Controller

About the Company

Morris Heating & Cooling, founded in 1996, is a specialty trades contractor serving the Greater Cincinnati region from its base in the Cincinnati / Burlington, Kentucky area. The company focuses on the installation, servicing, repair, and maintenance of HVAC, electrical, refrigeration, and commercial kitchen systems across the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana markets. In June 2024, Morris Heating & Cooling partnered with NextGen Growth Partners to enter the next phase of its growth journey, building a finance function capable of supporting disciplined project accounting, reliable margin visibility, strong cash management, and operational reporting for a growing MEP contracting business.

About the Role

Morris Heating & Cooling is seeking a hands-on Controller to own the accounting and financial reporting function end-to-end. This senior finance leader will challenge operations while personally managing the ledger, including preparing journal entries, running the monthly close, building job-cost and WIP schedules, and overseeing billing, collections, AP, and payroll. The role requires direct MEP experience and a strong command of project accounting in a specialty trades environment, including percent-of-completion (POC) revenue recognition and work-in-progress (WIP) reporting. The Controller must bridge the company’s commercial ERP (BuildOps) with its accounting system (QuickBooks Online) to align operational and financial data.

Responsibilities

• Own percent-of-completion (POC) revenue recognition across active projects and maintain accurate work-in-progress (WIP) schedules, including over-/under-billings, earned revenue, and backlog reporting.
• Partner with project managers and operations to develop, review, and update estimated total cost (ETC) and estimate-at-completion figures for each project, ensuring cost-to-complete assumptions are current and defensible.
• Personally own and execute the full monthly close process, including reconciliations, accruals, and consolidated schedules to produce accurate, timely financial statements.
• Prepare and post journal entries directly in QuickBooks Online (QBO), maintaining a clean, well-documented general ledger and supporting workpapers.
• Manage and improve the integration between BuildOps and QuickBooks Online, troubleshooting sync issues and ensuring accurate data flow between systems.
• Maintain accurate job-costing across labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment; analyze job-level margin and variance and surface issues to operations and leadership.
• Own cash forecasting, progress billings, and collections, with attention to retainage and lien/waiver processes; drive billing discipline and improve working capital.
• Personally manage accounts payable and own or closely coordinate payroll, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and proper coding to jobs.
• Prepare monthly financial reporting packages to provide leadership with real-time visibility into performance.
• Establish and maintain internal controls, oversee tax coordination, and manage relationships with outside CPAs, bonding agents, insurers, and banking partners.
• Document and improve accounting processes, procedures, and internal controls to drive automation, accuracy, and scalability.

Key Competencies

• Hands-on ownership of the ledger, including close, journal entries, job costing, billing, AP, and payroll.
• Financial discipline in driving cash, margin, and working-capital management.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in MEP/project accounting, including POC, WIP, ETC, and job costing in specialty trades (HVAC, electrical, refrigeration).
• Systems fluency with QuickBooks Online and commercial ERP/field-service platforms like BuildOps, including integration troubleshooting.
• Detail-oriented with strong critical thinking, accuracy, and logical judgment.
• Effective communicator, able to translate financial data into clear guidance for owners, project managers, and field leadership.
• Adaptable to shifting priorities and the pace of a growing contracting business.
• Results-driven with a sense of urgency in meeting deadlines and driving profitability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field (required).
• CPA and/or CMA (a plus).
• 7+ years of accounting/finance experience, including direct MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) experience.
• Hands-on command of POC/job-cost accounting, WIP, cash forecasting, billing and collections, AP, payroll, and month-end close.
• Proven ability to develop and maintain estimated total cost (ETC) / cost-to-complete for projects.
• Experience improving financial processes, controls, and cash management in a lean or growing environment (a plus).
• Experience owning a full monthly close and preparing journal entries in QuickBooks Online.
• Experience with BuildOps (or comparable commercial ERP/field-service platform) and integrating it with an accounting system (a plus).
• Strong Excel skills and comfort building and maintaining reporting.

Location: Burlington, Kentucky / Greater Cincinnati (On-Site). Job Type: Full-Time.