About Us
Have you heard of us? Probably not, and that is by design. We work behind the scenes supplying the service companies and OEMs who install and maintain the life safety systems that protect people in every restaurant, office tower, condo, and mall in the country. Emergency lights, fire extinguishers, detectors, fire alarm components, and signage. If it protects a building, there is a good chance we supplied it.
● The Steel Fire group of companies has been profitable every year since 1956. The group of businesses has grown to include five brands including Steel Fire, Serva-Lite Sales, SOTA Battery, Fire Detection Devices and ELS. Our businesses serve customers primarily in Canada, but also the US and other international markets. Our brand promise is simple: the products you need, when you need them.
● Family is important. We respect and are flexible to the needs of our staff, many of whom have been with us for over 20 years.
● We view our customers and vendors as partners with hundreds of relationships that go back over 40 years. We are personal with our customers. When you call you get a person and not a machine.
● For many of our customers we are their largest or key supplier. We never, ever want anyone to feel like we take advantage of that position. Any negative feedback is immediately shared with the team and the customer contacted to acknowledge the concern and the outcome. From people to systems and process design, we are focused on delivering Wow.
● We play the long game where decisions are made to maximize the customer experience and not the transaction. If you like stability, we have it in spades. This mindset has meant we have been profitable every year since 1956 while operating with no debt.
● The Steel group of companies is growing: four operating companies today, and counting, across the country, all supported by one centralized accounting function based here in Mississauga.
Why this role exists
As the Steel Fire group has grown, our finance function has centralized too. What used to run inside several separate businesses now runs through one accounting team here in Mississauga, supporting multiple entities, each with its own vendors, purchasing patterns, and system setup. Accounts payable is where a lot of that day-to-day complexity shows up first: invoices arriving from different entities, a discrepancy that needs a second set of eyes, a vendor statement that needs to stay current, a payment that needs to go out on time so our supply keeps moving. Done well, vendors get paid accurately, goods keep flowing, and Purchasing has the information they need to make good calls. That reliability is a real, direct contributor to the brand promise above. This is also a genuinely good place to start a career in accounting. You will learn full-cycle AP properly, with real training and real support, across multiple entities and ERP environments rather than just one. Most people starting out in AP only ever see a single ledger — here, you will build broader pattern recognition earlier than that path would normally allow.
What you will own
● Three-way matching: matching invoices to Purchase Orders and Receiving Reports so payments go out only for what was actually received, at the correct quantity and price.
● Discrepancy resolution: working with Purchasing to sort out mismatches quickly and accurately.
● Landed cost accuracy: tracking down freight and other shipment costs so inventory is valued at what it actually cost us.
● Non-PO invoice processing: routing expense invoices for approval, coding them correctly, and entering them into the ERP.
● Payment runs: weekly cheque and EFT runs, processed on schedule.
● Vendor statement reconciliations: completed monthly, so our records and our vendors' records tell the same story.
● Vendor follow-up: staying on top of missing invoices and outstanding issues so vendors always know where things stand.
● Ship/debit rebate reporting: preparing and sending monthly vendor rebate reports, then tracking them through to a received credit.
● Freight rate maintenance: keeping standard rates current and accurate, monthly or quarterly.
What We Are Looking For
● 4-8 years of experience in Accounts Payable, ideally in a manufacturing or distribution industry.
● Clear communication, verbal and written. You will be in regular contact with Purchasing internally and with vendors externally.
● Comfortable in Excel, including simple formulas and lookups.
● A naturally curious person who sees a mismatched invoice or a stalled credit as an interesting problem worth solving, and who enjoys following it through to an answer.
Our core values, and how you bring them to life in this seat
- Deliver WOW. We set the bar higher than anyone expects from a distributor. In AP, that means the threeway match is done before it is chased, not after. It means the landed cost is right the first time, so inventory numbers are never a guessing game. It means a vendor statement that is reconciled and current, not three months behind. WOW is the difference between a vendor who ships to us and a vendor who ships us their best allocation first, because they know we pay accurately and on time.
- Driven by WHY (challenge assumptions). We want to know the reason behind the work, not just the work. If the same vendor's invoice is off by the same small amount every month, you ask why. If a freight rate on one lane keeps creeping up, you ask why before you just re-code it and move on. If the process you inherited makes a rebate credit take two months to land, you ask why and you do something about it. People who only execute the task are useful here. People who execute the task and challenge how it is done are who we promote.
- Personal-ity (listen, understand, surprise). AP is not customer-facing in the way AR is, but it is not a solo function either, you are on the phone with vendors, back and forth with Purchasing, chasing missing invoices and outstanding credits. Listen means letting the vendor explain before assuming you already know why the invoice does not match. Understand means asking why the price or quantity is off instead of just flagging it and moving on. Surprise means having the landed cost sorted before anyone asks, the statement reconciled before it becomes a fire drill, the missing credit chased down before Finance even notices it has gone stale. The vendor who fixes their invoicing without being asked twice, or ships us their tightest allocation when supply is short, is the vendor who has been on the other end of AP done well.
- Fortitude (unflinching resolve). The reconciliation that will not tie out on the first, second, or third pass. The vendor who is slow to answer a credit request. The freight invoice that shows up weeks after the shipment and throws off a landed cost you already booked. This work rewards people who go back to the same unresolved item without losing precision or patience, across four operating companies today, and counting, each with its own quirks. Fortitude is not toughness. It is the ability to come back to the same discrepancy as your best, most careful self, every single time.
Why we think you will find this interesting
● Real breadth, early. You will work across multiple entities and ERP environments from day one - most entry-level AP roles only ever touch one.
● Genuine investment in your training, with a clear path to grow within Finance as the group continues to expand.
● Full benefits, and a team where many people have stayed for 20-plus years. We are flexible to our people's needs, and we mean that.
● Stability that is genuinely rare- profitable every year since 1956, no debt, and no pressure to cut corners to hit a number.
If this posting speaks to you Include a brief note about a time you tracked something down until it was actually resolved: what the situation was, and how you got to the answer. Interview Process
The interview process starts with a video interview. Successful candidates from the video interview will be invited to head office for a facility tour, meet the team, and interview(s). In addition, you may be asked to Steel Fire Limited complete a PXT Profile which is a fit assessment tool that we use. We are very excited to meet exceptional people.
We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing reasonable employment accommodation in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If you require accommodation to apply for or if selected for an interview, please contact Human Resources. Your application and any related materials you provide may be processed, stored, reviewed or otherwise used by systems in our recruitment selection process that may interact with AI tools. This includes any AI integrated functions that may be utilized by the job board through which you applied to our position.
Pay: $57,000.00-$65,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Mississauga, ON L5T 2L2: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- What part of Accounts Payable energizes you the most, and what part requires the most discipline from you?
- How do you handle discrepancy? Please share the type of discrepancy, how did you find that out, what was your approach to handle it, and the outcome.
- How many invoices do you have to process on a weekly basis? What AP software/system do you currently use or have used in the past?
Work Location: In person
