Assistant Controller

Athena•Wilmington, NC

About The Position

Athena is seeking an Assistant Controller who will be a key member of the Finance and Accounting team responsible for supporting the integrity, accuracy, and timeliness of the Company’s financial reporting. Reporting to the Finance Director, Controller, this role provides hands-on leadership of day-to-day accounting operations, including the monthly close, general ledger, account reconciliations, and related financial reporting activities.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related field required.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification is strongly preferred.
10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including significant experience in general ledger accounting, financial reporting, month-end close and account reconciliations.
3+ years of accounting leadership or supervisory experience required.
Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP, financial reporting principles, internal controls, and accounting policies and best practices.
Experience supporting external financial statement audits and tax compliance activities, including preparation of audit schedules, supporting documentation, and coordination with external auditors and tax advisors.
Experience with QuickBooks or similar accounting/ERP systems.
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including formulas, pivot tables, data analysis and complex reconciliations.
Exceptional attention to detail, strong analytical and problem-solving skills, high integrity and confidentiality, excellent organizational and time management skills, and the ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across functions and levels of the organization.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Tipalti, Procurify or similar systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the monthly, quarterly and annual close processes, ensuring timely and accurate completion of journal entries, reconciliations and accruals.
Review financial results for completeness and accuracy and investigate unusual or unexpected activity.
Oversee day-to-day general ledger activities, including account reconciliations, accruals, prepaid expenses, fixed assets, intercompany transactions, and other balance sheet and income statement accounts.
Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and oversight to accounting team members, including assignment and review of work, development of staff, and ensuring established deadlines and accounting standards are consistently met.
Maintain and strengthen accounting policies, procedures, documentation, and internal controls to safeguard company assets and ensure accurate and consistent financial reporting.
Coordinate and support external financial statement audits and tax compliance activities, including preparation and review of schedules, supporting documentation and responses to requests from external auditors and tax advisors.
Oversee intercompany accounting and reconciliations across multiple legal entities and ensure transactions are appropriately recorded, reconciled and eliminated as applicable.
Identify and implement opportunities to streamline, standardize and automate accounting processes, strengthen controls, and improve efficiency and scalability of the accounting function.
Partner with FP&A and other departments to investigate financial variances, resolve accounting issues and ensure appropriate accounting treatment of business transactions.
Support the Finance Director/Controller with technical accounting matters, special projects, accounting system initiatives and other financial reporting and operational priorities, as needed.