Senior Tax Associate

Distinct | North America; Naperville (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Private office

Three weeks vacation

Job summary

Distinct North America in Naperville seeks a Senior level CPA with recent public accounting tax experience. The role offers a broad mix of tax compliance, planning and advisory work, with mentoring and internal advancement toward Manager and Partner tracks.

The firm emphasizes retention and development, offering private offices, a hybrid schedule, and a culture that values people over paper qualifications.

Qualifications

• Senior level or above with recent public accounting tax experience.
• Open to someone coming from a firm using different software.

Responsibilities

• Work on a broad tax practice including compliance and planning.
• Opportunity to build relationships with clients and advance toward ownership.
• Mentoring and progression toward Manager/Partner positions.

Skills

Public accounting tax

Client relationships

Mentoring

Tools

Lacerte

Job description

Some firms talk about retention. This one has a slightly more convincing way of proving it.

This is an established full-service CPA firm in Naperville, and two long-standing people are preparing to retire, including one of the Partners. Over the last decade, theyve replaced six people. Every one of those departures was a retirement!

And interestingly, some of the benefits here are better than youll find at Top 10 firms.

Not because theyre trying to compete with them on paper. They actually care about keeping good people.

Busy season works up to 55 hours, with 55 being at the higher end; then youre back to around 40. You'll start with three weeks of vacation, but overtime can either be paid as a bonus or taken back as additional time off. Typically, people build up around 120 hours, which could mean roughly another three weeks away from work.

Then from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Fridays are half days. That works out at roughly another eight days off across the summer.

Its hybrid too, and everyone has their own private office when theyre in.

The tax work is broad, predominantly working with privately held businesses. There's the compliance you'd expect, but also tax planning and specialty work, so you can become properly involved with clients rather than simply preparing returns and passing them upwards.

And if you want more responsibility, theres somewhere for it to go.

Most of the team has grown through the firm, with people mentored into Manager and Partner positions rather than the firm continually hiring above them. You could start by supporting a Manager with their book, build your own relationships with those clients and gradually take more ownership.

If you eventually want to develop your own book and work towards Partner, you can.

You're not thinking that far ahead yet, that's fine too.

They're looking for someone at Senior level or above with recent public accounting tax experience. Lacerte experience isn't necessary, and they're open to someone coming from a firm using different software.

There are bigger CPA firms you could join.

But bigger doesn't automatically mean better benefits, better hours or better opportunities. Sometimes working somewhere that actually wants you to still be there in ten years is worth rather a lot.

We support the CPA firms we partner with in building diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces, and the right attitude often goes further than ticking every box.