Accountant​/Assistant Controller

Assistant Controller / Accounting Lead

Employment Type: Full-time, Independent Contractor

Work Model: Remote

Work Hours: US Central Standard Time (CST) alignment (Matching corporate office hours in Wisconsin)

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Vice President of Operations

We are seeking a tech-savvy, proactive Assistant Controller / Accounting Lead to take full ownership of day-to-day accounting operations, financial systems modernization, and unit-level P&L analysis for a growing multi-unit restaurant group operating 10 corporate-owned locations across Wisconsin (Madison and Milwaukee regions).

Transitioning our financial operations away from an outsourced, manual legacy setup (Microsoft Great Plains), you will lead the implementation and optimization of Restaurant
365 as our core enterprise platform. Reporting directly to executive leadership, you will act as the internal financial "answer key" - owning month-end closes, automating vendor EDI invoice flows, benchmarking unit-level economics (COGS, labor, waste), and leading monthly P&L reviews with Area Managers and General Managers to drive store profitability.

• Restaurant
  365 Implementation: Lead the migration off legacy systems (Microsoft Great Plains) to fully deploy and optimize Restaurant
  365 across all 10 corporate locations.
• EDI & Workflow Automation: Establish direct Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) connections with primary food/beverage distributors and build streamlined invoice capture workflows for store General Managers.
• Multi-Unit Reporting Structure: Build a standardized chart-of-accounts structure that delivers consolidated P&Ls alongside regional breakouts (Madison vs. Milwaukee store clusters).

• End-to-End Financial Close: Own month-end, quarterly, and year-end close processes to deliver accurate, predictable financial statements on a fixed monthly schedule.
• General Ledger & Bank Reconciliations: Manage general ledger hygiene, automated daily bank/credit card reconciliations, vendor accounts payable, store-level cash audits, and state tax filings.
• Operational Financial Reviews: Facilitate monthly financial review sessions with the VP of Operations, Area Managers, and store GMs to review store performance against targets.

• Cost Variance Auditing: Perform deep-dive P&L and cash flow analyses—flagging raw ingredient inflation, labor overages, food waste trends, linen/laundry spikes, and promotional discounts.
• Benchmarking & Margin Optimization: Benchmark key restaurant performance indicators against industry targets to provide actionable profitability recommendations to executive leadership.

• GM Training & Support: Partner with store General Managers to ensure non-EDI store expenses, local vendor invoices, and inventory counts are accurately categorized in Restaurant
  365.
• Scalable Accounting Playbooks: Document standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure new restaurant locations can be seamlessly onboarded into the accounting system.

• Multi-Unit Restaurant Accounting: 4+ years of hands-on accounting experience within the restaurant, hospitality, or multi-unit retail industry, with deep knowledge of prime costs (COGS + labor), store-level inventory, and unit economics.
• Enterprise Restaurant Tech Stack: Direct experience implementing, operating, or managing Restaurant
  365 (or equivalent multi-unit restaurant platforms like Compeat, Net Suite, or Quick Books Online with specialized restaurant add-ons).
• Financial Analysis & Problem Solving: Proven ability to analyze store-level P&Ls, identify…