Senior Staff Accountant

Cognesense; Hillside (IL); On-site; USD 75,000 - 97,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

PTO and 10 paid holidays

Opportunity to grow with a team—senior

Job summary

CogneSense is seeking a Senior Staff Accountant in Hillside, IL to join its growing accounting team. You will own the month-end close, financial reporting, and reconciliations across multiple entities and oversee accounts payable and sales tax compliance.

This role rewards a detail-oriented, hands-on professional who enjoys building processes, solving problems, and improving routines as the finance function scales with the company growth and system upgrades.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of progressive accounting experience, preferably in manufacturing or multi-entity environments.
• Strong working knowledge of GAAP and month-end close processes.
• Experience with accounts payable oversight and multi-state sales tax compliance.
• Proficient with Excel (VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, pivot tables) and ERP systems.
• CPA or CPA-track is preferred, not required.

Responsibilities

• Assist with month-end close, including journal entries, accruals, prepaids, and reclasses.
• Prepare and explain variances for budget vs actual and management reporting packages.
• Oversee full-cycle A/P, vendor statements, and tax compliance.
• Maintain reconciliations for balance sheet accounts and fixed assets.
• Support intercompany transactions and ERP modernization initiatives.

Skills

GAAP knowledge

Month-end close

Account reconciliations

A/P oversight

Sales tax compliance

Excel (Advanced)

Communication

Detail-oriented

Cross-entity accounting

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance

CPA (preferred, progress toward)

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

ERP system

Excel

Job description

Location: Hillside, IL | Type: Full-time | Reports to: Controller / Assistant Controller

About the Role

CogneSense is looking for a Senior Staff Accountant to join our accounting team. You'll play a key part in month-end close, financial reporting, and account reconciliations, and you'll oversee accounts payable and sales tax compliance across our multi-entity platform (L&J Technologies, Varec, PSG, Sonitus Systems, and GPE Controls). This role suits someone who is detail-oriented, likes owning a process from start to finish, and wants to help improve how we work.

The accounting function here is still being built out, so this job description is a starting point, not a fixed list. You'll be expected to be a team player, a problem solver, and a process improver — someone who's genuinely into the details, comfortable rolling up their sleeves on legacy reconciliations and messy balances, and willing to pick up what needs doing rather than saying “that's not my job.” Responsibilities will shift as the team and systems mature.

Key Responsibilities

Month-End Close and Financial Reporting

• Assist with the month-end close process, including preparing and posting journal entries, accruals, prepaids, and reclasses
• Prepare budget vs. actual (BvA) analysis and explain significant variances to management
• Help prepare monthly financial statements and management reporting packages
• Support the close calendar and help drive a timely, accurate close
• Maintain and reconcile prepaid and fixed asset schedules, including monthly depreciation and amortization entries
• Support flux/variance analysis at the account level for board and lender reporting

Reconciliations

• Perform monthly bank reconciliations and resolve reconciling items promptly
• Prepare and review balance sheet account reconciliations, and investigate and clear aged or unexplained balances
• Keep supporting documentation organized and audit-ready
• Identify and clean up legacy or aged reconciling items, escalating unusual balances to the Controller with a clear explanation and resolution plan

Accounts Payable Oversight

• Oversee the full-cycle A/P process, including invoice intake, coding, approvals, and payment runs
• Review A/P aging, vendor statements, and the accuracy of accrued liabilities
• Maintain vendor master data and support W-9/1099 compliance
• Identify and implement process improvements and internal controls within A/P
• Partner with Operations and Procurement to resolve invoice discrepancies and purchase order mismatches
• Provide backup coverage and training for A/P staff and processes as needed
• Monitor sales tax filings across applicable jurisdictions to make sure they're accurate and on time
• Reconcile sales tax payable accounts and research taxability questions as they come up
• Respond to notices and support any sales tax audits
• Support exemption certificate management and nexus tracking as the business expands into new states

Other

• Support year-end close and external audit requests
• Assist with intercompany transactions and reconciliations
• Take part in system improvements and ERP projects
• Support the ongoing Business Central ERP migration, including data validation and testing
• Handle ad hoc analysis and special projects as needed
• Cross-train on other accounting functions to provide backup coverage across the team
• Document and improve close procedures as processes are standardized across entities

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance
• 4+ years of progressive accounting experience; public accounting or manufacturing/engineering industry experience a plus
• Strong working knowledge of GAAP and the month-end close process
• Hands-on experience with journal entries, account reconciliations, and variance analysis
• Experience overseeing or managing accounts payable
• Familiarity with multi-state sales tax compliance
• Advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUPs/XLOOKUPs, pivot tables, working with large data sets)
• Experience working in an ERP system
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a plus
• Highly organized, deadline-driven, and comfortable managing several priorities during close
• Clear communicator who can work with operations, vendors, and leadership
• Comfort working through messy, legacy, or under-documented financial records
• Genuine interest in the technical craft of accounting, not just the credential
• CPA or progress toward a CPA preferred, not required

What We Offer

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• PTO and 10 paid holidays
• Opportunity to grow with a team that's modernizing its systems and processes — genuine room to grow toward a Senior Accountant, Assistant Controller, or Controller-track role as the finance function scales

CogneSense is an Equal Opportunity Employer.