Accountant; Vacation Rental & Hospitality Specialist

About Howard Financial

Howard Financial is a tech-forward outsourced accounting and finance firm founded in 2023, delivering full-cycle accounting, controllership, and advisory services to clients across four verticals:
Vacation Rental, Hospitality, Consumer & E-Commerce, and Development & Real Estate. We build lean, high-performing finance teams for our clients and pair them with modern tools and streamlined processes — no legacy bureaucracy, no bloated hierarchies.

Howard Financial is a tech-forward outsourced accounting and finance firm founded in 2023, delivering full-cycle accounting, controllership, and advisory services to clients across four verticals:
Vacation Rental, Hospitality, Consumer & E-Commerce, and Development & Real Estate. We build lean, high-performing finance teams for our clients and pair them with modern tools and streamlined processes — no legacy bureaucracy, no bloated hierarchies.

We are hiring an Accountant with a rock-solid accounting background and deep expertise in Hospitality and Vacation Rentals to support one or more of our high-growth clients.

This is not a bookkeeping role. We need a technically strong accountant who thoroughly understands full-cycle US GAAP accounting, complex revenue recognition, and trust/escrow dynamics specific to the hospitality sector. You will independently own the month-end close cycle, review the work of junior team members, resolve complex technical discrepancies, and serve as the technical backbone of the account — working alongside a Controller or Sr.

Controller who oversees overall account strategy.

• Own Full-Cycle Month-End Close:
  Lead and execute the complete close process for complex Vacation Rental and Hospitality accounts, ensuring GAAP compliance, precise accruals, and clean balance sheets.
• Complex Reconciliations & Revenue Recognition:
  Reconcile high-volume, multi-property transaction data, including owner statements, trust/escrow accounts, channel commissions (Airbnb, VRBO, Direct), and merchant processors against PMS data.
• PMS & GL Integration:
  Identify, troubleshoot, and resolve complex discrepancies in booking, occupancy, tourist tax, and revenue data flowing from PMS platforms into the general ledger.
• Review & Quality Control:
  Review, audit, and mentor junior accountants/bookkeepers on the account, serving as the first point of escalation for accounting judgment calls.
• Financial Reporting & Analysis:
  Prepare accurate property-level and portfolio-level financial statements (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow) and perform detailed variance analysis for leadership and clients.
• Process & Controls Improvement:
  Maintain and elevate accounting procedures specific to the vacation rental revenue cycle (management fee splits, cleaning fee pass-throughs, owner payouts, and local tax compliance).
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  
  Partner directly with the Controller/Sr. Controller and communicate technical accounting insights clearly to client-side stakeholders.

• Solid Accounting Foundation:
  Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or equivalent. CPA, EA, or progress toward CPA is strongly preferred.
• 3–5+ Years of Proven Accounting
  
  Experience:
  
  Demonstrable ownership of full month-end close cycles, complex ledger entries, and financial statement preparation (beyond basic transactional bookkeeping).
• Hospitality & Vacation Rental/STR Expertise:
  Hands-on experience in Hospitality accounting (Hotels, Multi-property, or Short-Term Rentals) with direct experience in Trust/Escrow Accounting and owner disbursement cycles.
• Strong US GAOP Knowledge:
  Solid technical grounding in US GAOP standards, particularly around revenue recognition, deferred revenue, and accrued liabilities…