Summer Hours (Half Day Fridays from Memorial Day through Labor Day)
Paid Holidays and Paid Time-Off
Technology/Education Stipend to help cover home office costs and/or annual CPE requirements (if applicable)
WHY KNIES & CO
This role is a leadership seat at a growing firm — the chance to own the accounting engine for a book of small business clients, build and shape a team, and work directly with a CEO who is investing in business development, marketing, and high-level advisory work so the firm can keep growing. It is built for someone who wants both real client relationships, real ownership over how a team delivers, and has a passion for helping female business owners succeed.
HOW TO APPLY
After filling out the form below, email info@kniesandco.com with your resume and a cover letter in PDF format.
Subject line: "Director of Accounting Application – [Your Name]"
Resume file name: "[Last Name], [First Name] – Knies & Co Resume"
Only those who complete all application steps will be considered for the position.