Are you an experienced public practice accountant who enjoys taking a client file from start to finish — but would prefer to do it in a smaller firm where your experience, judgment and contribution are genuinely valued?
Kostrich CPA Professional Corporation is a well-established boutique CPA firm in Barrie, and we are looking for an Experienced Staff Accountant or Senior Accounting Technician to join our team.
If you have solid public accounting experience, enjoy collaborating with owner-managed businesses, and are looking for a firm where you can continue learning while having meaningful responsibility for your files, we would like to hear from you.
A Little About Us
We provide accounting, tax and business advisory services to entrepreneurs, individuals and owner-managed businesses throughout Barrie, Simcoe County, and the Highway 400 corridor toward the GTA.
We are a smaller firm by design.
That means our clients know us, we know our clients, and our team gets exposure to much more than one narrow area of accounting.
Our approach is personal and practical. We listen first, understand what is happening in a client's business, and help them find solutions that make sense.
We also have a tremendous amount of experience within the firm. Some members of our team bring 30+ years of accounting and tax experience, creating an environment where there is always someone available to discuss an unusual file, work through a tax issue or provide another perspective.
And while we take our work seriously, we do not take ourselves too seriously.
We are a close-knit team. We help each other, ask questions, share knowledge, and have some laughs along the way.
What You'll Be Doing
This is not a role where you will spend your day working on one small piece of a file.
We are looking for someone who can progressively take responsibility for client files and see them through from beginning to end.
Depending on your experience, your responsibilities will include:
- Preparing year-end files and financial statements for owner-managed corporate clients, including Compilation Engagements and Review Engagements
- Preparing T2 corporate income tax returns
- Preparing T1 personal income tax returns, including self-employed business and rental property schedules
- Preparing T3 trust and estate income tax returns
- Preparing T4 and T5 information returns
- Reviewing and reconciling client accounting records and identifying issues requiring adjustment or further investigation.
- Assisting clients with accounting, bookkeeping, and related questions
- Communicating with clients to obtain information, resolve questions and keep files moving.
- Assisting with CRA correspondence and other tax matters as required
- Working with senior members of our team on more complex accounting and tax issues
- Identifying issues and bringing forward practical observations and recommendations rather than simply processing the numbers
Who We're Looking For
The designation on your business card is less important to us than your public practice experience and your ability to do the work well.
You may be a Staff Accountant, Senior Accounting Technician, experienced Accounting Technician, CPA candidate, or CPA.
Ideally, you bring:
- 3–5+ years of recent Canadian public accounting experience
- Experience collaborating with owner-managed corporations and small businesses.
- The ability to take a corporate year-end file from start to finish.
- Experience preparing T2 corporate tax returns and T1 personal tax returns.
- An accounting diploma, degree, or equivalent practical experience
- Strong reconciliation, analytical and problem-solving skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Good organizational and time-management skills
- The ability to manage multiple files and deadlines.
- A high degree of professionalism, confidentiality, and integrity
Experience with the following would be an asset:
- CaseWare Working Papers
- Profile tax software
- QuickBooks (desktop and online)
- Sage
- Financial Cents
- Microsoft’s suite of products (Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams)
You do not necessarily need experience with every program listed above. If you have strong public practice fundamentals and can learn new systems, we still want to hear from you.
The Person Matters as Much as the Résumé
Technical experience gets you through the door. How you work matters just as much.
You will fit well with our team if you:
- Take pride in producing accurate, well-organized work.
- Are efficient and understand the importance of getting files completed.
- Take initiative rather than waiting to be told every next step.
- Are you comfortable asking questions when something does not make sense?
- Want to keep learning.
- Can accept feedback and use it to become better.
- Enjoy solving accounting problems rather than simply processing transactions.
- Treat clients and their information with care and professionalism
- Are willing to help a teammate when things get busy.
- Enjoy working with people and do not mind having a laugh during the day.
Nobody knows everything.
We would much rather have someone ask a good question than quietly guess at an answer. There is a considerable amount of experience within our office, and we want people to use it.
What You Can Expect from Us
Joining a boutique CPA firm provides a unique experience than becoming one more person inside an exceptionally large organization.
At Kostrich CPA, you will have the opportunity to:
- Work directly with experienced accounting and tax professionals.
- Build relationships with the clients whose files on which you are working.
- Gain exposure to a broad variety of businesses, industries, and tax situations.
- Develop your ability to manage files from beginning to end.
- Learn from colleagues with decades of practical experience.
- Ask questions and receive support when you encounter something unfamiliar.
- Have your ideas and observations heard.
- See the direct impact of the work you do.
- Become an important member of the firm as we continue to grow.
We are interested in finding someone who wants more than their next job. We would like to find someone who can become a valued, long-term member of our team.
A Note About Tax Season
We are in public practice, so we are not going to pretend February through April feels exactly like August.
There are deadlines and there are periods when additional hours are required, particularly during personal tax season.
We believe it is better to be upfront with that from the beginning.
We work as a team to get through the busy periods together.
Compensation
Compensation will be competitive and based on the successful candidate's public practice experience, technical abilities, and the level of responsibility they are able to assume.
Please include your compensation expectations when applying.
Interested?
You do not need to be actively searching for a new job to have a conversation with us.
If you're an experienced public accounting professional who has been thinking that you might enjoy working in a smaller firm — somewhere you can know your clients, own your files, continue developing your skills and work alongside people who genuinely help each other — we'd like to hear from you.
Please submit your résumé and a brief cover letter outlining your public practice experience.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in Canada.
We thank all applicants for their interest. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
Pay: $60,000.00-$80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Extended health care
- Flexible schedule
- On-site parking
Experience:
- public accounting: 3 years (required)
Licence/Certification:
- CPA, CPA Candidate, Staff Accountant (required)
Work Location: In person
