Sr. accountant - multi-state payroll & tax compliance

Job Details

Job Location: Batavia, IL 60510

Position Type: Full Time

Education Level: 4 Year Degree

Salary Range: $70,000.00 - $90,000.00 Salary/year

Travel Percentage: Negligible

Job Category: Finance

Senior Accountant Remote | Full-Time | $70,000–$90,000 Base Salary + 10% Target Bonus

We are a growing fencing contractor operating in the construction industry, performing commercial and industrial fencing projects across multiple states. As our geographic footprint continues to expand, so does the complexity of our accounting, payroll tax, sales tax, and state compliance requirements. We are looking for an experienced Senior Accountant who enjoys digging into complex accounting issues, cleaning up problems, researching tax requirements, and building processes that keep those problems from coming back. This is not a routine accounting position. We need someone who can operate at a strong Senior Accountant level while also taking ownership of multi-state payroll tax, sales/use tax, and state compliance projects.

What You Will Own

• Senior Accounting
• Assist with month-end close and preparation of supporting journal entries
• Assist with preparation and maintenance of balance-sheet reconciliations
• Research and resolve historical GL discrepancies
• Review payroll, tax, accrual, prepaid, fixed-asset, and liability accounts
• Assist with financial statement preparation and account analysis
• Support construction accounting, job costing, WIP, retainage, and related reconciliations
• Prepare audit-ready workpapers and supporting schedules
• Identify accounting-control weaknesses and implement better processes

Multi-State Payroll Tax

• Review payroll-tax setup for employees working across multiple states
• Research state withholding, unemployment, reciprocity, and other employer requirements
• Register new state and local payroll-tax accounts
• Research and resolve historical filing issues and tax notices
• Reconcile payroll tax filings, payments, payroll reports, and GL accounts
• Work with the payroll provider to ensure employees are taxed correctly based on work location
• Help identify potential historical payroll-tax exposure and assist with corrective filings or remediation when necessary

Sales & Use Tax

• Assist with our ongoing multi-state sales-tax nexus review
• Research construction sales/use-tax requirements by state
• Determine registration and filing requirements
• Review reseller, resale, and exemption documentation
• Prepare or review sales/use-tax filings
• Help identify potential historical tax exposure and assist with corrective filings or remediation when necessary
• Develop procedures so tax requirements are identified before projects begin

What We Are Looking For

• Strong Senior Accountant-level accounting knowledge
• Experience with month-end close, journal entries, account reconciliations, and financial statements
• Ability to independently research unfamiliar accounting and tax issues
• Experience with payroll tax, sales/use tax, or multi-state compliance
• Strong Excel skills and the ability to work with large data sets
• Excellent documentation and workpaper skills
• Ability to identify the root cause of a problem rather than simply correcting the immediate issue
• Comfortable communicating with state agencies, payroll providers, CPAs, auditors, Operations, and leadership
• Construction accounting experience is highly desirable
• QuickBooks and/or Sage experience is helpful
• Experience using AI tools to improve accounting research, data analysis, documentation, reconciliations, or process efficiency is a plus

Preferred Background

We are particularly interested in candidates who have worked in a CPA firm, public accounting, audit, tax, or accounting advisory environment and later moved into industry. You do not need to know every state's tax law from memory. You do need to know how to research an issue, reach a supportable conclusion, document your work, reconcile the accounting, and implement a process that works going forward.

The Person Who Will Succeed Here

You are curious enough to ask why an account does not reconcile. You are persistent enough to follow the issue until you understand it. You know the difference between making a journal entry to force an account to balance and actually determining why it is wrong. You are comfortable researching a tax question you have never encountered before. You embrace technology and look for better ways to work, including using modern tools and AI where appropriate to improve efficiency and accuracy. And when you fix something, you document the solution and build a process so the company does not have to solve the same problem twice.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $70,000–$90,000, depending on experience
• 10% target annual bonus
• Health insurance benefits
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Full-time remote position
• Significant opportunity to make an impact across Accounting and Compliance

EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)/AAP (Affirmative Action Plan) Statement: Complete Fence provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law. The company takes affirmative action to ensure that applicants and employees are treated fairly during the application process and post-hiring employment without regard to any of these characteristics. Discrimination of any type is not tolerated.