Director, Controlling - Highway & Chemical Segment

Morton Salt•Overland Park, KS

About The Position

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. This role oversees the Finance and Controlling functions for the nine North America Highway and Chemical (H&C) mine sites, which have an annual operating expense budget of approximately $210 million and an approximate annual capital expenditure budget of $52 million. The role supervises a team of 10 plant / stockpile controllers and acts as the plant controller for any vacant roles. The incumbent coordinates the annual budget cycle and monthly reporting requirements, reviews and analyzes the manufacturing costs of the facilities, reviews and approves the reconciliations of balance sheet accounts, and ensures the plants are following the corporate directives and control procedures.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting / finance or related preferred field.
8-10 years of business experience with a minimum of 5 years of managerial controllership experience in positions of increasing responsibility.
Proven leadership and coaching skills.
Experience within the salt industry or a manufacturing industry preferred.
SAP experience strongly preferred or ability to quickly understand and use systems.
Strong communication, organizational, team building, and people skills.
Effective time management skills and ability to problem solve.
Ability to work 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.

Responsibilities

Oversight of 10 controllers to ensure accurate and timely completion of month end close processes in addition to account reconciliation preparation.
Perform / review analytical month-end reporting / narrative for management as required. Understand composition of monthly site variances for monthly results meetings.
Full balance sheet / income statement responsibility for 4 sites / businesses.
Responsible for review of all plant account reconciliations for the Highway & Chemical segment, ensuring account balances are properly explained and supported in compliance with SOX standards.
Serve as a business partner to the Highway & Chemical segment President. Provide cost information as needed and ensure President is aware of unusual activity at the sites. Prepare financial analysis as requested.
Seek ways to improve financial reporting over site costs and improve controls over site financial processes.
Gain a working understanding of SAP (and other accounting systems such as Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft Navision, and Sage AccPac) to validate information provided by controllers and others in the business in addition to filling in for controllers as needed due to attrition, leave of absences, or vacation. This includes an understanding of reports, queries, journal entry processing, capital expenditures, etc. Understand the capital / fixed asset module within SAP to support 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.
Management of the annual budget cycle for the H&C locations including oversight and review of manufacturing cost budgets and reporting to management. This includes interaction with the operation staff, supply chain management, scheduling key deadlines with plant controllers, and following up to ensure timely completion.
General oversight of the annual physical inventory counts and surveys to ensure that results are reconciled and posted to the general ledger and proper cutoff procedures are put in place prior to counts / surveys. Assist the controllers, supply chain team, segment president, and finance executives in ensuring accuracy of inventory transactions, perpetual/ledger reconciliations.
Prepare monthly freight variance calculations for inventory sourced from internal counterparty requiring understanding of FIFO inventory costing layers.
Provide oversight, assistance, and guidance to plant controllers’ activities such as purchasing / accounts payable issues, fixed assets, expense and capital projects, local regulatory issues etc., as it relates to financial impacts. Assists in any requirement pertaining to external/internal audits.
Manage and develop local plant controllers. Lead recruiting efforts and cover for the on-site plant controller vacancies, manage training & development for potential promotions, succession plans, and ensure frequent performance feedback.
Work hand-in-hand with controllers and respective operations teams to determine areas of costs & efficiency savings.
Understand drivers of product cost development. Ensure accuracy of yearly and punctual cost roll-ups. Propose and design cost models.
Prepare ad-hoc cost analysis and improve the quality of financial information. Report results of special projects as directed by the ops or finance teams on a timely basis, along with proper conclusions and recommendations. Revise and update any impacted reporting as needed.
Identify unusual transactions through knowledge of the business and communication with the controllers. Determine how the transaction should be handled from an accounting perspective and work with the corporate accounting department for approval.