Accounting Cleanup Manager

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About Us

Breakwater Accounting & Advisory provides outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services for businesses and nonprofit organizations across the US. We embrace technology to work smarter, not harder, and we strive to provide value‑add service to each and every client. We are a Woman‑Lead company, rated a top workplace by the Delaware News Journal four years in a row, and have been featured on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies.

Remote,

Full‑Time W2 Position

Salary Range: $65,000 – $85,000. This is a remote, full‑time W2 role.

Our Philosophy

Great people first, technology‑forward thinking second – with just the right combination. At Breakwater, we offer a flexible, positive, and energetic workplace where teamwork and initiative are highly valued. Our culture thrives on positivity and a customer‑service‑oriented focus. All of our team members are guided by Breakwater’s Core Principles: proactive, positive, purposeful, protective, prepared, and principled.

The Role and Responsibilities

We’re looking for a high‑level Cleanup Manager with a deep accounting foundation and a detective’s curiosity. You’ll dig into the books of newly onboarded Breakwater clients to trace confusing transactions back to their source, reconstruct workflows, and turn chaos into clean, audit‑ready financials. In this role, you don’t just fix books—you understand them.

• You see patterns others miss
• You connect dots that didn’t seem connected
• You pull order out of noise

If you get a thrill from untangling messy books, solving financial puzzles, and uncovering the story behind the numbers, you’re exactly who we want to talk to.

Diagnose, Investigate, Solve the Puzzle

• Perform deep‑dive reviews of client books to understand the “before” state
• Follow transaction trails to uncover how financials went off track—and why
• Build cleanup plans and recommend best‑practice restructuring

Balance Sheet Substantiation & Account Reconstruction

• Reconcile the full balance sheet—including payroll liabilities, prepaids & accruals, deferred revenue & WIP, loans, equity, cap tables, depreciation & amortization, and investments & financial instruments
• Create supporting schedules that prove accuracy beyond surface‑level tie‑outs

Financial Architecture & Chart of Accounts Design

• Rebuild chaotic charts of accounts into something logical, clean, and useful
• Structure P&L categories so clients can finally see what’s going on
• Ensure the final product tells a clear financial story

Workflow Reconstruction & Systems Alignment

• Reverse‑engineer client workflows and identify root‑cause issues
• Collaborate with internal specialists to design new, clean, scalable workflows
• Ensure processes feed the general ledger correctly and permanently fix problems—not just patch them

Quick Books Online Expertise (Required – Not Optional)

• Handle complex issues inside QBO without flinching
• Get creative with cleanup strategy and QBO workflows to drive results
• Untangle things like negative AR/AP, old uncleared items, inventory mis‑categorization, and feed data that just doesn’t want to cooperate

Communication & Documentation

• Communicate directly with the client to ask great questions, gather missing information, and validate assumptions
• Explain confusing accounting concepts to non‑accountants with clarity and confidence
• Prepare documentation, schedules, and wrap‑ups for ongoing team handoff
• Work with other, more junior, members of the team to effectively delegate responsibilities as needed
• Keep clear and constant communication with other members to ensure efficiency and momentum

Qualifications Required

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting
• 5+ years of high‑level accounting, audit, or full‑cycle bookkeeping experience
• Deep experience with balance‑sheet substantiation and supporting work papers
• Advanced knowledge of accruals, revenue recognition, amortization, and depreciation
• Expert‑level Quick Books Online proficiency—this role will stretch that skill
• Strong investigative instincts—you love figuring out what happened and why
• Clear, confident written communication and…