Senior Staff Accountant
Midwest Barrel Company
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Job summary
Midwest Barrel Co. seeks a Senior Staff Accountant to own the full accounting lifecycle from transactions to close. You will manage GL, AP, AR, bank/credit card reconciliations, and inventory/COGS with a focus on clean, GAAP-compliant books.
You’ll drive automation and AI-enabled processes to reduce manual work and improve accuracy, while partnering with cross-functional teams in Louisville. This role emphasizes ownership, accuracy, and scalable finance operations.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting or closely related field.
- 4+ years of progressive accounting experience.
- Experience owning significant portions of end-to-end accounting.
- Strong working knowledge of GAAP.
- Hands-on AP and AR experience.
- Experience in an inventory-heavy, manufacturing or e-commerce environment is preferred.
Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end general ledger accounting.
- Manage AP from vendor onboarding to payment.
- Own AR from invoicing through collection and reconciliation.
- Reconcile bank, credit cards and balance sheet accounts monthly.
- Own inventory and COGS accounting; ensure proper valuation.
- Execute month-end, quarter-end and year-end close.
- Maintain tax readiness and vendor records.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
At Midwest Barrel Co., we're on a mission to make barrels accessible to anyone and everyone through Damn. Good. Barrels. From the heart of bourbon country in Louisville, we connect barrels with breweries, distilleries, wineries and other beverage producers around the world.
Our business is unique, and so is our accounting. We operate an inventory-heavy business that combines global distribution, e-commerce, complex inventory movements, freight and landed costs, and multiple interconnected systems.
We’re looking for a Senior Staff Accountant who is detail-obsessed, tech-forward, and excited to help us build the accounting function of the future. Someone who sees AI and automation as tools to eliminate repetitive work, strengthen accuracy, and create a smarter, more efficient finance operation.
At Midwest Barrel Co., we're on a mission to make barrels accessible to anyone and everyone through Damn. Good. Barrels. From the heart of bourbon country in Louisville, we connect barrels with breweries, distilleries, wineries and other beverage producers around the world.
Our business is unique, and so is our accounting. We operate an inventory-heavy business that combines global distribution, e-commerce, complex inventory movements, freight and landed costs, and multiple interconnected systems.
We’re looking for a Senior Staff Accountant who is detail-obsessed, tech-forward, and excited to help us build the accounting function of the future. Someone who sees AI and automation as tools to eliminate repetitive work, strengthen accuracy, and create a smarter, more efficient finance operation.
This is an end-to-end, hands-on accounting role.
As Senior Staff Accountant, you will own the execution of our day-to-day accounting function from transaction through reconciliation and close. That includes AP, AR, general ledger accounting, bank and credit card reconciliations, inventory and COGS accounting, journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations, and month-end close.
You aren't supporting someone else who does the accounting. You are doing the accounting.
You'll work within a finance structure designed with intentional layers of accountability. You'll own the execution of the accounting work, our Accounting Manager will provide oversight, controls and institutional knowledge, and our accounting firm will provide independent accounting and GAAP review.
We're also intentionally building a modern, AI-forward accounting function. We expect you to be curious about technology, comfortable experimenting with new tools, and constantly looking for opportunities to use AI and automation to reduce manual work, strengthen accuracy and improve how the function operates.Most importantly, we're looking for someone who takes tremendous pride in clean books.
End-to-End General Ledger Accounting
- Maintain the general ledger and ensure accurate, timely financial records.
- Prepare and post journal entries with complete supporting documentation.
- Maintain appropriate accruals, prepaids, deferred revenue and other balance sheet accounts.
- Maintain fixed asset schedules and depreciation.
- Ensure transactions are properly classified and recorded in accordance with GAAP.
- Research and resolve discrepancies rather than allowing them to roll forward.
- Maintain complete documentation supporting account balances and transactions.
What this looks like: The accounting stays clean throughout the month. We aren't waiting until month-end or year-end to discover problems.
You will own AP from beginning to end, including:
- Vendor onboarding and accounting setup.
- W-9 collection and maintenance.
- Invoice coding.
- Two- and three-way matching of purchase orders, receipts and invoices where applicable.
- Approval routing.
- Payment preparation and execution.
- Vendor statement reconciliation.
- Monitoring AP aging and upcoming cash requirements.
- Investigating past-due items, holds and discrepancies.
- Maintaining 1099 vendor records and supporting year-end filings.
- Ensuring appropriate treatment of operating expenses, capital expenditures, freight-in and landed inventory costs.
- Identifying available payment discounts and opportunities to improve payment timing.
What this looks like: We know what we owe, why we owe it and when it needs to be paid. Vendors don't surprise us and neither does our AP aging.
You will own AR from invoicing through collection and reconciliation, including:
- Ensure customer invoicing is complete, accurate and timely.
- Coordinate with sales, operations and shipping to ensure all billable activity is captured.
- Apply customer payments accurately and timely.
- Research and resolve unapplied cash.
- Maintain AR aging and account-level notes.
- Execute collection processes and elevate delinquent accounts according to policy.
- Issue approved credit memos, refunds and adjustments.
- Reconcile the AR subledger to the general ledger.
- Identify billing or collection problems and work cross-functionally to resolve their underlying causes.
What this looks like: Every dollar we are owed has an owner, a status and a next action.
- Reconcile all bank accounts monthly.
- Reconcile company credit cards and payment accounts.
- Reconcile key balance sheet accounts every month.
- Maintain supporting schedules for inventory, deferred revenue, accruals, prepaids, payroll liabilities and other material accounts.
- Investigate reconciling items promptly.
- Escalate unusual or material issues with documentation and recommended next steps.
What this looks like: Every balance on the balance sheet has support behind it. We don't carry unexplained differences month after month.
Inventory accounting is one of the most important and complex parts of this position.
- Reconcile inventory between Cin7 Core and the general ledger.
- Understand and account for inventory receipts, movements, staging, kitting, adjustments and shipments.
- Ensure accurate inventory valuation and COGS recognition.
- Reconcile inventory-related balance sheet accounts.
- Investigate inventory and costing discrepancies.
- Ensure appropriate accounting treatment of purchase price, freight, repairs, labor and other landed costs.
- Partner closely with warehouse and operations teams to resolve inventory discrepancies.
- Support physical inventory counts and associated reconciliations.
- Help maintain and improve inventory costing methodologies and controls.
- Ensure revenue and related COGS are recognized in the appropriate accounting periods.
What this looks like: We trust our gross margin because we trust the accounting underneath it.
- Own assigned components of the close calendar.
- Complete journal entries, reconciliations and supporting schedules on time.
- Ensure AP and AR subledgers are complete and reconciled.
- Complete inventory and COGS reconciliations.
- Record accruals, prepaids, deferred items and other adjusting entries.
- Investigate unusual variances and balances.
- Prepare clean supporting documentation for Accounting Manager review.
- Respond promptly to review questions and complete required adjustments.
- Support year-end tax and audit preparation.
What this looks like: We don't have to ask whether your portion of the books is ready. It is complete, documented and ready for review.
- Maintain W-9 documentation and vendor tax records.
- Support 1099 preparation and filing.
- Maintain sales tax records, exemption certificates and supporting documentation.
- Support sales tax filings and compliance processes.
- Maintain accounting documentation necessary for tax preparation, audits and external review.
- Respond to information requests from our accounting firm and other external financial partners.
- Keep supporting schedules current throughout the year rather than recreating them at year-end.
What this looks like: Tax season, audits and external reviews aren't scavenger hunts.
Our accounting doesn't live in one piece of software. You will need to understand how information moves between systems.
Our current technology ecosystem includes:
- QuickBooks Online
- Cin7 Core
- Shopify
- BILL.com
- Rippling
- Excel / Google Sheets
- Google Workspace
- Open AI Products / Chatgpt
- Anthropic AI Products / Claude
- Other operational and e-commerce platforms
You will:
- Understand how transactions move between systems.
- Identify integration or synchronization problems.
- Reconcile systems when information doesn't agree.
- Maintain data integrity across accounting platforms.
- Become a power user of the systems most critical to the accounting function.
Experience with every platform isn't required on Day 1. The ability and curiosity to understand interconnected systems is.
We don't believe good accounting means doing the same manual process forever.
- Maintain and improve accounting SOPs and documentation.
- Identify recurring errors and address their root causes.
- Identify opportunities for automation and AI.
- Help implement responsible AI and automation within accounting workflows.Review automated outputs and manage exceptions.
- Eliminate unnecessary manual work wherever appropriate.
- Strengthen documentation and process discipline.
- Suggest improvements rather than simply accepting inefficient processes.
What this looks like: Six months from now, the accounting function should operate better than it did on your first day.
Required Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting or closely related field.
- QuickBooks Online experience.
- 4+ years of progressive accounting experience.
- Demonstrated experience owning significant portions of end-to-end accounting.
- Strong working knowledge of GAAP.
- Hands-on full-cycle AP experience, from vendor setup through payment.
- Hands-on full-cycle AR experience, from invoicing through collections and reconciliation.
- Strong general ledger accounting experience.
- Demonstrated month-end close experience.
- Strong balance sheet reconciliation skills.
- Strong Excel or Google Sheets proficiency.
- Experience working within an ERP or inventory/accounting system.
- Ability to independently investigate discrepancies and get to a tied‑out answer.
- Experience in an inventory-heavy business.
- Manufacturing, distribution, beverage, wholesale or e-commerce accounting experience.
- Inventory valuation and COGS accounting experience.
- Experience reconciling an inventory ERP to the general ledger.
- Shopify experience.
- Cin7 Core experience.
- Experience working with external accounting or audit firms.
- Experience implementing accounting processes or controls.
- Experience using AI and automation tools within finance or accounting.
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