Staff Accountant

Staff Accountant

About The Only Agency

The Only Agency is a creative management agency, we represent wardrobe stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists, manicurists, photographers, creative directors, and more. With hubs in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, and London, we are at the heart of the industries we serve. We champion creative leaders who persistently redefine trends and push the limits in the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries. We are masters at establishing connections and pairing creatives to meet the needs of our celebrity, brand, and editorial partners.

About The Role
We are hiring a detail-oriented, proactive Staff Accountant to strengthen core accounting operations and provide meaningful support across accounts payable and payment-related workflows. This is a team-based role that flexes across priorities, including close support, reconciliations, AP processing coordination, payment preparation, issue resolution, documentation, and process standardization. This role is intended to provide additional coverage and process consistency across the finance team, particularly during peak periods, and will be staffed and prioritized based on business needs.

You will report to the Finance & Treasury Manager and the Controller to keep day-to-day finance execution accurate, timely, and well-controlled. The right candidate is calm under pressure, precise with details, and motivated by building a clean, repeatable process in a high-tempo, client-facing business.

Key Responsibilities

Accounting operations and close support

• Support the Controller with month-end close tasks, including reconciliations, schedule maintenance, basic journal entry support, and balance sheet hygiene (cash, clearing accounts, payables-related accounts, and other areas as assigned).
• Maintain organized supporting documentation so work is traceable and audit-ready.
• Help improve data integrity across systems so reporting is reliable and issues are caught early.

Accounts payable and payment workflow support

• Support the Finance & Treasury Manager with AP processing across the cycle, from invoice intake through documentation completeness checks, coding support, approval routing, and maintaining clear status visibility so items move through the agreed workflow.
• Help assemble payment-ready packages for vendor and talent payments (supporting documentation, coding support, and approvals confirmation), and assist with batching and file preparation where applicable.
• Enter, code, and route vendor invoices in the AP and bill pay system, ensuring proper documentation and timely approvals.
• Support maintenance of vendor and payee master data (W-9 collection status, addresses, payment method details, tax classifications), and help resolve set-up issues before they delay processing.
• Help track and resolve AP and payment exceptions (missing support, disputed items, duplicates, returns, voids/reissues), maintaining a clear log and communicating status updates to internal stakeholders.
• Confirm that approvals and release controls are followed; payment release and final authorization remain with Finance and treasury.
• Assist with 1099-related tracking and annual vendor/talent tax support processes (tie-outs, completeness checks, coordination with external preparers as applicable).

Invoice and revenue support (as needed)

• Partner with AR and internal stakeholders on invoice corrections and discrepancy resolution (duplicates, commission splits, deal memo alignment), ensuring fixes are specific, documented, and auditable.
• Help maintain linkage between deal terms and invoicing outcomes by verifying support and escalating exceptions with context and proposed next steps.

Systems and process improvement

• Help standardize and document workflows (simple SOPs, checklists, trackers) so the team relies less on “tribal knowledge” and more on repeatable process.
• Support adoption and consistent use of company tools (expense and bill pay platform, banking tools, accounting system), with a bias toward standardization and automation.
• Assist with integration of new business units into existing accounting routines, including consistent coding, set-up, and repeatable schedules.

What success looks like (first 60 to 90 days)

• AP has clearer visibility and fewer bottlenecks because invoices are complete, coded consistently, routed cleanly, and tracked.
• Payment preparation is orderly and well-documented, with fewer avoidable exceptions and less last-minute urgency.
• Close support is consistent and predictable; reconciliations and schedules are completed on time with audit-ready support.
• Stakeholders experience you as responsive and specific; you surface issues early with context and proposed options.

Qualifications and Skills

Experience

• 3+ years of accounting operations experience in a fast-paced environment (professional services, agency, media/entertainment, or similar is a plus).
• Practical month-end exposure (reconciliations and close support) and strong attention to detail.
• Direct experience supporting AP workflows and payment preparation (coding, documentation, approval routing, exception handling).

Technical skills

• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills (lookups, pivots, filters, structured trackers).
• Comfort with modern accounting and finance tools (online banking portals, bill pay, expense tools, accounting systems). Experience with Quickbooks, NetSuite, or similar ERP.

Working style and competencies

• Process-oriented and accountable; you follow the workflow, document the work, and make it easier for others to support.
• Clear, professional communicator who handles urgency calmly and constructively.
• Team-first, collaborative, comfortable shifting priorities, and quick to escalate issues with specifics and options.
• High integrity with confidential information.

Location: New York, NY (4 days in-office, Manhattan)

Reports to: Finance & Treasury Manager and Controller