Why would I want this job?

Our client seeks an Inventory Accounting Manager to join our Financial Operations organization leading and working within team responsible for accounting, reporting and auditing of inventory flows and closely related activities in accordance with company standard operating procedures and GAAP.  The successful candidate will have at least 3-6+ years progressive responsibility within an accounting or financial operations team where the experience should would normally include inventory accounting and/or reporting responsibilities within an inventory driven retail or consumer goods organization.

What would I be doing?

Essential Duties & Responsibilities (Closing)  including but not limited to:

 

  • Analyze and distribute material ledger with seasonality details to brand teams.
  • Alert direct manager and costing team of large material variances for investigation and/or re-costing.
  • Utilize this information for Wholesale FOB/ Retail forecasting when large variances occur or inventory revaluation is material.
  • Complete Wholesale and Retail PPV analysis and demonstrate comprehensive understanding of transactions that were posted during the period to provide commentary or correct mis-postings.
  • In instances where costs are sensitive, prepare an in-depth analysis of actuals by channel against forecast and investigate variances (current focus: freight).
  • Complete outbound royalty sales reporting and determine amount payable for the period/ quarter. Prepare entry to establish payable to vendor for AP.
  • Includes eventually owning Olympics royalty process/ shortfall accrual.
  • Align/ reconcile and journalize direct-to-consumer business activity that resides in Wholesale to the correct channel.
  • Review GRIR (accrued expense) liability balances, focusing in on large fluxes to present to direct manager.
  • Provide basic SAP trouble shooting (journal entry template/ journal entry reversals) for broader accounting team when needed.
  • Provide inventory related account coding for the broader accounting team as needed.
  • Support the team with ad-hoc requests/ reporting as needed.

 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities (Post-Closing)  including but not limited to:

 

  • In instances where costs are sensitive, prepare in-depth PPV forecast in conjunction with the relevant business partners by channel (current focus: freight).
  • Prepare high-level PPV forecast by cost element for Wholesale and Retail teams, review with management and communicate to relevant FP&A partners.
  • This responsibility includes reviewing/ analyzing prior period PPV as a support function across all brands/ divisions and determining causes and developing solutions for PPV where applicable. This includes but is not limited to training other team members on use of the IDoc analyzer and finance tables to determine appropriate coding (in the near term, this includes partnering with the logistics team).
  • Age, analyze and identity open first and secondary cost elements in GRIR for Wholesale and Retail NA with the intention to gain enough expertise to also clear these items (own the entire process).
  • Send teams COPA level detail for any clearings completed during the month that will post to COGS.
  • Research and review errors from customs duty IDoc files. Create MM uploads to load invoices into the system that will allow the 3-way-match to occur. Create uploads to back out any vendor payments. Net and clear items against each other with AP assistance.
  • Determine purchase order account maintenance activity for the period and map applicable values in the consolidated cost variances report when necessary. Make teams aware of significant impact and provide PPV commentary.
  • Provide support when needed to maintain the business relationship between company and NA customs brokers.
  • Support management in completing special projects and other tasks as assigned; appropriately prioritize with long-standing duties.

 

Additional Duties & Responsibilities including but not limited to:

 

  • Provide support when needed on monthly close checklist/ monthly close timing email.
  • Participate in the internal/ external audit process as it relates to GRIR, PPV, Inventory and sales order testing.
  • Maintain a high level quality output for work that generates positive rapport, present with a positive/ solution-oriented attitude, make decisions reasonable for your management level/ manage up when appropriate.

What would make me qualified?

  • BS degree, Accounting or another closely related business application
  • 3-6+ years progressive responsibility on inventory accounting, costing and/or reporting experience (any combination of public / private) within a retail or consumer goods environment
  • Preference will be given to CPA or CMA’s
  • Works comfortably with large data sets utilizing query, reporting and summarization features within Excel / BI tools
  • Leads root cause analysis, including self-critical observations, to provide constructive feedback and opportunities for improvement
  • Builds effective relationships and engage in healthy conflict to resolve challenge areas across levels and stakeholders in the organization to influence change
  • Demonstrates understanding of and have experience with accounting systems like:  SAP (preferred), Oracle JDE, Microsoft AX and Island Pacific
  • Communicates concisely with integrity to summarize a detailed processes or challenges into an executive summary