Controller

Private Wealth Law Group; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k)

Paid time off

Job summary

Private Wealth Law Group in Salt Lake City, Utah seeks a Controller to lead the accounting foundation across three affiliated firms, with responsibility for close, reporting and controls. This hands-on, dual-mandate role reports to the Director of Finance and also serves as fractional controller for client engagements.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in senior accounting leadership, deep U.S. GAAP knowledge, multi-entity experience, and a track record of building robust accounting functions

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance or equivalent.
• CPA license preferred, but not required.
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience including controller roles.
• Strong command of U.S. GAAP, financial reporting, and close processes.
• Experience with multi-entity accounting, intercompany transactions, and consolidated reporting.

Responsibilities

• Oversee monthly, quarterly, and annual closes for three affiliated firms; ensure accurate balance sheets and consolidations.
• Manage intercompany accounting, allocations, and related-party transactions across entities.
• Deliver tax-ready and advisory-ready financials with correct equity accounting and asset/debt management.
• Present results to owners and management; explain variances and recommend corrective actions.
• Define deliverables, deadlines, and information requirements; escalate scope issues early.
• Set close standards, train staff, and maintain robust policies and controls.

Skills

U.S. GAAP

Intercompany

Multi-entity

Financial reporting

Close accounting

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's in Accounting/Finance

Job description

Position Purpose

This is a dual-mandate, hands-on controllership role. Internally, the Controller is the traditional controller of three (3) professional services companies, responsible for the controllership of Private Wealth Law Group, Private Wealth Tax Group, and Private Wealth Insurance Group, reporting to the Director of Finance. Externally, the Controller serves as a fractional controller to clients of Private Wealth Tax Group, providing controller-type services to those businesses and reporting to the Director of Accounting.

The Controller owns the accounting foundation and has technical authority to determine whether accounting work and structure meet firm standards before information is released for advisory or client use.

What You Own

1. Firm Controllership - Law, Tax, and Insurance Groups

Traditional controllership for three affiliated professional services firms: Private Wealth Law Group, Private Wealth Tax Group, and Private Wealth Insurance Group. Routine data entry is delegated to the bookkeeper; accuracy, close completion, review, and reporting remain the Controller's responsibility, including:

• Monthly, quarterly, and annual close, financial statements, and complete balance-sheet reconciliations for each entity.
• Multi-entity, related-party, and intercompany accounting, allocations, and consolidated reporting; proper revenue, expense, payroll, debt, and equity treatment.
• Cash visibility, working-capital reporting, and budget-to-actual reporting.
• Billing and collection oversight; service-line and client profitability reporting.
• Coordination with external tax, banking, and insurance-commission accounting providers.

2. Fractional Controller - Private Wealth Tax Group Clients

Serve as the fractional controller for PWTG client businesses, reporting to the Director of Accounting. These are companies that need controller-level accounting but are not ready for a full-time controller.

• Own each assigned engagement from transaction processing through completed financial statements: timely closes, reconciled balance sheets, documented adjusting entries, and organized workpapers.
• Deliver tax-ready and advisory-ready financials: correct entity and equity accounting; fixed-asset, debt, payroll, and owner-transaction support; identification of unusual or potentially taxable transactions; consistent history; and accurate gross-margin and budget-to-actual detail.
• Present results to client owners and management, explain variances, and recommend corrective action.
• Define deliverables, deadlines, and client information requirements; identify out-of-scope work before it is performed; and elevate chronic client concerns (including noncompliance).
• Track effort, capacity, and engagement economics, and recommend changes in process, staffing, pricing, or scope.

3. Standards, Team, and Systems

• Set the close, workpaper, documentation, and reviewer-signoff standards used across firm and client work; determine whether work meets standards before release; and require problems to be corrected or placed on a documented remediation plan.
• Assign work by complexity and capacity, review it, give specific feedback, and address recurring quality failures. The Controller remains accountable for delegated work.
• Train staff to resolve root causes rather than repeat corrections.
• Design charts of accounts and reporting structures, standardize policies while preserving necessary client-specific treatment, and maintain access, approval, and separation-of-duty controls.
• Partner with management to automate repeatable workflows without weakening review, and to ensure data feeding dashboards and analytics reconciles to authoritative accounting records.
• Prepare and follow excellence operating procedures (EOPs) designed to ensure systemization,

Role Boundaries

The Controller owns accounting integrity, close, financial reporting, controls, accounting-team performance, and the readiness of accounting information for tax, data, and advisory use - internally and for client engagements. The Controller supports, but does not own, tax strategy and opinions (tax advisors), forward-looking analysis and capital strategy (Director of Finance), reporting architecture and analytics (Firm Management), or client acquisition, legal conclusions, and insurance recommendations.

Authority

• Return incomplete or unsupported accounting work and require corrections and supporting documentation.
• Establish mandatory close, reconciliation, and review procedures for firm and client accounts.
• Prevent unreliable financial information from being distributed internally or to clients.
• Escalate client delays, scope violations, capacity constraints, and recurring quality problems.
• Recommend changes in staffing, systems, process, pricing, or engagement scope.

Measures of Success

• Engagement profitability, scope adherence, and staff capacity are measured and managed. Firm and client closes completed by deadline.
• Material balance-sheet accounts fully reconciled; unresolved issues visible, owned, and aged.
• Financial statements accurate and timely, reaching tax and advisory functions without recurring cleanup or rework.
• PWTG clients receive controller-level reporting they trust and retain the service.

First 90 Days

1. Assess the condition of the books for the Law, Tax, and Insurance Groups and for each assigned client engagement, and classify each as stable, at risk, cleanup required, or structurally deficient.
2. Establish the close calendar, reconciliation standards, and review requirements for firm and client work, and define the tax-ready and advisory-ready accounting package with the Director of Finance and Director of Accounting.
3. Present a prioritized remediation, staffing, and client-service plan with baseline measures for close performance, quality, capacity, and engagement economics.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance, or equivalent demonstrated technical knowledge.
• Certified Public Accounting License preferred, but not required.
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience, including a Controller, Assistant Controller, or senior accounting leadership role.
• Strong command of U.S. GAAP, general ledger accounting, financial reporting, and close, with the hands-on ability to review and, when necessary, prepare journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, and financial statements.
• Multi-entity accounting experience, including intercompany transactions, allocations, pass‑through entities, owner equity, and consolidated reporting.
• Experience building or materially improving an accounting function - policies, procedures, internal controls, approval workflows, and documentation standards - in a growing organization.
• Experience overseeing accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, cash management, and expense management, and managing or developing accounting staff.
• Client‑facing accounting experience (public accounting, client accounting services, fractional controller, or advisory) with the ability to communicate directly with business owners and executives.

Preferred Experience

• CPA license preferred; active status not required.
• Experience delivering outsourced, fractional, or client accounting services to multiple concurrent clients.
• Professional services experience, including service-line and client profitability, utilization, and billing or WIP cycles; audit-readiness experience a plus.

The Opportunity

This role carries a clear mandate, defined boundaries, and direct access to the Director of Finance, Director of Accounting and firm leadership. You will not be asked to perform every financial function. You will be expected to own controllership completely - for three affiliated firms and for the Private Wealth Tax Group clients who rely on you as their fractional controller.

Compensation & Benefits

We offer competitive compensation along with a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Professional dues and continuing education support
  

Work Environment

This is an in-office position based in Salt Lake City, Utah. We value collaboration, accessibility, excellent client service, and team members who want to contribute meaningfully to the continued growth of the practice.