Audit Senior Manager or Principal

About Ascend

Backed by private equity from people-focused Alpine Investors, Ascend is building a dynamic platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent while accessing the resources of a Top 25 firm to help them grow. Ascend provides access to growth capital, robust talent acquisition and training, leading quality management resources, best-of-breed technology, AI tools, an offshore captive, shared back-office services, a catalytic leadership system, and modernized equity incentives so that firms can surmount today’s industry challenges to reach their full potential. For more information, visit www.ascendtogether.com.

The Opportunity

BiggsKofford is seeking an experienced audit leader to manage and expand our Metropolitan District audit practice. This is a systems-and-execution leadership role for someone who enjoys creating structure, developing people and moving multiple engagements forward at the same time.

The successful candidate will lead a portfolio of district audit engagements through clear procedures, effective delegation, reliable tracking tools and timely decision-making. This person will not be expected to personally control every detail of every engagement. Instead, they will build confidence through strong systems, capable teams, visible status reporting and appropriate review points.

The role is ideal for someone who can quickly assess a problem, determine the next action, resolve the issue and move on to the next priority. The work requires a leader who can maintain perspective across many engagements rather than becoming absorbed in any one project.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can organize work, set expectations, coach different personalities, improve how work gets done and deliver consistent quality by building and maintaining effective systems, procedures and accountability across the practice.

Why BiggsKofford?

BiggsKofford combines the resources and sophisticated client work associated with larger firms with the accessibility, collaboration and entrepreneurial environment of an independent CPA firm. Our professionals work closely with clients and with colleagues across audit, tax, advisory, valuation and other disciplines.

This role offers the opportunity to make a visible impact on people, processes and client delivery. The person in this position will have meaningful responsibility for a growing portfolio of engagements and will help shape the systems that allow the practice to deliver more work with consistent quality.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for an audit leader who is as strong at building an effective operating system as they are at understanding audit quality. The ideal candidate will:

• Have significant public accounting audit experience, typically at the Manager or Senior Manager level.
• Have led or reviewed multiple financial statement audit and/or review engagements.
• Manage multiple engagements simultaneously across different stages of planning, fieldwork, review and completion.
• Create and maintain practical tools for tracking deadlines, staffing, budgets, status, risks and open items.
• Use systems and procedures to create visibility and consistency across the practice.
• Organize competing priorities and communicate clearly about what must happen next.
• Delegate effectively and rely on capable team members without needing to personally review every detail.
• Establish review points that provide confidence without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
• Build teams that are comfortable expressing professional opinions, raising questions and taking ownership of their work.
• Coach team members to make sound judgments and communicate conclusions clearly.
• Make timely, well-reasoned decisions and avoid becoming stalled by one difficult project.
• Identify process failures and implement improvements to prevent recurring problems.
• Improve engagement workflows, planning, staffing, communication, review cycles and completion procedures.
• Set clear expectations, provide timely feedback and address performance issues directly and professionally.
• Serve as the central point of coordination for clients, engagement teams and firm leadership.
• Understand when to escalate an issue or involve a technical resource.
• Be dependable and practical, know when personal intervention is necessary, and avoid becoming the bottleneck for the team.
• Lead with a calm, organized and consistent style.
• Take satisfaction in making the entire system more effective, not merely in personally solving the most difficult technical issue.
• Hold a CPA license and be capable of assuming signing responsibility for audit engagements.
• Adapt quickly to different industries and client needs. Experience with small government or district audits is helpful but not required.

Who Will Thrive Here?

This role may be especially well suited for a quiet, efficient and highly productive professional who enjoys making an entire team more effective. The successful candidate is likely to be:

• Calm and organized under pressure.
• Naturally inclined to build systems rather than work around them.
• Comfortable managing many moving projects at once.
• Motivated by consistent quality, throughput and predictable execution.
• Comfortable delegating and trusting capable people.
• Able to make a decision, document the rationale and move forward.
• Interested in improving tools, templates and workflows.
• More motivated by building a reliable team and practice than by being the hero on one engagement.

This may be an especially good fit for someone who has been highly productive in a traditional firm but has felt that advancement was reserved primarily for the most visible business developers. At BiggsKofford, disciplined execution, people leadership and operational excellence are valued as growth-driving contributions.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership and Development

• Lead, coach and develop audit professionals at all levels.
• Manage different working styles and personalities effectively, creating clarity and accountability across teams.
• Build a culture in which team members are comfortable raising questions, identifying risks and making recommendations.
• Assign work thoughtfully, monitor progress and rebalance resources when priorities change.
• Develop team members who can make sound decisions without requiring constant personal oversight.
• Conduct timely reviews and provide practical, actionable feedback.
• Help identify high-potential team members and support their progression within the firm.
• Promote a respectful, collaborative and high-performing team culture.

Engagement and Portfolio Management

• Serve as project manager for multiple audit engagements simultaneously.
• Maintain a real-time view of deadlines, staffing, budgets, risks, open items and client deliverables.
• Own engagement timelines, budgets, staffing plans, status updates and client communication.
• Coordinate planning, fieldwork, review and completion activities across multiple engagements.
• Keep high-volume projects moving by identifying bottlenecks early and resolving open items promptly.
• Determine the next most important action across the engagement portfolio.
• Make quick, well-reasoned decisions and move confidently from one priority to the next.
• Maintain organized engagement files and repeatable documentation standards so quality does not depend on individual memory or heroics.
• Partner with engagement leaders and technical resources when complex issues arise.
• Use tracking tools, dashboards, templates and checklists to create visibility and consistency.
• Develop, maintain and improve the tools used to manage the practice.

Process Excellence and Practice Development

• Own the continuous improvement of engagement processes, tracking tools, templates and review procedures.
• Standardize processes that improve efficiency, consistency and the client experience.
• Identify recurring bottlenecks and design practical solutions that prevent them from returning.
• Evaluate whether systems are being used effectively and improve them when they are not.
• Increase the practice’s capacity by improving how people, information and deadlines move through the engagement lifecycle.
• Help create a scalable delivery model that allows the firm to accept and complete more work without sacrificing quality.

Client Service and Quality

• Build trusted working relationships with client management teams.
• Communicate expectations, deadlines and open items clearly and professionally.
• Perform final technical review of financial statements, workpapers and audit documentation for completeness, clarity and quality.
• Use a risk-based approach to determine where deeper review or additional attention is needed.
• Identify risks and unusual matters requiring escalation.
• Help ensure engagements are completed accurately, efficiently and in accordance with professional standards and firm expectations.
• Represent BiggsKofford with professionalism and responsiveness throughout the engagement.

What This Role Is — and Is Not

This is a role for a builder of people, systems and predictable client delivery.

The successful candidate will spend significant time creating clarity across a portfolio of engagements: setting expectations, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, resolving bottlenecks, improving tools and helping teams make sound decisions.

This is not a role for someone who needs to personally touch every detail in order to feel comfortable with the work. It is also not a role for someone who becomes absorbed in one engagement while other priorities wait. The right leader creates an effective system, knows where attention is needed, makes decisions promptly and trusts the process and the people supporting it.

This is not a role that requires the individual to be the firm’s foremost technical specialist or to generate a traditional book of new client business. Technical resources are available within the firm, and business development is not a requirement for success. The central challenge is to build a reliable, scalable delivery model that allows the firm to complete more high-quality work without sacrificing client service or professional judgment.

A Different Path to Partner

BiggsKofford has significant demand for district audit work and currently has more potential projects than it can accept. This creates an unusual growth opportunity for the right leader.

In many CPA firms, advancement to partner depends heavily on originating new client relationships. In this role, the client demand already exists. The person who builds and maintains an efficient, scalable system for staffing, managing and completing engagements will directly increase the firm’s capacity to serve clients and accept additional work.

In practical terms: improve and maintain the system, strengthen the team and deliver consistently—and more opportunity will follow.

For the right person, this can absolutely lead to a partner role. Advancement will be based on engagement performance, operational leadership, people development, client trust and the ability to expand the firm’s capacity—not solely on traditional business development activity.

Measures of Success

Success in this role will look like:

• Engagement deadlines and status are visible and actively managed.
• Teams understand priorities, responsibilities and escalation points.
• Fewer issues remain unresolved late in the engagement cycle.
• Review cycles become more predictable and efficient.
• Staff members take greater ownership of their work and professional conclusions.
• Engagement leaders have reliable information about capacity, risk and progress.
• Processes and tools improve over time rather than becoming dependent on individual workarounds.
• The practice can accept and complete more work without compromising quality.
• Clients experience clear communication, dependable follow-through and consistent service.

Career Path

The initial title will be based on experience and scope of responsibility. The role may be structured as Audit Senior Manager or Audit Principal.

BiggsKofford supports long-term career growth, and a strong performer may have the opportunity to pursue a partner role over time. Advancement will be based on demonstrated leadership, engagement performance, client service, people development, process improvement and contribution to the firm—not on an expectation that the individual must bring in new business.

Compensation and Benefits

Anticipated starting base salary: $150,000 to $200,000, depending on experience, qualifications and level of responsibility. The position may also include performance-based compensation, a comprehensive benefits package and opportunities for long-term advancement within the firm.

Qualifications

• CPA license required.
• Substantial audit management experience.
• Experience leading multiple audit projects simultaneously.
• Demonstrated people-management and coaching experience.
• Strong organization, communication and project-management skills.
• Ability to manage deadlines and priorities in a high-volume environment.
• Ability to build and improve systems, procedures and tracking tools.
• Willingness to work collaboratively across teams and service lines.
• Sound professional judgment and the ability to make timely decisions.

The BiggsKofford Environment

BiggsKofford has served Colorado businesses since 1982. We focus primarily on privately held middle-market companies and their owners, and we emphasize collaboration rather than silos. Our professionals are expected to be accessible, accountable and committed to helping one another deliver high-quality work.

For an audit leader who enjoys developing people, improving how work gets done and taking ownership of client delivery, this is an opportunity to build a meaningful long-term career with BiggsKofford.

For the person who can build the system, strengthen the team and execute consistently, the opportunity is substantial: the work is already there, the demand is growing and the firm needs a leader who can help it serve more clients well.

 

At Ascend, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Ascend hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.