Manager of Accounting

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America • Chicago, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager of Accounting is responsible for accounting operations and staff in processing financial transactions, maintaining financial records, and reporting financial results to internal and external stakeholders. This role is a key contributor to ensuring timeliness, completeness, accuracy and validity of financial assets, records and reports. This position also supports related financial processes, including liquidity management, budgeting, forecasting, data modeling, and asset valuation.

This is a full-time, regular, exempt (salaried), Chicago-based hybrid position. This position has responsibilities that will require being in the office on a weekly basis. This could mean 2-3 days most weeks and possibly more days when meetings and other events are happening that this position supports.
The eligibility of a candidate for remote or hybrid positions may depend on the residency of the candidate, and the budget for the role, including salary or pay, insurance coverage, and/or tax burden. Candidates for this position must reside within the fifty United States or the District of Columbia and be authorized to work lawfully in the United States. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience managing accounting functions and teams. Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance or related field. Solid understanding of accounting principles and internal controls. Financial institution and/or not-for-profit experience highly preferred.
• Excellent financial management and analytical skills, process orientation, attention to detail, critical thinking and good aptitude for converting financial data into meaningful information.
• Ability to achieve results both independently and through others, prioritize, meet deadlines, work under pressure and preserve confidentiality.
• Effective team-building, collaboration, interpersonal and communication (oral, written, nonverbal) skills. Ability to engage cross-functionally with and present to senior leaders.
• Appreciation for the mission, vision, values and goals of the ELCA and the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
• Ability to work well both independently and collaboratively.
• Minimum Technical Competency: High level efficiency with accounting software. Computer knowledge that enables you to operate a Windows Computer and follow basic troubleshooting instructions. Software skills to efficiently use computer programs and applications. Ability to leverage computer knowledge and software skills to understand new software, follow process, and identify opportunities for improvement. Advanced experience using Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook, etc.) required.

Nice To Haves

• CPA certification preferred.
• Knowledge of Wordpress, advocacy database systems, graphic design platforms and Zoom Webinar a plus.

Responsibilities

• Manage period-end financial close processes. Approve journal entries, standard transactions and reconciliations. Complete general ledger maintenance tasks, as required.
• Manage accounts payable processes. Manage fixed assets processes. Review and approve transactions within stated limits and for appropriate accounting treatment.
• Assist in cash, operating and capital budget development. Facilitate monitoring processes to address material variances, update forecasts and process corrections, as needed.
• Review and/or prepare financial statements, management and regulatory reports, and other periodic reporting for internal and external use. Respond to inquiries.
• Implement accounting controls, including maintaining and ensuring adherence to policies and procedures. Coordinate preparation and submission of internal and external audit requests and schedules. Assess impact of new accounting standards and operationalize required changes.
• Supervise and coach team members, including building teamwork, allocating resources, problem solving, training and development, and performance management.
• Manage to key performance indicators for critical processes and team goals. Drive efficiencies in accounting workflows. Collaborating with the IT team, serve as liaison/subject matter expert for accounting systems, participating in system implementations, monitoring functionality, testing updates and training users.
• Implement special projects, serve on ad-hoc committees, and perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• The ELCA offers a competitive benefits package for eligible employees, including employer paid health premiums for employees, health and dependent care FSA’s, a health savings account (HSA) with an employer contribution, life insurance, and a substantial employer contribution to 403b retirement plan (no match required). We also offer a generous paid time-off policy including 11 paid holidays. All benefits commence on your start date.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees