Vice President of Accounting- Midwest

The Company

FirstService Residential is the leading and largest residential property management company in North America. FirstService Residential provides full-service, professional community management services to more than 8,500 properties and over 1.6 million residential units across the United States and Canada and administers over $7 billion in operating budgets. Each day, every member of our team strives to fulfill our mission – to deliver exceptional service and solutions that enhance the value of every property and the lifestyle of every resident in our care.

Job Responsibilities

The Vice President of Accounting, Midwest (the “VP”) will have oversight of and be the face of client accounting for our Midwestern operations. Leading a team of 70+ associates, the VP will be responsible for: building a strong team culture rooted in accountability; and building a scalable organization that can support client growth and retention. The VP will partner with local leadership teams and assist with engagement of external clients on transactional and financial accounting and reporting related matters to deliver exceptional service.

The VP will have a dotted line report to our three Midwestern Market Presidents; supporting performance management of Client Accounting resources as well as financial systems and process related initiatives.

Knowledge, Skills & Proficiencies

The VP must be an enabler of people with the ability to communicate a clear strategy and vision for Client Accounting in Midwest and have experience in leading change management initiatives that bring people, process and technology together from different functional areas to deliver a quality financial services customer experience.

The successful candidate will be passionate about gaining efficiency through process change while creating a positive team environment where we can recruit, develop and retain talent.

The Vice President of Accounting must be a partner to operations, must interact with clients and be a knowledge leader in both financial accounting and the Condo/HOA industry. Sound business acumen and the ability to present practical solutions is a key requirement.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead a financial accounting team of 75+ staff through 6 direct reports to ensure timely and accurate preparation of client financial statements supporting our goal to deliver the best financial accounting services in our midwestern markets
• Be a financial accounting thought leader, partnering with local leaders to provide: i) accounting-based training to condo managers and directors and ii) sound financial analysis and advice to clients, as required. Support and drive client budgeting process in partnership with management team
• Oversee the accounting support for current clients and the onboarding of new clients and provide excellent customer service to support client retention
• Maintain an ongoing awareness of the regulatory environment and issues that could affect our business model or our clients
• Maintain a strong control environment and be open to process change; evaluating opportunities for continuous improvement
• Oversee recruitment, development, and retention of accounting teams across markets in partnership with local client accounting and HR leaders.

Special Projects

• Lead regional and local financial system implementation initiatives
• Design and implement processes designed for a multi-platform environment
• Build an efficient organizational structure around systems and processes that creates scale and opportunities for growth

Client Programs

• Lead and drive client value add programs, a key income source, with client and staff
• Create and support efficient processes to support client programs
• Identify opportunities for new products and to improve our existing offering

Shared Services

• Oversee regional shared service accounts payable function comprised of approximately 20 associates located in two separate offices and supporting operations in the USA and Canada
• Liaise with third party outsource providers on both the payables and payments side
• Design and implement efficient processes and procedures, supported by technology, to ensure timely vendor payments

Additional Duties & Responsibilities

• Practice and adhere to FirstService Residential Global Service Standards.
• Anticipate needs across the company and manage department resources to provide timely and reliable service to internal customers; prioritize and communicate when workload or requests for support exceed departmental capacity
• Manage in a no surprises manner; proactively communicate financial issues to leaders
• Safeguard the company’s assets
• Other Tasks and Duties as Assigned

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree plus an accounting designation is essential together with prior experience in a senior financial operations role.

Physical Requirements / Working Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• Sitting at a desk for extended periods of time
• Dexterity for keyboard and mouse use
• Ability to lift up to 30 lbs.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Hours over and above normal office hours will occur, including evenings, holidays, and some weekends. Schedule is subject to change based on business needs.

Travel

Significant travel within the midwestern states (Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri) with some travel to client sites; Minor travel to/from Canada

Disclaimer

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by associates within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of associates assigned to this job. This is not an all-inclusive job description; therefore, management has the right to assign or reassign schedules, duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.