Lead Accountant – Corporate Accounting

Albertsons • Boise, ID

3d

About The Position

The Lead Accountant – Corporate Accounting with a Self-Insurance Accounting focus is a senior individual contributor responsible for overseeing the complex accounting, reporting, and analysis of the company’s financial statements and self-insurance programs. This role operates at an equivalent level of an Accounting Manager but without direct HR responsibility for staff. The position provides functional leadership and day-to-day oversight of offshore resources, ensuring high-quality deliverables, adherence to internal controls, and timely completion of accounting activities. The Lead Accountant partners closely with cross-functional teams including Financial Reporting, Risk Management, FP&A, and external captive/claims administrators and actuaries to support financial reporting, forecasting, and compliance. Success in this role will be demonstrated by strong ownership, sound judgment, and a consistent focus on accuracy, along with the ability to deliver high-quality results and actionable insights in partnership with stakeholders. Specifically: Demonstrates ownership of the assigned Corporate Accounting responsibilities and oversight of the self-insurance accounting function, delivering accurate, timely, and well-supported financial results Applies a strong understanding of GAAP, self-insurance reserves and actuarial inputs, ensuring appropriate interpretation and application within financial reporting Maintains reliable and well-supported budget and forecast models that align with actual results and underlying business drivers Proactively identifies trends, risks, and variances, and helps facilitate informed discussions with FP&A, Risk Management, and executive leadership, including thoughtful recommendations Demonstrates a high level of accuracy and attention to detail, with a focus on quality, completeness, and proactive issue identification Effectively provides direction and support to offshore resources, contributing to improved quality, consistency, and efficiency of outputs Enhances and standardizes processes, including strengthening documentation, controls, and identifying opportunities for improvement or automation Exercises sound judgment and increasing independence in navigating complex issues, appropriately involving stakeholders as needed Effectively manages competing priorities and delivers results during critical reporting and budgeting cycles, maintaining both timeliness and quality.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum 7 plus years of progressive accounting or finance experience.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including complex formulas, data analysis, pivot tables, and financial modeling.
• Experience working with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Workday, PeopleSoft, or similar platforms.
• Experience developing, maintaining, and owning budgets and forecasts for complex liability-based or insurance-related programs.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze actual results versus forecast, identify key variances, and explain underlying business drivers.
• Experience partnering with FP&A and business stakeholders to develop assumptions, evaluate risks, and refine forecasts.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to transform financial and operational data into actionable business insights and recommendations.
• Experience identifying automation opportunities and implementing process improvements through technology solutions.
• Demonstrated experience leading projects, processes, or teams without direct people management responsibility.
• Experience effectively managing competing priorities and deadlines in a dynamic environment with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong collaboration skills with the ability to build productive relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decisions through expertise, sound judgment, and data-driven recommendations.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements related to loss reserves, accrual accounting, and contingent liabilities.

Nice To Haves

• CPA strongly preferred.
• Experience with reporting, analytics, and visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Alteryx, or equivalent preferred.
• Experience coordinating and reviewing work performed by offshore, shared services, or outsourced accounting resources preferred.
• Proven ability to provide functional leadership, direction, and quality oversight to team members or offshore resources without direct reporting authority.

Responsibilities

• Lead the accounting and close processes for self-insurance reserves, including workers’ compensation, general liability, other retained risk programs, and other assigned Corporate Accounting period close activities.
• Review and analyze actuarial reports; translate findings into accurate financial statement entries.
• Ensure proper recording of loss reserves, IBNR (incurred but not reported), and related accruals in accordance with US GAAP.
• Prepare and review journal entries, account reconciliations, and financial statement disclosures.
• Support multiple quarterly and annual reporting requirements, including audit deliverables.
• Provide day-to-day direction, prioritization, and quality review of work performed by offshore accounting resources.
• Establish clear processes, documentation, and performance expectations for offshore teams.
• Act as the primary point of contact for issue resolution, escalations, and workflow optimization.
• Drive continuous improvement and standardization of processes across global teams.
• Perform detailed reviews to ensure accuracy and completeness of work; proactively identify and resolve errors before impacting financial results.
• Partner with Risk Management to understand claim trends, program changes, and exposure adjustments.
• Collaborate with FP&A on forecasting and variance analysis related to self-insurance costs.
• Develop and maintain analytics to monitor reserve adequacy and financial impacts.
• Provide insights to leadership on trends, risks, and opportunities.
• This role serves as the primary owner of self-insurance budget and forecast models, with responsibility for accuracy, insights, and alignment with business leadership.
• Accountable for the integrity and accuracy of self-insurance budget and forecast models.
• Own and maintain budget models related to self-insurance programs, ensuring alignment with financial results and underlying assumptions.
• Monitor actuals versus forecast and identify key variances, trends, and potential risks.
• Update forecasts based on claims activity, actuarial updates, and evolving business conditions.
• Partner with FP&A, Risk Management, and leadership to refine assumptions and adjust forecasts as appropriate.
• Provide clear, actionable insights and recommendations to support understanding of financial impacts and trends.
• Support alignment with leadership on key assumptions, risks, and opportunities impacting the budget.
• Ensure transparency and clear communication of changes and impacts to stakeholders.
• Ensure strong internal controls over financial reporting, including SOX compliance where applicable.
• Maintain documentation of key processes, assumptions, and judgments.
• Support internal and external audits, including preparation of audit schedules and responses to inquiries.
• Identify opportunities for automation, efficiency gains, and system enhancements.
• Lead or participate in cross-functional projects related to insurance accounting or financial transformation.
• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on self-insurance accounting policies and practices.

Benefits

• Competitive wages paid weekly
• Access to up to 50% of your earned wages before payday, via our partnership with Stream
• Associate discounts
• Health and financial well-being benefits for eligible associates (Medical, Dental, 401k and more!)
• Time off (vacation, holidays, sick pay).
• Leaders invested in your training, career growth and development
• An inclusive work environment with talented colleagues who reflect the communities we serve

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior