Director, Accounting

Morton Salt is an iconic company with a strong heritage and a bright future. Since 1848, we have been improving lives and enhancing everyday moments – at home, at work and virtually everywhere in between. We help unlock the flavors in food, make roads and sidewalks safer, improve the water in baths, pools, and homes, and keep businesses and industries running. We are a dedicated team who constantly strives to do better together, and we are passionate about building a sustainable future for our company, the communities in which we operate, and the world around us. By joining our team, you will contribute to producing and delivering every form of salt that enhances everyday life.

Job Summary

The Director of Accounting is responsible for overseeing North America general and corporate accounting functions, ensuring compliance with US GAAP and regulatory requirements, and maintaining strong internal controls while supporting the overall strategic financial decision-making functions of the business. This role oversees the monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes for the company and internal controls for the general accounting department while partnering cross-functionally to support business objectives.

This role oversees the general accounting department for Morton and Windsor Salt which is comprised of a corporate accounting manager, two senior accountants, and a staff accountant.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversight of four team members to ensure accurate and timely completion of month end close processes in addition to account reconciliation preparation. Perform review of month end balances to determine whether all activity has been posted and unusual variances are explained.
• Responsible for review of all general accounting reconciliations for Morton and Windsor in addition to corporate SCIH and Kissner reconciliations, ensuring account balances are properly explained and supported in compliance with SOX standards and the account reconciliation policy.
• Oversight of the treasury process for Morton, Windsor, and SCIH which includes timely review and approval of wire transactions, approving payroll funding, and completion of the weekly corporate accounts payable cycle.
• Seek ways to improve the timely completion of the overall monthly, quarterly, and annual close process, particularly as we transition to a new ERP over the next several years.
• Train to be a super user on the new ERP.
• Serve as a business partner to controlling, customer service, accounting services, and other teams as necessary to ensure transactions are properly processed within the system.
• Ensure all intercompany accounts for the global company are properly reconciled and reviewed prior to month end close.
• Assist in the preparation of quarterly balance sheet and income statement flux analysis completed by the financial reporting department.
• Gain an in depth understanding of SAP to validate information prepared by general accounting team in addition to others in the business, learn how to process transactions and conduct research, and assist business partners in addition to filling in as a backup on the general accounting team when vacancies occur. This includes an understanding of reports, queries, journal entry processing, capital expenditures, etc.
• Understand the capital / fixed asset module within SAP to support and direct controllers. Work with controllers to ensure timely close out of capital projects to ensure asset records are accurate and depreciation commences when the project is placed in service.
• Lead the journal entry analysis and review process for the global company to ensure journal entries above the policy specified threshold are properly supported and reviewed in a timely manner.
• Oversight and responsibility of the annual audit process. Ensure that all PBCs are prepared, properly supported, and reviewed prior to uploading to auditor portal. Follow up with other key owners of requests to ensure items are provided and reviewed by auditors.
• Manage and develop general accounting team. Lead recruiting efforts and cover for any team vacancies, manage training & development for potential promotions, succession plans, and ensure frequent performance feedback.
• Identify unusual transactions through knowledge of the business and communication with general accounting and other business partners. Determine how the transaction should be handled from an accounting perspective and ensure properly recorded in the system.
• Prepare the annual insurance allocations and fringe rates for budget purposes.
• Oversee the preparation and review of statutory reporting requirements, including surveys from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Commerce.
• Manage ad hoc accounting projects, including unclaimed property audits and royalty reporting and annual reviews for two mine sites.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting
• 8-10 years of business experience with a minimum of 5 years of managerial experience in positions of increasing responsibility. Proven leadership, team buildings, and coaching skills.
• Deep knowledge of US GAAP.
• Experience within a manufacturing industry preferred.
• SAP experience strongly or ability to quickly understand and use systems.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Familiarity with SOX compliance and internal control frameworks.
• Strategic thinker with strong analytical, problem solving, and time management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment and challenge current processes while offering solutions to create efficiencies.
• Attention to detail and willingness to get into detailed information in order to understand processes, results, etc.
• Exceptional knowledge of Excel.

Desired:

• CPA preferred.
• Experience with OneStream account reconciliation software or similar tools.
• Experience with other ERP solutions such as Microsoft Navision or Great Plains or Infor.

At Morton Salt, we work best when we work as a team, when we treat one another with dignity and respect, and value the unique contributions of others. We are committed to equal employment opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, national origin, sex, religion, color, disability, marital status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.