Senior Accounting Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Summary

Welfare & Pension Administration Service, Inc. (WPAS) is a third-party administration (TPA) firm specializing in multi-employer benefit plan administration, with a corporate office located on Mercer Island, Washington. We currently administer over 80 Taft-Hartley and Public Trust Funds covering Health and Welfare, Disability and Time Loss, Dental, Vision, Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit, Vacation, Apprenticeship, and Legal Services benefits. For a complete list of our services, please visit our Administration Services page.

Our goal is to build a state-of-the-art, fully integrated benefit management platform that meets the evolving needs of our clients. WPAS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) employer contributions, vacation pay, holiday pay, sick time accruals, and flexible scheduling within work hours.

Overview

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and partnering closely with the Corporate Controller, the Senior Accounting Manager is a hands-on leadership role spanning both corporate accounting and trust accounting. The position carries primary responsibility for driving accounting process improvement and for leveraging and enabling technology including the NetSuite ERP, Ramp AP automation, AI and large language model (LLM) tooling, and reporting enhancements—to increase the capacity, accuracy, and speed of a lean finance team.

This is a high-visibility role for an experienced accounting professional who is equal parts strong technical accountant, process designer, and technology champion. It offers a clear growth path toward an Assistant Controller or Controller role as the platform scales.

Responsibilities / Job Duties:

Process & Accounting Process Improvement (Primary Focus)

• Lead the design and continuous improvement of accounting processes, procedures, policies, and internal controls across corporate and trust accounting to improve accuracy, timeliness, and scalability.
• Document and standardize workflows (SOPs, checklists, and playbooks); identify and eliminate manual, redundant, or low-value steps.
• Shorten the monthly close cycle and strengthen the supporting reconciliation and review framework.
• Establish process metrics and a roadmap for ongoing efficiency gains; partner with leadership to prioritize and sequence improvements.

Technology Enablement & Reporting

• Serve as the finance team’s functional owner and champion for accounting systems, driving optimization of the NetSuite ERP (GL structure, segmentation, saved searches, workflows, and automations).
• Own and expand Ramp AP automation—approval routing, coding rules, integrations, and exception handling—to move accounts payable toward a touchless workflow.
• Identify and responsibly deploy AI and LLM-based tooling to automate repetitive accounting tasks, accelerate reconciliations and reviews, and augment team productivity within appropriate controls and data-governance standards.
• Enhance management and financial reporting—building and maintaining dashboards, recurring reporting packages, and self-service reporting in coordination with the company’s FP&A/reporting tools.
• Evaluate, recommend, and implement new finance technologies; lead user acceptance testing and change management for finance systems.

Corporate Accounting & Close

• Coordinate and execute the month-end close, including recurring and non-recurring journal entries, account reconciliations, and related tasks.
• Reconcile general ledger balances and ensure the integrity of the corporate ledgers in accordance with GAAP.
• Calculate, process, and remit monthly B&O tax; support other tax and compliance filings as needed.
• Assist in the annual budget process and support cash management, accounts receivable, and cash receipt functions.
• Prepare and review supporting schedules and workpapers; serve as a key contact for the external audit.

Trust Accounting Support

• Partner with the trust accounting team to support the accounting and reporting for assigned Taft-Hartley and Public Trust Funds.
• Assist with FAS 115 / cash-to-accrual accounting for various Trusts as needed.
• Help standardize and improve trust accounting processes, reconciliations, and reporting in coordination with corporate accounting.
• Create invoices for special projects and support client-driven reporting requests.

Team Leadership & Supervision

• Supervise, mentor, and develop accounting staff; review work for accuracy and completeness.
• Set priorities and manage workload to meet weekly, monthly, and annual deadlines.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and confidentiality.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Business degree (Accounting emphasis preferred, but not required).
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience, including hands-on application of GAAP.
• Demonstrated experience leading accounting process improvement and internal control enhancements.
• Experience with a modern ERP/general ledger system (NetSuite strongly preferred).
• Previous supervisory experience.
• Advanced Excel skills and strong comfort adopting and configuring new technology.
• Highly organized with efficient prioritization skills and demonstrated attention to detail.
• Ability to work with and maintain confidential matters.
• Punctual and able to meet weekly, monthly, and annual deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA or CPA candidate.
• Experience with multi-employer benefit plan, Taft-Hartley, or trust accounting.
• Hands-on experience optimizing NetSuite or other ERP systems
• Experience implementing or administering Ramp or comparable AP automation tools.
• Experience applying AI/LLM tools to finance and accounting workflows.
• Experience with FP&A/reporting platforms (e.g., Datarails) and dashboard/reporting development.

Physical / Mental Requirements

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by employees to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• While performing the duties of this job, employees are regularly required to use written and oral communication skills; read and interpret data, information, and documents; analyze and solve non-routine and complex office administrative problems; use math and mathematical reasoning; observe and interpret situations; learn and apply new information or skills; perform highly detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks; and work under intensive deadlines with frequent interruptions.

Work Environment

• This is a hybrid role based out of our Mercer Island, WA corporate office or our Los Angeles offices, combining in-office and work-from-home days.
• Occasional travel may be required, typically no more than 1–2 times per year.
• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this class. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Employees work under typical office conditions, and the noise level is usually quiet.
• WPAS is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and strive to continually create the most inclusive work environment for all our employees.