Controller ​/ Head of Finance

Job Type: Full-Time

Morris Heating & Cooling, founded in 1996, is a specialty trades contractor serving the Greater Cincinnati region from its base in the Cincinnati / Burlington, Kentucky area. The company focuses on the installation, servicing, repair, and maintenance of HVAC, electrical, refrigeration, and commercial kitchen systems across the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana markets – combining project-based installation work with a high-volume recurring service and maintenance operation.

In June 2024, Morris Heating & Cooling partnered with Next Gen Growth Partners to enter the next phase of its growth journey. Founded in Chicago in 2016, Next Gen Growth Partners was built on the belief that there is tremendous potential to unlock value in small businesses. As the company scales, we are building a finance function capable of supporting disciplined project accounting, reliable margin visibility, strong cash management, and the operational reporting a growing MEP contracting business needs to grow profitably.

Morris Heating & Cooling is seeking a hands-on Controller / Head of Finance to own the accounting and financial reporting function end to end. We are looking for a senior finance leader to challenge operations while personally owning the ledger – preparing journal entries, running the monthly close, building the job-cost and WIP schedules, and owning billing, collections, AP, and payroll, etc.

Direct MEP experience and a strong command of project accounting in a specialty trades environment – including percent-of-completion (POC) revenue recognition and work-in-progress (WIP) reporting – is required. This position must be able to bridge the company’s commercial ERP (Build Ops) with its accounting system (Quick Books Online) so that operational and financial data are aligned.

• Percent-of-Completion & WIP Accounting: Own percent-of-completion (POC) revenue recognition across active projects and maintain accurate work-in-progress (WIP) schedules, including over-/under-billings, earned revenue, and backlog reporting.
• Estimated Total Cost (ETC): Partner with project managers and operations to consistently develop, review, and update estimated total cost (ETC) and estimate-at-completion figures for each project, ensuring cost-to-complete assumptions are current, defensible, and reflected accurately in the WIP.
• Monthly Close: Personally own and execute the full monthly close process, including reconciliations, accruals, and consolidated schedules that produce accurate, timely financial statements each period; establish a reliable, repeatable close with clean WIP and POC schedules and consistently updated ETC across all active projects.
• Journal Entries in Quick Books Online: Prepare and post journal entries directly in Quick Books Online (QBO), maintaining a clean, well-documented general ledger and supporting work papers.
• Build Ops Integration: Manage and continuously improve the integration between the company’s commercial ERP, Build Ops, and Quick Books Online – troubleshooting sync issues, mapping data correctly, and ensuring invoicing, revenue, and cost data flow accurately between systems so operational and financial data reconcile without manual rework.
• Job Costing & Margin Analysis: Maintain accurate job-costing across labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment; analyze job-level margin and variance and surface issues to operations and leadership; stand up job-level profitability reporting that gives leadership real-time visibility into margin and tightens margin discipline across the business.
• Cash, Billing & Collections: Own cash forecasting, progress billings, and collections in a project-based environment, with attention to retainage and lien/waiver processes; drive billing discipline and improve working capital.
• Accounts Payable & Payroll: Personally manage accounts payable and own or closely coordinate payroll, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and proper coding to jobs.
• Financial Reporting: Prepare monthly financial reporting packages – giving leadership real-time visibility into performance.
• Controls & Compliance: Establish and maintain…