Principal Accountant - SOX Compliance
About The Position
This position requires office presence of a minimum of 5 days per week and is only located in the location(s) posted. No relocation is offered. At AT&T, we empower leaders to drive change in a fast evolving, connected world. Your strategic vision will help serve customers and transform lives through innovative solutions and impactful connections. In this role, you will be responsible for managing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts. This role includes designing, implementing, and monitoring internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) to ensure compliance with SOX requirements. The SOX Manager will work closely with operational and finance partners to ensure processes are efficient and compliant with regulatory standards. Provide strategic leadership within the SOX Program Office with a primary focus on Business Process SOX and ICFR. This principal role drives governance, risk-based scoping, control design and documentation standards, audit readiness, and continuous improvement across end-to-end business processes (e.g., RTR, P2P, O2C), including processes executed in SAP, Workday, and/or Oracle environments.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree (BS/BA) in accounting or finance preferred.
- 7+ years of related experience in SOX/ICFR, external audit, internal audit, controllership, and/or risk/compliance with strong business process controls exposure.
- Certification required in some areas (e.g., CPA, CIA, CISA—as applicable)
- Big 4 external audit experience (or comparable national firm) with direct SOX/ICFR engagement exposure (walkthroughs, testing, evidence evaluation, deficiency assessment)
- Demonstrated depth in Business Process SOX across RTR/P2P/O2C (and related finance operations)
- Experience supporting SOX/ICFR in SAP, Workday, and/or Oracle environments, including control documentation and evidence expectations for system-enabled process controls
- Strong program office leadership skills: governance, reporting, stakeholder management, and multi-workstream delivery
- An expert in their field, applying broad business knowledge and strategic insight to solve complex problems and drive results.
- Leads critical, high-impact initiatives that mature the SOX Program Office and strengthen ICFR across business processes.
- Works with minimal oversight, frequently consulting senior leadership and influencing executive decisions.
- Serves as a mentor and escalation point for complex SOX/control matters.
Responsibilities
- SOX Program Strategy & Governance (Business Process Focus): Lead major elements of the SOX annual cycle for business processes—planning, scoping support, milestone tracking, stakeholder readiness, and executive-level reporting. Maintain strong PMO discipline and delivery metrics.
- Business Process ICFR Leadership: Provide SME leadership on control design and operating effectiveness for key business process cycles, including Record-to-Report (RTR), Procure-to-Pay (P2P), Order-to-Cash (O2C), and related sub-processes (e.g., journal entries, reconciliations, revenue recognition support, AP/AR, master data, estimates).
- Process Documentation & Control Standards: Own and enforce documentation quality standards for narratives, flowcharts, RCMs, and evidence requirements. Ensure documentation is refreshed on a defined cadence and supports auditor reliance.
- Walkthroughs, Testing Readiness & Evidence Quality: Coordinate and support walkthroughs and testing readiness with control owners; define evidence expectations that are complete, reproducible, and timely—reducing rework and repeat auditor questions.
- Risk Assessment & Scoping Support: Support annual risk assessment activities, scope adjustments, and control rationalization. Identify opportunities to reduce redundancy while improving coverage through better control design and sustainable operation.
- Audit Coordination & External Auditor Engagement: Serve as a key point of coordination for external audit requests related to business process controls; manage PBC coordination, respond to inquiries, and help drive consistent, high-quality workpapers and evidence packages.
- Issue Management & Remediation Oversight: Lead/coordinate deficiency and observation management—root cause analysis, remediation planning, milestone tracking, and closure validation—ensuring alignment to SOX expectations.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner across Accounting, Finance, Operations, and IT to embed SOX requirements into daily execution and improve control ownership/accountability.
- Systems-Enabled Process Controls (SAP / Workday / Oracle): Partner with process/system owners to understand key process flows and control points in SAP, Workday, and Oracle (or similar). Help define how controls operate, what evidence is retained, and how manual vs system-enabled steps remain SOX-compliant.
Benefits
- Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
- 401(k) plan
- Tuition reimbursement program
- Paid Time Off and Holidays (based on date of hire, at least 23 days of vacation each year and 9 company-designated holidays)
- Paid Parental Leave
- Paid Caregiver Leave
- Additional sick leave beyond what state and local law require may be available but is unprotected
- Adoption Reimbursement
- Disability Benefits (short term and long term)
- Life and Accidental Death Insurance
- Supplemental benefit programs: 8critical illness/accident hospital indemnity/group legal
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
- Extensive employee wellness programs
- Employee discounts up to 50% off on eligible AT&T mobility plans and accessories, AT&T internet (and fiber where available) and AT&T phone
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
