SENIOR ACCOUNTING MANAGER
Tampa Bay, Florida | Palm Communities
Florida Living At Its Best
About Palm Communities
Palm Communities manages multifamily properties across the Tampa Bay area. We run a tight operation focused on quality homes, fast response times, and clear communication with residents and owners. We work in AppFolio, lean on data, and expect our team to do the same.
Role Overview
The Senior Accounting Manager owns Palm's accounting operation end to end. This person lives in AppFolio, keeps trust and operating accounts reconciled to the penny, closes the books each month, and produces clean owner reporting on deadline. Because Palm manages funds for other investors, accuracy is the standard, not a nice-to-have. The role works directly with the CEO to connect the numbers to what comes next, and leads the finance and accounting team.
What You'll Own
- Own day-to-day accounting in AppFolio across every property, entering and reviewing receipts, bills, deposits, and journal entries so each transaction is accurate, coded, and clearly described
- Reconcile operating, deposit, corporate, and credit card accounts, review bank activity daily, and clear exceptions fast
- Protect owner trust funds and keep every property balanced, so no property goes negative or absorbs another's charges
- Close the books cleanly each month and produce accurate owner statements and distributions on deadline
- Own 1099s, DBPR licenses, and annual filings, and hand clean records to the outside CPA at tax time
- Work directly with the CEO to show where the numbers support or limit what comes next, and find ways the department can fund and speed it
- Run stipend audits and overcharge recaptures, chasing duplicate payments, billing errors, and margin leakage across the portfolio
- Turn one-time findings into permanent process fixes, tighten SOPs, and use AppFolio features and AI to cut manual effort
- Lead and review the finance team's work, find the root cause of errors, and stop them at the source
How Performance Is Measured
- Days to close each month
- Posting accuracy across all properties
- Owner statement and distribution turnaround time
- Reconciliation currency, with trust and bank accounts current and exceptions cleared
- Dollars recovered through stipend audits and overcharge recaptures
What You Bring
- Local to Tampa and able to work from the office Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- 5+ years of accounting experience, including at least 3 years in non-HOA multifamily property accounting
- Strong command of accrual accounting, month-end close, and property-level financials
- Working command of AppFolio strongly preferred, with comparable platforms such as Entrata, Yardi, Buildium, or RealPage also valued
- Advanced Excel, including pivot tables, lookups, and data organization
- Ability to work independently, prioritize deadlines, and manage multiple properties at once
- Preferred: Trust accounting experience in a property management context, with real depth in owner reporting and reconciliations
- Preferred: Experience leading or reviewing a small finance team and tightening SOPs
- Preferred: Comfort presenting financials to non-finance stakeholders, including the CEO
- Preferred: A track record of finding money, from stipend audits to overcharge recaptures, and closing the gaps for good. Property management accounting experience is valued over a CPA.
Working Conditions
- In-office role at Palm's Tampa headquarters, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Desk-based work with high transaction volume across many accounts
- Deadline-driven monthly close and owner reporting cycles
- Minimal travel
Benefits
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Life insurance
- 401(k) with company match
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- Flexible schedule within posted hours
- Annual performance bonus tied to KPIs set by the CEO
- A direct line to the CEO and real influence on strategy
Pre-Hire Requirements
- Background check
- Credit check, given the role's handling of owner trust funds
- Drug screening
Application Questions
Candidates should be prepared to answer the following at the application stage:
- How do you approach month-end close, and how do you keep it clean under high transaction volume across many accounts?
- Describe how you protect owner trust funds and keep one property's accounts from absorbing another's charges.
- Tell us about a time you found recoverable dollars, such as a duplicate payment, an overcharge, or margin leakage, and what you did with the finding.
- How do you trace a recurring accounting error to its root cause and stop it at the source?
- Describe how you would walk a non-finance leader, like the CEO, through property financials and what they mean for the next decision.
Our Core Values
- Do the right thing: At Palm, we treat owner trust funds as untouchable and code every transaction honestly. Owners trust us because the numbers hold up.
- Get it done: Every month, we close the books cleanly and on deadline. Owner statements and distributions go out on time.
- Raise the bar: We reconcile to the penny and hunt for recoverable dollars others miss. Clean books and recovered margin are the standard, not the exception.
- Own it: When a number looks off, we trace it to the root cause and fix it at the source. Our records stay clean because we own both the error and the fix.
- Win together: Our finance team and the CEO read from the same numbers. We connect financial reality to what Palm builds next, and we get there together.
Pay: $80,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
