Controller, Business Unit

Steel Partners•St. Louis, MO

About The Position

For more than 120 years, KASCO has been the industry leader in providing quality products, parts, repairs, and service to the meat processing and retail institutional food industries. Our cutting edge products include band saw blades, meat grinder plates and knives, and cutlery. We also offer a vast range of butcher supplies, seasonings, replacement parts, and repair services to grocers, restaurants, and meat, seafood, deli and bakery departments. SUMMARY: The Controller is an integral part of the FASS management team, serving as a true business partner and financial counsel to the CFO and functional positions. The Controller is responsible for all accounting activities for the North America sites (US, Canada, Mexico) and oversight of Kasco Europe accounting activities. This role provides financial decision support on a wide scope of operational and strategic matters impacting the achievement of the Business’s objectives. An integral part of the finance team, this position will collaborate with the larger finance team in providing solutions to accomplish multiple financial related tasks.

Requirements

Must be a “hands on” leader who demonstrates a willingness to dig into the details as needed to determine root cause and countermeasures.
Superior collaboration and communication skills, conflict management capabilities and strong executive presence/composure
Possesses a high sense of urgency.
Driven by very high expectations and delivers results, not “activity.”
A balance of humility and high confidence.
Collaborative and supportive of both team and outside the department.
Targets breakthrough performance, not simply incremental gain.
Thinks expansively and believes in achieving the unachievable.
Is highly autonomous and self-directed.
Is comfortable in a very direct and candid environment focused on results.
No surprises approach; transparency on financial issues.
Team player that has ability to create followership.
Education: A bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance is required; CPA/CMA preferred.
Seven (7) to ten (10) + years Accounting/Operations Finance experience, including three (3) + years as the controller for a stand-alone operating company or division in a public company. The company/division should encompass multiple manufacturing locations (domestic and international); multi-site at the regional level; complex businesses and tax/legal entity structures.
Hands-on, on the ground experience in a middle market stand-alone operating company or operating division of a major global company.
Strong experience of partnering with senior operations and/or P&L leadership to drive superior financial performance in manufacturing/fabrication operations.
Must demonstrate a command of all aspects of the accounting function including cost accounting, AR, AP, exceptional operational accounting/finance experience (lean accounting experience preferred).
Strong process orientation and a track record of successfully improving the accounting and operations finance function.

Responsibilities

Ensure accurate and timely submission of monthly, quarterly, and yearly financials into Steel Partners. Provide insight into the product margins and variances for the CFO.
Ensure account analyses and sub-ledgers such as prepaids, accruals, reserves, bank reconciliations, A/P and A/R aged trial balances, cost files, and perpetual inventory records are current and support the general ledger balances and financial statements.
Maintain the financial integrity of the organization with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and adequate financial controls that are established and maintained in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley and Corporate policies.
Lead the interactions with internal and external audit.
Automate and deploy KPI reporting and develop action plans to improve profitability.
Help the organization become highly data centric with easy to access real time information.
Mentor and grow accounting staff. Ensure there are backfills and separation of duties for the key accounting functions.
Educate non-finance members on accounting and finance matters that will assist in better business decisions.
Document improvement opportunities, creating guidelines and directives; identify potential improvement based on best practices and knowledge of internal/external business challenges.
Other Duties as needed or required including special projects/analysis as requested by Kasco Management.