Unit Accountant – Hotel Preopening

Role Overview

This is a ground-floor finance leadership role for an expanding hospitality brand preparing to open a new property along Nairobi’s Northern Bypass. Reporting directly to the General Manager, the Unit Accountant will design the hotel’s financial systems before opening, integrate the Property Management System with accounting software, monitor launch spending, and then take full ownership of budgeting, night audits, payroll, and tax compliance once doors open. The work done here shapes how securely cash moves through the hotel, how accurately revenue is reported, and whether the property stays compliant with Kenyan regulations from its very first trading month.

Key Responsibilities

• Set up and test integrations between the hotel’s Property Management System—Opera, Fidelio, or similar—and the core accounting platform, ensuring guest billing, payment settlements, and night audit postings map correctly to the general ledger before opening.
• Build internal control policies for revenue audits, cash handling, and point-of-sale procedures across front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, and events departments.
• Track pre-opening capital and operational expenses against the approved project budget, flagging overspends early and reporting monthly cost updates to the General Manager.
• Manage vendor onboarding, supplier contract reviews, and initial procurement records so that purchase terms, invoicing, and payment cycles are transparent from the start.
• Own the full accounts payable and accounts receivable cycle after launch, from invoice verification and supplier reconciliation to guest, corporate, and event billing collections.
• Reconcile nightly audit reports, bank statements, credit card merchant statements, and all revenue streams, including rooms, food and beverage, and banqueting, resolving discrepancies quickly.
• Prepare monthly management accounts—profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow projections—and run variance analysis that highlights operational inefficiencies and practical cost-saving opportunities.
• Manage payroll accounting, statutory deductions, and KRA filings, including PAYE, NSSF, SHIF/NHIF, Housing Levy, VAT, withholding tax, and corporate tax, while maintaining organised records for internal and external audits.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Commerce, or a related business field.
• Full CPA(K) or ACCA qualification, with active professional standing.
• 3–5 years of accounting experience within the hospitality sector—hotels, resorts, serviced apartments, or comparable accommodation businesses—including exposure to whole-property financial reporting.
• Hands-on proficiency in hospitality platforms such as Opera, Fidelio, or Sun Systems, and in accounting tools such as QuickBooks or Sage, plus advanced MS Excel skills for reconciliation, pivot tables, and financial modelling.
• Direct participation in a hotel pre-opening, or in building new finance processes for a multi-department operation, is a distinct advantage.
• Strong practical knowledge of Kenyan tax law, statutory return deadlines, excise obligations where applicable, and evolving payroll compliance requirements.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills, with the confidence to challenge non-finance managers on budgets, revenue leakage risks, and adherence to control processes.

What We Offer / Why Join

This is not a routine operational accounting seat—it is an opportunity to build a finance department from inception within a growing hotel group. You will be visible to senior leadership from day one and will see your policies and systems become the permanent backbone of a newly opened property. The position comes with competitive remuneration, a full-time on-site placement in Nairobi’s Northern Bypass area, and realistic advancement prospects as the brand expands its portfolio.