Merriam Music is one of Canada's premier music education and piano retail organizations, operating multiple campuses across the Greater Toronto Area, serving thousands of students annually. The Finance Team supports a multi-entity structure spanning music education (Canadian and US Divisions), piano retail, instrument service, and event production.
The Senior Bookkeeper is responsible for the full-cycle month-end close for Merriam Music's multi-entity operations. Reporting to the Senior Director of Operations and directly supervising the Accounting Clerk, this role sits at the heart of the finance department - bridging transactional bookkeeping with Controller-level review and producing a GAAP-ready trial balance each period. This is a hands-on senior role for an experienced bookkeeper who has been responsible for close cycles in complex, multi-entity environments and is comfortable with reconciliations across a wide range of bank accounts, merchant processors, and accounting subsystems.
- Responsible for the close calendar and ensure all tasks are completed within the published deadlines
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Review the Accounting Clerk's transactional work prior to posting and provide coaching on coding accuracy where necessary
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Produce the trial balance for review each period
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Coordinate with cross-functional teams (operations, inventory, payroll) to capture all required close inputs
- Reconcile numerous bank and merchant processor accounts each month, including a mix of operating accounts
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Reconcile a broad range of payment processors used across retail and education operations
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Prepare full bank reconciliations on multi-currency operating accounts (CAD and USD)
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Review and post journal entries based on the Accounting Clerk's transaction summaries
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Process electronic transfers as required
- Reconcile retail and school AR balances to the subledger each month
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Manage miscellaneous AR journal entries and cash matching
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Review AP coding and prepare cheque runs for signature
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Post AP accruals (Visa, American Express, general) and reconcile the AP clearing account
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Manage prepaid amortization adjustments and fixed asset depreciation entries
- Receive inventory with corresponding AP invoice matching
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Capitalize related labour timesheet costs into inventory
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Maintain landed cost, serialized inventory records, and trade-in valuations
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Complete actual cost fields on sales orders, including freight, mileage, and import schedule values
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Ship and invoice sales orders
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Reconcile the inventory clearing account each month
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Prepare quarterly margining reports and lead the year-end inventory reconciliation
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Coordinate with operations on shipment GL posting and undelivered inventory review
- Prepare and post monthly school revenue entries for the Canadian and US (MMOA) divisions
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Manage deferred revenue mechanics for summer lessons, summer camps, examinations, and the August year-end roll-over to the new school year
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Post entries for school instrument rental, school lesson and credit requests, and seasonal program revenue
- Review payroll registers prior to transmission and post related journal entries
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Calculate commissions and prepare commission continuity entries
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Manage vacation pay accruals and reconcile the payroll clearing account
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Prepare WSIB payments each month and prepare the annual WSIB reconciliation and return
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Prepare the EHT annual reconciliation and return
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Manage full-time, part-time, and last-month payroll accruals and reversals
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Review T4 reports for prepare any adjustments
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Coordinate with payroll service to prepare T4's
- Calculate, file, and remit GST/HST on the required schedule
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Reconcile long-term debt balances and post deferred financing charge entries
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Allocate piano tuning costs to the appropriate accounts
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Calculate and post the income tax expense provision
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Maintain entries related to vehicle and travel cost tracking
- Minimum 5 years of full-cycle bookkeeping experience, preferably in a multi-entity environment
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Registered Professional Accountant (RPA) designation
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Demonstrated ownership of month-end close - accountability for the close cycle and trial balance, not task-level execution alone
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Strong reconciliation discipline across high-volume bank and merchant processor accounts
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Multi-currency reconciliation experience (CAD and USD)
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Inventory accounting experience in a retail or distribution business, including landed cost, serialized inventory, and inventory subledger reconciliation
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Hands-on experience with Ontario payroll, WSIB, EHT, and CRA GST/HST filings
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Working knowledge of Canadian ASPE or a comparable GAAP framework
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Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, large data sets)
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Demonstrated supervisory experience, or clear readiness to take on direct supervision responsibilities
- CPA Professional Education Program (PEP) designation preferred
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Experience working within an ERP platform in a multi-entity environment
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Experience in a hybrid service and retail business with both recurring revenue and product sales
- Hybrid: Anchored at the Oakville head office, with 1–2 days of remote work per week
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In-office presence is required during the close week, cheque run cycles, and as needed for audit preparation
- $60,000 to $75,000 salary range
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Merriam Music full-time employees enjoy membership in a co-op benefits package, which offers coverages for dental, medical, and other various benefits.
