Part-Time Bookkeeper / Controller – Manufacturing

Schedule: 10–15 hours per week
Work Arrangement: Flexible schedule / Partially remote

About the Position

We are a small manufacturing and distribution company seeking an experienced Bookkeeper / Controller to take hands-on responsibility for our accounting and financial records.

This is a unique position combining day-to-day bookkeeping with higher-level accounting and controller responsibilities. We are not looking for someone who only wants to review reports or manage other accounting staff. The person in this position will personally handle routine bookkeeping while also helping us maintain accurate financial statements, inventory accounting, cost of goods sold, and financial controls.

Our business purchases, manufactures, inventories, and sells a large number of components and finished products. Because of this, experience with manufacturing, distribution, inventory, or cost accounting is particularly valuable.

We are looking for someone who enjoys being hands-on, understands how the individual transactions ultimately affect the financial statements, and is willing to investigate when the numbers don't make sense.

Schedule & Flexibility

This position is expected to require approximately 10–15 hours per week and offers a high degree of flexibility.

We are primarily concerned with having responsibilities completed accurately and on time rather than requiring someone to work a fixed daily schedule. The employee can arrange much of their weekly schedule around their own availability as long as required duties and deadlines are consistently met.

The position can be partially remote. However, the employee must be able to come into our office at least a few times per month and occasionally as needed for inventory, records, meetings, or other accounting matters.

This could be an excellent opportunity for an experienced accounting professional looking for meaningful, long-term part-time work without the schedule demands of a traditional full-time accounting or controller position.

Responsibilities

Hands-On Bookkeeping

A significant portion of this position involves routine bookkeeping. The successful candidate must be comfortable personally performing these responsibilities, including:

• Maintain accurate accounting records in QuickBooks Online and our inventory system
• Enter, review, and properly categorize financial transactions.
• Manage accounts payable and vendor bills.
• Manage accounts receivable and customer payments.
• Manage domestic and international wire transfers
• Perform bank and credit card reconciliations.
• Review and reconcile balance-sheet accounts.
• Maintain the general ledger and chart of accounts.
• Review transactions for proper classification.
• Maintain appropriate supporting documentation.
• Research and correct accounting discrepancies.
• Assist with payroll-related accounting and reconciliations.
• Maintain organized and accurate accounting records.

Inventory & Manufacturing Accounting

• Help maintain accurate accounting for raw materials, components, work-in-process, and finished goods.
• Reconcile inventory records to the general ledger.
• Review inventory adjustments and investigate discrepancies.
• Monitor inventory valuation and cost of goods sold.
• Help establish and maintain accurate product costs.
• Understand and review bills of materials (BOMs) and their impact on product costs.
• Review purchase orders, receiving records, vendor invoices, and inventory transactions for accuracy.
• Assist with physical inventory counts and cycle-count reconciliation.
• Help identify obsolete, slow-moving, damaged, or incorrectly valued inventory.
• Work with operations to improve inventory and manufacturing accounting procedures.

Controller & Financial Reporting Responsibilities

In addition to bookkeeping, we want this person to help ensure that the company's overall financial information is accurate and useful to management.

Responsibilities will include:

• Manage the monthly accounting close.
• Prepare and review monthly Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports.
• Review gross margins and investigate unusual changes.
• Monitor cash flow and upcoming financial obligations.
• Help prepare budgets and cash-flow forecasts.
• Compare actual results against prior periods and budgets.
• Help management understand important financial trends and issues.
• Develop and maintain appropriate accounting procedures and internal controls.
• Identify weaknesses or inefficiencies in our accounting processes and recommend improvements.
• Work directly with company ownership and our outside CPA.
• Prepare schedules and supporting information for year-end tax preparation.

Systems & Process Improvement

We are continually looking for ways to improve our accounting, inventory, and operational systems. This person will have the opportunity to help us:

• Improve accounting procedures and workflows.
• Document accounting processes and controls.
• Improve the flow of information between purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, sales, and accounting.
• Reduce unnecessary manual data entry.
• Improve reporting and financial visibility.
• Evaluate and implement accounting, inventory, ERP, and other business systems.
• Improve integrations between QuickBooks Online and our other business systems.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on bookkeeping or accounting experience.
• Strong working knowledge of QuickBooks Online.
• Strong understanding of accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliations, general ledger accounting, and month-end close.
• Ability to prepare and understand financial statements.
• Strong Google Sheets skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to investigate discrepancies and determine their underlying cause.
• Comfortable working independently and taking ownership of the accounting function.
• Comfortable performing both routine bookkeeping and higher-level accounting work.
• Strong organizational and documentation skills.

Highly Preferred Experience

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be particularly valuable:

• Manufacturing accounting
• Distribution or wholesale businesses
• Inventory accounting
• Cost of goods sold
• Inventory costing
• Bills of materials (BOMs)
• Work-in-process accounting
• Purchase order systems
• ERP or MRP systems
• Shopify or e-commerce
• Multi-brand or multi-division accounting
• Sales tax
• Cash-flow forecasting

The Person We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who is experienced but still enjoys being hands-on.

You should be just as comfortable reconciling a bank account or entering a vendor bill as you are reviewing a P&L, analyzing gross margins, or discussing a financial issue with company ownership.

This is not a supervisory controller position where bookkeeping responsibilities are delegated to other employees. You will personally perform much of the company's bookkeeping.

At the same time, we want someone who understands the bigger picture. If inventory doesn't reconcile, gross margins suddenly change, or a balance-sheet account doesn't look right, we expect you to notice it, investigate it, and help determine the cause.

For the right person, this is an opportunity to take ownership of the accounting function of a small business while maintaining a highly flexible part-time schedule.