Lead Accountant – Corporate Accounting

Albertsons Companies • Boise, ID

15h

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.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• CPA strongly preferred.
• 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 with reporting, analytics, and visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Alteryx, or equivalent preferred.
• 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 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.
• 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.

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