Audit Senior Manager or Principal

About Ascend

Backed by private equity from people-focused Alpine Investors, Ascend is building a dynamic platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent while accessing the resources of a Top 25 firm to help them grow. Ascend provides access to growth capital, robust talent acquisition and training, leading quality management resources,best-of-breed technology, AI tools, an offshore captive, shared back-office services, a catalytic leadership system, and modernized equity incentives so that firms can surmount today’s industry challenges to reach their full potential.

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Biggs Kofford is seeking an experienced audit leader to manage and expand our Metropolitan District audit practice. This is a systems-and-execution leadership role for someone who enjoys creating structure, developing people and moving multiple engagements forward at the same time.

The successful candidate will lead a portfolio of district audit engagements through clear procedures, effective delegation, reliable tracking tools and timely decision-making. This person will not be expected to personally control every detail of every engagement. Instead, they will build confidence through strong systems, capable teams, visible status reporting and appropriate review points.

The role is ideal for someone who can quickly assess a problem, determine the next action, resolve the issue and move on to the next priority. The work requires a leader who can maintain perspective across many engagements rather than becoming absorbed in any one project.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can organize work, set expectations, coach different personalities, improve how work gets done and deliver consistent quality by building and maintaining effective systems, procedures and accountability across the practice.

Biggs Kofford combines the resources and sophisticated client work associated with larger firms with the accessibility, collaboration and entrepreneurial environment of an independent CPA firm. Our professionals work closely with clients and with colleagues across audit, tax, advisory, valuation and other disciplines.

This role offers the opportunity to make a visible impact on people, processes and client delivery. The person in this position will have meaningful responsibility for a growing portfolio of engagements and will help shape the systems that allow the practice to deliver more work with consistent quality.

We are looking for an audit leader who is as strong at building an effective operating system as they are at understanding audit quality. The ideal candidate will:

• Have significant public accounting audit experience, typically at the Manager or Senior Manager level.
• Have led or reviewed multiple financial statement audit and/or review engagements.
• Manage multiple engagements simultaneously across different stages of planning, fieldwork, review and completion.
• Create and maintain practical tools for tracking deadlines, staffing, budgets, status, risks and open items.
• Use systems and procedures to create visibility and consistency across the practice.
• Organize competing priorities and communicate clearly about what must happen next.
• Delegate effectively and rely on capable team members without needing to personally review every detail.
• Establish review points that provide confidence without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
• Build teams that are comfortable expressing professional opinions, raising questions and taking ownership of their work.
• Coach team members to make sound judgments and communicate conclusions clearly.
• Make timely, well-reasoned decisions and avoid becoming stalled by one difficult project.
• Identify process failures and implement improvements to prevent recurring problems.
• Improve engagement workflows, planning, staffing, communication, review cycles and completion procedures.
• Set clear expectations, provide timely feedback and address performance issues directly and professionally.
• Serve as the central point of coordination for clients, engagement teams and firm leadership.
• Understand when to escalation an issue or involve a technical resource.
• Be dependable and practical, know when personal intervention is necessary, and avoid becoming the bottleneck for the team.
• Lead with a calm, organized and consistent style.
• Take satisfaction in making the entire system more effective, not merely in personally solving the most difficult…