Senior Tax Accountant

Distinct | North America; Frederick (MD); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct, a seasoned CPA and advisory firm, is seeking a Senior Tax Accountant who wants to move from strong technical tax work to supervising and managing engagements. You'll stay hands-on with tax but gain ownership of engagements and client relationships.

You will work with Managers and Partners, review complex tax work, mentor staff, handle tax planning, communicate with clients, and participate in budgets, workflow, and business development.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of recent public accounting tax experience.
• Solid background across individual and business taxation.
• CPA, EA or active progress towards certification is expected.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and review complex tax work.
• Manage your own client engagements and deadlines.
• Provide tax planning and consulting to clients.
• Directly communicate with clients and manage expectations.
• Mentor and review staff accountants.

Skills

Public accounting tax

Client communication

Review and mentoring

Engagement management

Education

CPA or EA or progress toward certification

Tools

UltraTax

SurePrep

QuickBooks

Thomson Reuters

Job description

There’s a point where being a good Tax Senior should start buying you something other than more work.

More ownership. Better client exposure. Review experience. A genuine say in how engagements are run. The chance to develop people rather than always being the person everybody relies on to quietly get things finished.

That’s really the opportunity here.

This is an established CPA and advisory firm looking for a Senior Tax Accountant who wants to start making the move from strong technical accountant to future Supervisor and Manager.

You’ll still be hands on with tax. You just won’t be stuck there.

Why this role is worth considering

The firm wants its Seniors involved in much more than preparation.

You’ll work closely with Managers and Partners whilst gradually taking ownership of your own engagements and client relationships. That means getting exposure to the things that actually prepare you for the next stage of your career:

• Preparing and reviewing complex tax work
• Managing your own client engagements
• Tax planning and consulting
• Direct client communication
• Reviewing and mentoring staff
• Technical research and problem solving
• Engagement budgets and workflow
• Business development and networking
• Special projects alongside Managers and Partners

Basically, the things you're eventually expected to understand as a Manager.

Except you'll actually get the opportunity to learn them first.

The work gets broader from here

You’ll work across both individual and business tax, but the attraction isn’t simply the variety of returns. It’s how involved you become in everything surrounding them.

There’s a healthy mix of compliance, review, tax planning, projections and consulting, with the opportunity to work directly with clients rather than always sitting behind a Manager.

The aim is to understand the client rather than just their tax return.

What are they trying to achieve? What’s changing in their business? Is there a planning opportunity they haven’t considered? Could the firm be helping them with something they haven’t thought to ask about yet?

That’s the shift this role is designed to create.

You’re gradually moving from somebody who completes the work to somebody who understands the relationship behind it.

Clients will actually know who you are

This is probably one of the biggest differences you'll notice as you progress.

You’ll communicate directly with clients, manage expectations and deadlines, help resolve tax and accounting matters and start identifying opportunities rather than waiting for somebody above you to spot them.

That client exposure matters.

Because eventually the most valuable person in the room isn't necessarily the person who knows the most obscure piece of tax legislation.

It's the person the client trusts enough to call before they make the decision.

This role gives you the opportunity to start becoming that person.

You’ll learn the bits nobody teaches you before Manager

There's more to running a successful tax engagement than getting the technical answer right.

You'll start understanding workflow, budgeting, realization, billing and the wider commercial side of managing client work.

Not particularly glamorous.

Very useful.

Because if your long term ambition is Supervisor, Manager or eventually something beyond that, understanding how a client relationship works commercially becomes just as important as understanding the technical work itself.

Rather than suddenly expecting you to know all of that once you're promoted, this firm starts giving you exposure now.

Sensible, really.

You'll begin mentoring and supporting staff accountants through day to day coaching, technical guidance and review.

And there's an important difference between correcting somebody's work and making them better.

They're looking for someone interested in the second.

You'll help with onboarding and training newer members of the team whilst continuing to learn directly from experienced Managers and Partners yourself.

It's quite a nice stage of your career. You're still learning from people above you, but you're beginning to become that person for somebody else.

What they're looking for

You’ll need around 3+ years of recent public accounting tax experience, with a solid background across individual and business taxation.

CPA, EA or active progress towards certification is expected, alongside the confidence to start taking greater ownership of your work.

You'll probably enjoy this environment if you:

• Want more review responsibility
• Enjoy working directly with clients
• Can manage several engagements and competing deadlines
• Want exposure to planning and consulting, not purely compliance
• Are looking for a genuine route towards Supervisor and Manager

Experience with UltraTax, SurePrep, QuickBooks or Thomson Reuters software would be useful.

But software can be taught.

Judgement, curiosity and the ability to build trust are considerably harder.

Where this could take you

There's a clear opportunity to continue towards Tax Supervisor and Tax Manager, and the important bit is that your actual work will start preparing you for it.

You’ll already have experience with clients, review, mentoring, engagement management and planning before somebody hands you the next title.

So if you're currently the Senior who everyone relies on, but you're starting to wonder when all that extra responsibility is actually going to turn into something for you, this could be worth exploring.

You don't necessarily need a completely different career.

Maybe you just need a role that moves at the same speed you do.