Staff Accountant

Job Description

Job Description

About Hiatt Accounting Group

Hiatt Accounting Group is a small, growing accounting firm in Castle Rock, Colorado. We handle bookkeeping, payroll, and tax work for small businesses, mostly S corporations and LLCs, across industries like roofing, veterinary, interior design, auto repair, retail, and field services.

We're a small team, and that is on purpose. Our clients get a firm that knows their books, answers their questions, and catches problems before they become expensive. We're growing, and we're looking for someone who wants to grow with us: someone who treats our clients' businesses with the same care we do and wants a real stake in building the firm.

The role

The Staff Accountant owns the day-to-day accounting work for a portfolio of small business clients. This is a full-time, hybrid position based in Castle Rock, reporting directly to the firm's owner.

You'll keep client books current and accurate in QuickBooks Online, run payroll, and help bring new and messy files into shape. You'll work closely with the owner, who reviews your work, and handles tax and advisory. As the firm grows, so does the scope of this role. We also want you to bring what you've learned elsewhere: the best practices, systems, and tools that will make us run better.

What you'll do

Monthly bookkeeping and close

• Categorize bank and credit card activity in QuickBooks Online and keep bank feeds and rules clean
• Reconcile bank, credit card, loan, and payroll liability accounts every month
• Review monthly financial statements for accuracy and reasonableness before they go to clients
• Prepare monthly close packages and flag unusual activity or open questions for review
• Track down missing documentation and resolve "Ask My Accountant" items with clients

Accounts payable and receivable

• Enter and approve vendor bills, schedule payments, and manage bill pay for clients
• Create and send customer invoices, record payments, and apply deposits and credits correctly
• Keep AP and AR aging reports accurate and reconciled to the balance sheet
• Follow up with clients on overdue receivables and unpaid or disputed bills
• Maintain vendor records and W-9s, and prepare year-end 1099s

Payroll

• Process recurring payroll for client companies in Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll
• Set up new employees, pay changes, deductions, and benefits such as S corp shareholder health insurance
• Own payroll tax compliance for client companies: federal and Colorado deposits, quarterly and annual returns (941, 940, state withholding, FAMLI, local taxes, W-2/W-3), and anything the payroll provider doesn't file; reconcile payroll liability accounts and respond to agency notices

Cleanup and onboarding

• Set up new client QBO files: chart of accounts, bank connections, opening balances
• Work through catch-up and cleanup projects on inherited files, identifying duplicates, miscoding, and missing accounts
• Document each client's processes so their books can be maintained consistently

Client support

• Be a responsive, day-to-day point of contact for client bookkeeping and payroll questions
• Manage your work and deadlines in our practice management system (Canopy)
• Support year-end work by preparing clean, reconciled books and supporting schedules

Process and systems improvement

• Bring proven workflows and best practices from your experience, and help us adopt them
• Build and maintain standard checklists for monthly close, payroll, and client onboarding
• Evaluate and recommend tools (receipt capture, bill pay, AR automation, QBO apps) that save time or reduce errors
• Spot recurring problems across clients and propose fixes, not just workarounds

What we're looking for

Required

• Minimum 2–5 years of hands-on bookkeeping or accounting experience, in public accounting or in-house
• Strong working knowledge of QuickBooks Online, including reconciliations, bank rules, journal entries, and standard reports
• Experience processing payroll, reconciling payroll liabilities, and filing federal and state payroll tax returns
• Solid grasp of debits and credits, accrual vs. cash basis, and how the balance sheet ties to the P&L
• Clear, professional written and verbal communication with business owners

Preferred

• Associate's or bachelor's degree in accounting, or equivalent experience
• QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification
• Experience with Gusto, Canopy, DoubleHQ and similar software tools
• Experience building or improving accounting workflows, close checklists, or app stacks at a firm or business
• Exposure to S corporations and small business tax concepts
• Experience cleaning up or catching up neglected books

Who thrives here

On a small team, every person's work is visible and every client relationship matters. You'll do well here if you:

• Take ownership. You treat your client list as yours, follow things through to the end, and don't let open items sit.
• Care about getting it right. A reconciliation that's off by $12 bothers you until you find out why.
• Communicate early. You flag problems and ask questions before deadlines, not after.
• Make things better. You notice when a process is clunky, and you bring ideas and experience to fix it.
• Want to grow. You're looking for a firm to build a career with, not a stop on the way somewhere else, and you want more responsibility as you earn it.
• Are committed to our clients. Our clients are small business owners who rely on us. You take that seriously and want them to succeed.

We're highly motivated to find the right person, and we'll invest in you: direct mentoring from the owner, exposure to tax and advisory work as you grow (not part of the initial role), and a real voice in how the firm grows.

Compensation and benefits

• Pay: $58,000 – $65,000 per year, based on experience and credentials
• Annual growth bonus: A year-end bonus based on a share of the firm's growth, so you benefit directly from the growth you help create
• Health stipend: $150 per pay period, paid as taxable wages, to use toward the health coverage of your choice
• Paid time off: 15 days of PTO plus paid holidays per year, in addition to paid sick leave under the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
• Professional development: Firm-paid CPE, QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification, and EA/CPA exam fees / study materials]
• Paid family and medical leave: Coverage through Colorado FAMLI
• Schedule: Full-time, Monday–Friday, with extended hours during tax season as needed
• Location: Hybrid, 2 days per week in our Castle Rock office
• Apply by: Oct 29, 2026