About The Company
A growing, technology-enabled professional services organization is seeking an accomplished Product Manager, Accountant to join its Toronto team. This is a newly created opportunity for a senior accounting professional with significant Canadian tax expertise and a strong track record advising owner-managed and privately held businesses.
Reporting into the firm's leadership team, the successful candidate will assume responsibility for the quality and delivery of accounting, tax, and advisory services while contributing to the continued development of the organization's professional-services platform.
This is a highly visible role offering the opportunity to combine technical tax expertise, client advisory, professional leadership, and operational development within a progressive and evolving organization.
The Opportunity
The successful candidate will serve as a trusted advisor to a portfolio of owner-managed and privately held businesses, providing oversight across accounting, tax compliance, tax planning, and advisory engagements.
In addition to direct client responsibilities, the individual will play an important role in establishing and enhancing the organization's professional-services capabilities, including service standards, engagement methodologies, quality controls, processes, pricing, and delivery models.
The role will also involve working collaboratively with technology and operations professionals to identify opportunities to enhance service delivery, improve efficiency, and develop scalable processes while maintaining a high standard of professional judgment and accountability.
Key Responsibilities
- Establish and maintain trusted relationships with business owners, founders, and key stakeholders.
- Lead accounting, tax compliance, tax planning, and advisory engagements from initial scoping through completion.
- Review financial statements, reconciliations, workpapers, tax returns, and other client deliverables to ensure technical accuracy and quality.
- Proactively identify tax risks, planning opportunities, and areas requiring additional consideration.
- Provide clear, commercially minded advice on complex accounting and tax matters.
- Develop and enhance professional-services methodologies, engagement standards, quality-control processes, and client-service practices.
- Establish consistent standards for service quality, documentation, review, and delivery.
- Contribute to capacity planning, pricing, resource allocation, and the ongoing development of service offerings.
- Work collaboratively with technology professionals to identify opportunities to improve workflows and automate appropriate areas of recurring work.
- Apply professional judgment in reviewing technology-enabled outputs and determining where appropriate levels of professional oversight are required.
- Identify opportunities to improve processes, controls, and service delivery.
- Maintain the highest standards of confidentiality, accuracy, professional integrity, and client service.
Technical Tax Expertise
The successful candidate will possess substantial Canadian tax experience, particularly within an owner-managed and privately held business environment.
Relevant experience should include a significant portion of the following:
Corporate & Personal Tax Compliance
- Preparation and review of T2 corporate income tax returns and supporting schedules for Canadian-controlled private corporations.
- Preparation and review of T1 personal income tax returns for shareholders, founders, and owner-managers.
- Preparation of GST/HST returns and resolution of sales-tax matters.
- Preparation and review of T4, T4A, T5, and other applicable information returns.
- Management of corporate tax instalments, balances owing, elections, deadlines, and CRA notices.
- Management of CRA reviews, audits, information requests, and related correspondence.
- Experience with owner-managed structures, including operating companies, holding companies, partnerships, and family trusts.
- Coordination of year-end tax requirements with bookkeeping, payroll, financial statements, and the financial close process.
Tax Planning & Advisory
- Advising owner-managers on compensation strategies, including salary, dividends, bonuses, and other remuneration considerations.
- Advising on shareholder loans, related-party transactions, intercompany balances, and personal use of corporate assets.
- Planning related to tax instalments, cash flow, loss utilization, capital expenditures, and capital cost allowance.
- Advising on holding-company structures, intercorporate dividends, and the movement of funds between related entities.
- Supporting corporate reorganizations, Section 85 rollovers, estate freezes, succession planning, and related transactions, independently or in conjunction with external specialists.
- Advising on business acquisitions and dispositions, including share-versus-asset considerations, QSBC status, purification, and the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption.
- Identifying matters requiring specialized legal or tax advice and coordinating effectively with external advisors.
- Translating technical tax considerations into practical, actionable recommendations for clients.
The successful candidate is not expected to have encountered every tax matter. Strong technical fundamentals, sound professional judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to recognize when specialist advice is required will be essential.
Qualifications & Experience
- Canadian CPA designation in good standing.
- Significant accounting and tax experience within public accounting or a professional-services environment.
- Demonstrated experience advising owner-managed and privately held businesses.
- Strong technical knowledge of Canadian corporate and owner-manager taxation.
- Proven ability to manage and develop senior-level client relationships.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex matters clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
- Demonstrated commitment to accuracy, quality, professional standards, and client service.
- Ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial and evolving environment.
- Interest in leveraging emerging technology and AI to enhance professional-services delivery while maintaining appropriate professional oversight.
- Willingness and ability to work full-time from the firm's Toronto office.
Ideal Background
The opportunity may be particularly well suited to an individual who:
- Has built their career within a small or mid-sized public accounting firm serving privately held companies and their owners.
- Has assumed responsibility for complex client matters and provided direct tax and business advice to owners and executives.
- Has contributed to the development of service offerings, internal processes, quality-control frameworks, or client-delivery models.
- Enjoys combining technical expertise with client advisory and relationship management.
- Is interested in contributing to the evolution of professional-services delivery through technology and process improvement.
- Demonstrates an entrepreneurial mindset and is comfortable taking ownership in an evolving organization.
- Is equally comfortable engaging with clients, reviewing technical matters, improving processes, and collaborating with technology professionals.
Organizational Environment
The organization is focused on delivering a high-quality, technology-enabled professional-services experience to owner-managed and privately held businesses.
Technology and automation are intended to enhance efficiency and reduce repetitive administrative work, allowing accounting professionals to focus on client relationships, technical judgment, advisory work, and quality assurance.
The successful candidate will have an opportunity to contribute not only to client engagements but also to the ongoing development of the organization's service model, processes, and operating standards.
REF# LI1817
