The Controller
a.k.a. Accounting Manager · Finance Manager
Owns financial accuracy and controls across billing, payables, collections, and reporting.
Who they are
Where the controller runs the day from the desk.
Owns financial accuracy and controls across billing, payables, collections, and reporting.
Software relationship: daily
Goals · what “good” looks like
- ▸Financial statements within 10 business days of month-end
- ▸DSO below industry benchmark
- ▸Controlled financial processes with audit trail
Who shows up · how they think
Demographics & mindset.
Demographics
Typical MBTI types
the temperaments we keep meeting in this seat
A day with the controller
Wake to bed.
12 waypoints. 2 peak-stress hours.
Wake
Coffee. Pulls the cash position dashboard up on the phone before getting in the shower. Operating account, line of credit balance, the two large customer payments dispatch said would land Friday and didn't.
Office, lights on
First in, the way she has been since the close stretched past fifteen days last quarter. Prints the AR aging — pen catches errors faster than the screen — and circles the three accounts over sixty days she wants the AR Specialist to walk her through.
AR aging stand-up
Fifteen minutes with the AR Specialist at the corner desk. Walks the over-sixty bucket account by account, agrees on which two get a payment-plan offer and which one gets escalated to the Service Manager before any more work is booked.
Bookkeeper handoff
Reviews yesterday's deposit batch and the journal entries the Bookkeeper flagged. Pushes back on a parts purchase coded to a catch-all account — wants it tied to the right job so the HVAC P&L tells the truth at month-end.
Close-day-six work
Day six of the ten-day close. Reconciles the credit card clearing account, ties out the parts inventory adjustment, posts the prepaid insurance amortization. The accruals worksheet is open in the second monitor.
Job-cost reconciliation
Pulls the largest install jobs from last month and ties labor hours and parts cost back to the GL. Two jobs are off by more than a thousand dollars — emails the Operations Manager with screenshots and a question, not an accusation.
Salad at the desk
Eats while reading the bank's commercial-card statement. Texts her son back about the orthodontist appointment Thursday — yes, she can pick him up at three.
Bank covenant prep
Builds the trailing-twelve covenant package the lender expects every quarter. Debt service coverage, current ratio, AR over ninety as a percent of total. Numbers are clean; the narrative is what takes the time.
Payroll review with Specialist
Sits with the Payroll Specialist before she submits Wednesday's run. Two timecard exceptions still open on the Installer crew — agrees to hold the run an hour while the Operations Manager confirms the hours.
GM weekly
Walks the GM through the daily scorecard, the AR aging trend, and the two job-cost variances from this morning. Pushes for a real-time job profitability view in the field — the championed dashboard that would end the back-and-forth.
Close-out
Updates the close calendar, marks day six complete, lists the four items blocking day seven. Forwards the covenant draft to the Owner with a note: numbers final, narrative draft, ready to discuss.
Last look
Checks the cash position one more time from the kitchen counter while the pasta water boils. Two payments landed after lunch; tomorrow's open items shrink by one.
What they own · where they slip
The job, frankly.
Core duties
what’s on their plate every week
Where they trip
watch for these, they’re common
What makes them a champion
Real-time job profitability, AR aging, and cash position from one system.
Career map · the ladder in and out
Where they came from, where they’re headed.
Keep exploring
