Accounting Manager

Salary Range: 120000 to 140000 (Currency: CAD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

The role

Reporting to the Controller, the Accounting Manager runs the day-to-day accounting function across the corporate and project entities — the month-end and year-end close, accounts payable and receivable, project accounting and the monthly construction draw cycle, payroll, and the accounting team that produces them — and delivers the reporting, filings and audit support that depend on them. The role is hands-on: the Accounting Manager designs the process and operates it.

We are looking for a leader and a builder: someone excited about building this function, not simply maintaining it.

This is a working manager’s role. In the accountabilities below: prepare means you do the work yourself; review means your team prepares it and you are accountable for it being right before it leaves the department; approve means you are the sign-off in the workflow; own means you are accountable for the outcome, whoever does the work. Expect more than half your week in preparation.

Accountabilities

Leading the team

Lead and develop the accounting team — the senior accountant and associate accountants on the corporate entities, the associate project accountants on the projects, accounts payable and payroll — and set objectives aligned to the department’s strategy plan.

Maintain a written development plan for every team member and review progress quarterly.

Train the team on systems and standards so the function does not depend on any one individual.

Month-end close and financial reporting

Run the month-end and year-end close for all corporate and project entities against the published close calendar: prepare the judgment entries yourself and review every entry and reconciliation your team prepares before the books close.

Prepare the monthly and annual financial statements for first-pass issuance.

Prepare the accounting for joint arrangements and investments in related entities under the accounting policies set by the Controller.

Review intercompany billings and settlements across all entities; every intercompany balance agreed monthly.

Prepare the lender, investor and partner reporting packages to the reporting calendar for the Controller’s review and issuance.

Own the balance sheet: your team prepares the reconciliations, you review every one monthly, and every reconciling item is cleared within the period.

Bank and debt reconciliations

Review the weekly bank reconciliations your team prepares for every corporate and project entity, with every reconciling item cleared within the week.

Review the debt reconciliations your team prepares — every loan and facility, corporate and project, reconciled monthly to the lender statement: principal, draws, repayments, accrued interest and fees — and maintain the debt schedule so it is current at all times.

Corporate accounting oversight

Oversee the senior accountant and associate accountants on the corporate entities: set their monthly priorities against the close calendar and review their entries, reconciliations, HST returns and supporting schedules before the close.

Project accounting oversight

Oversee the associate project accountants: review their job cost accounting on every active project — budgets, commitments, change orders, actual costs and cost to complete — before it goes to the project teams and the Controller.

Prepare the capitalized interest and capitalized cost entries, and ensure statutory holdbacks are accounted for under the applicable standard and each project’s financing agreements.

Review the accounting for occupancy and final closings; prepare the revenue and cost of sales recognition on closing.

Accounts payable and construction draws

Own accounts payable from intake to payment: approve the payment runs and ensure the monthly AP close is on time.

Own the monthly construction draw cycle on every active project: all draws processed on time at 28 days, every month, no exceptions. Review the draw packages prepared by the associate project accountants for reconciliation to the job cost ledger, commitments and change orders; manage escalations with the cost monitors; and ensure timely delivery of funding from lenders and partners.

Accounts receivable and deposits

Review receivables and cash receipts — purchaser deposits and deposit trust reconciliations, occupancy fee billing, closing statements of adjustments, HST new housing rebate assignments and recoveries, partner billings and rental receivables — and manage collections escalations.

Audit, review and compliance

Lead audit fieldwork: your team prepares the standard working papers, you prepare the judgment areas and assemble the full package in advance of fieldwork, and you are the day-to-day contact for the external auditors.

Resolve control deficiencies at root cause so they do not recur in the following engagement.

Maintain documentation of internal controls over financial reporting as processes change.

Tax, payroll and regulatory

Own the compliance calendar: review the HST returns, new housing rebate claims and construction reporting your team prepares, and ensure every corporate return is filed by its due date.

Prepare the analysis and supporting schedules the Controller and external tax advisors need for planning, elections and structuring.

Review and approve payroll — every run, source deduction remittance and year-end filing.

Prepare regulatory and lender filings and the covenant calculations for the Controller’s review.

Lean accounting, AI and systems

Drive and implement lean accounting across the department: eliminate waste, reduce variability, and continuously improve and standardize the key processes — the close, the draw cycle, AP, reconciliations and reporting — measuring cycle time and effort saved.

Adopt AI on repetitive workflows — invoice intake, reconciliations, working papers and recurring reporting — to drive down the department’s opex, and measure the result.

Support the finance ERP implementation: chart of accounts and process design, data migration validation, user acceptance testing and cutover.

Apply Power Query and Power BI to reporting currently prepared manually each period.

Document procedures, close checklists and reconciliation templates so the work is repeatable.

Budget, forecast and cash flow inputs

Prepare the monthly input package for the Controller’s budget, rolling forecast and cash flow model — actuals, accruals, commitments, payables aging and draw schedules — from the schedules your team produces, on the close calendar.

Prepare the monthly close package with variance commentary on actuals to budget.

What you bring

CPA designation, completed. We are not considering in-progress candidates for this role.
7+ of progressive accounting experience, including 2+ years leading and developing a team.
A working manager: you have led a team of accountants and you still prepare the statements, reporting packages and covenant calculations yourself.
A builder: you have built a finance and accounting function and you are excited to scale the function. If you are looking to maintain a settled function, this is not the role.
Ownership of a full-cycle close and a complete set of financial statements, end to end, with accountability for their issuance.
Real estate development or construction accounting preferred — multi-entity structures, job cost accounting, capitalization of development costs, holdbacks, construction draws, construction loan accounting and prompt-payment compliance under the Construction Act. 
Public accounting training preferred — audit or assurance at a Big Four or national firm.
Multi-entity and intercompany accounting; consolidation, joint venture or partnership accounting is an asset.
Working knowledge of corporate tax and HST as they apply to a development business.
Payroll ownership, including source deductions, remittances and year-end filings.
Accounts payable and construction draw management on a monthly cycle, including holdbacks, statutory declarations and lien compliance.
Advanced Excel and financial modelling, including Power Query; you can rebuild a broken query, not just run one. Power BI is a plus.
Lean thinking applied to accounting: you have eliminated waste, reduced variability and standardized processes in a finance function, and can show the before-and-after cycle times. Formal lean training is a plus; having done it is what matters.
Passionate about AI, with a proven track record of applying AI to your daily workflows — you can show us what you automated, how, and what it saved.
Experience with Sage 300 CRE, Sage Intacct, Yardi, TimberScan or a comparable construction or real estate ERP preferred. Experience through an ERP implementation is a significant asset.
The judgment to hold a technical accounting position under pressure, and the ability to explain it in plain language to non-financial audiences.
You raise issues early, you disagree with reasoning and commit once the decision is made, and you go to the source to resolve a question rather than wait for it to be resolved for you.

Why you’ll want this role

This role is for a builder! The finance function is being rebuilt and the ERP is being implemented, and the Accounting Manager will shape how both operate rather than inherit a settled design. You’ll work directly with the Controller and the principals on the projects reshaping the GTA — landmark communities delivered across the region and the 4,000+ units that come next — with visibility across the whole business rather than a single function. 

We are on a mission to reinvent the industry and how projects are delivered. We are looking for missionaries who want to be part of that mission — not mercenaries looking for a job and a title.

Employee Home Ownership Program. Eligible team members can live in the communities we build, at a discount off the purchase price.

Learning and development reimbursement, including CPA dues and professional development.

Substantial paid vacation, wellness and sick days.

Comprehensive benefits for you and your dependents — dental, prescriptions, vision, paramedical practitioners, life insurance and more.

Health, lifestyle and wellness spending account for fitness, gym memberships, family and pet needs, and additional health benefits.

Dedicated online mental health partner — access to an online therapy provider, 24/7.

How to apply

Submit your resume and a half-page note describing one close or one construction draw cycle you took over and improved: the state it was in, what you changed, what the change cost you, and the cycle time today. The note will tell us more than the resume.

Compensation

$120,000 – $140,000 base salary plus a 15% target bonus. Compensation is reviewed against the market annually.

Location and schedule. Burlington, Ontario. This is an in-office role: four days a week with one flexible day.