Senior Accountant

Job Description

Job Description

The opportunity

Maybe you've been a senior accountant at a regional public firm long enough to know what the next ten years look like there: you're a year or two from making manager, the partners know it, and the line in front of you isn't getting any shorter. Or maybe you're on an accounting team inside a company — doing strong work, but without a clear path to move up. Either way, if you're thinking seriously about your career and what real advancement looks like, this is worth a read.

Shetland Financial is a growing, future-focused firm, and we're deliberately building a senior seat with real authority: someone to own delivery and client relationships and grow into firm leadership as we expand. There's no wall of partners ahead of you and no one you're waiting to see retire. The path up is open by design, it's time-bound, and it's written down.

What you'd actually do

• Run delivery. Be the named reviewer of record on recurring engagements across tax, accounting, and advisory. Sign off on workpapers. Catch what needs catching before it reaches the client.
• Own the close calendar end-to-end across the client book. Make it routine.
• Own the client relationships. Not just deliverables behind the scenes — become the trusted primary point of contact for a defined set of key clients, the person they call first.
• Build the playbook. Turn what currently lives in the owner's head into SOPs the whole team can run from, and help shape how the firm operates as it grows.

What we're looking for

• 5–7+ years in public accounting, currently at senior level and on track for a manager promotion.
• Strong tax review experience - you've signed off on returns, not just prepared them. Tax is roughly two-thirds of our practice.
• You've reviewed staff work and coached people toward "good" without doing it for them.
• You've owned client relationships, not just deliverables. You know the difference between answering a question and solving a problem.
• Comfortable in small-firm reality: less infrastructure, more leverage, more visibility, more consequence per decision.
• CPA preferred, not required. EA considered as well.
• You want a clear path upward and are ready to grow into a leadership role

How we work

Work-life balance here is a deliberate priority, not a line on a careers page.

• Hybrid, and genuinely flexible. Once you're fully trained, expect to be in our Center Valley office only about one or two days a week.
• Sane busy seasons. We don't run the punishing tax-season overtime this profession is known for. Reasonable hours, year-round.
• A direct working relationship with the owner — you won't be three layers from the room where decisions get made. You'll be actively involved in strategy and high-level decisions and help shape the firm itself.

Compensation

Year-one target total: $115,000–$130,000

• Base salary: $85,000–$105,000 , depending on experience.
• Performance bonus: 20% of base at target (0–200% range), tied to specific, written operational and firm metrics - shared with you on day one, not kept vague.
• Profit share: participation in a firm-wide pool in the years the firm outperforms.

Path to Manager + equity

• Expected timeline for strong performers: 12–24 months.
• The manager promotion unlocks a written phantom-equity plan, structured so you share in the firm's growth.
• Vesting and payout terms provided in writing at promotion.

Also: health benefits, 401(k) with match, and PTO.

Shetland Financial is an independently owned and operated business that offers tax filing, accounting and bookkeeping, and financial planning services to both individuals and small businesses. We are both a Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firm, and a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA).

Company Description

Shetland Financial is an independently owned and operated business that offers tax filing, accounting and bookkeeping, and financial planning services to both individuals and small businesses. We are both a Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firm, and a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA).