Lead Controller

Position Summary

The Lead Controller - Financial Reporting, Close, and Audit will serve as the primary accounting lead for the Company's monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reporting processes. This individual will coordinate and review the close, prepare consolidated financial information, oversee audit support, and ensure that accounting work is complete, accurate, well documented, and delivered on schedule. The role is hands-on and requires an experienced accounting professional who can review detailed work, identify unsupported or unusual balances, resolve issues, and communicate clearly with the Chief Financial Officer, accounting personnel, and external auditors. Final accounting judgments, SEC accountability, treasury strategy, tax strategy, and executive-level communications remain with the Chief Financial Officer.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Close and Consolidation

• Own and administer the monthly, quarterly, and annual close calendar, including deadlines, dependencies, responsibilities, and escalation points.

• Coordinate close activities across the Company's legal entities, business units, and accounting resources.

• Review journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations, consolidations, intercompany eliminations, and supporting schedules.

• Ensure all material balance-sheet accounts are reconciled, supported, and reviewed each reporting period.

• Identify and resolve unexplained balances, aged reconciling items, classification errors, duplicate entries, and other accounting discrepancies.

• Maintain discipline over period close, reopening periods, late entries, and post-close adjustments.

• Maintain a complete, organized, and audit-ready electronic close binder.

Financial Reporting

• Prepare and review consolidated balance sheets, statements of operations, statements of cash flows, and related supporting schedules.

• Prepare monthly management reporting packages and clear explanations of material financial-statement variances.

• Review reported results for unusual trends, period-over-period inconsistencies, margin anomalies, and potential accounting errors.

• Maintain the chart of accounts, financial-statement mapping, consolidation structure, and reporting hierarchy.

• Prepare financial-statement and footnote support for quarterly and annual SEC filings.

• Perform or coordinate financial-statement, disclosure, and XBRL tie-outs and maintain supporting workpapers.

Technical Accounting Support

• Research U.S. GAAP requirements applicable to Company transactions and accounting matters.

• Prepare initial technical accounting analyses and memorandum drafts for Chief Financial Officer review.

• Identify transactions requiring additional accounting analysis, documentation, or external consultation.

• Support accounting for revenue recognition, leases, inventory, stock-based compensation, discontinued operations, impairments, contingencies, acquisitions, divestitures, and other relevant matters.

• Assist with implementation of new accounting standards and updates to accounting policies.

• Escalate material, unusual, or judgmental accounting matters promptly.

Audit and Quarterly Review Support

• Manage detailed coordination of the annual audit and quarterly review processes.

• Maintain the auditor request list, assign responsibility for requested items, and monitor completion.

• Review schedules and supporting documentation before submission to the external auditors.

• Coordinate responses among accounting personnel, operating teams, and external service providers.

• Track proposed adjustments, passed adjustments, control observations, and unresolved audit matters.

• Identify recurring audit issues and coordinate corrective actions with responsible personnel.

• Escalate potential reporting delays or unresolved audit matters to the Chief Financial Officer.

Internal Controls and Team Coordination

• Maintain financial-close and financial-reporting controls, including evidence of preparation and review.

• Maintain accounting policies, close procedures, review checklists, control documentation, and reporting workpapers.

• Identify control failures, documentation deficiencies, and recurring process breakdowns and coordinate remediation.

• Provide day-to-day coordination and review of the Accounting Operations Controller and other outsourced accounting resources.

• Maintain an open-items list covering unresolved accounting, reporting, audit, and control matters.

• Establish clear expectations, review work for quality and completeness, and escalate issues early with recommended solutions.

• Improve documentation and cross-training to reduce key-person dependency.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or a closely related field.

• CPA, Chartered Accountant, ACCA, or comparable professional accounting designation.

• At least 10 years of progressive accounting and financial-reporting experience.

• Prior experience as a Controller, Assistant Controller, Financial Reporting Director, Audit Manager, or comparable accounting leader.

• Direct experience supporting a U.S. publicly traded company and working within a public-company reporting calendar.

• Strong working knowledge of U.S. GAAP and experience preparing or reviewing consolidated financial statements.

• Experience with multi-entity accounting, consolidation, and intercompany eliminations.

• Experience supporting Forms 10-Q and 10-K, including financial-statement and disclosure support.

• Experience working directly with external auditors in a PCAOB audit environment.

• Demonstrated ability to review reconciliations, identify accounting problems, and drive issues to resolution.

• Strong technical accounting research, written documentation, and English communication skills.

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and strong proficiency with ERP and financial-reporting systems.

• Ability to supervise and review the work of remote accounting personnel.

• Ability to provide meaningful recurring work-hour overlap with U.S. Central Time, with expanded availability during close and reporting periods.

• Willingness to work onsite and on a fixed night shift.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior public accounting experience with a national or regional accounting firm.

• Experience in inventory-intensive distribution, foodservice, retail, e-commerce, logistics, or a related industry.

• Experience remediating audit findings, significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, or other internal-control issues.

• Demonstrated success improving the accuracy, timeliness, or predictability of a financial close.

• Experience implementing or optimizing an ERP, consolidation platform, close-management system, or financial-reporting tool.

• Experience supporting acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, discontinued operations, or other complex

Why Join Us

✨ Competitive salary & benefits package

✨ Collaborative and supportive team culture

✨ Opportunities for professional growth

✨ Global exposure through partnerships with international clients

Apply Now and bring your real estate accounting expertise to a dynamic and growing team!