Senior Accountant

Southern Company • Birmingham, AL

7h

About The Position

The SCS Internal Controls & Compliance team is responsible for risk assessment,
planning, controls design, testing of operating effectiveness, evaluating
deficiencies, and reporting system-wide SOX results to Registrant’s and Shared
Services’ management across the Southern Company system.

This position is a great opportunity to both contribute to and learn the overall
business of Southern Company and its Subsidiaries. In this shared-service role,
you will support the Company’s internal control program to ensure compliance
with Sarbanes-Oxley. The successful candidate will primarily assist in planning
and executing the controls program for the Financial Reporting process. This
position requires that the candidate be fully engaged in the
business, developing and enhancing relationships with stakeholders from the
various Registrants and Shared Services functions. To be successful, the
candidate should be comfortable
learning new processes, asking challenging questions, and questioning the status
quo. The ability to work independently, assess processes and recommend
improvements for accuracy, consistency, efficiency, and/or automation is
required.

This position can be located in either Atlanta or Birmingham.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Accounting-related field is required
• Minimum 4+ years of experience in accounting, internal controls, auditing, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of ICFR, SOX 302/404, and SEC reporting.
• Demonstrated accounting proficiency—especially applied to financial reporting and disclosure related topics desired.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to deliver under tight deadlines.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with limited supervision.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills across diverse stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Certification (such as CPA or CIA) is preferred
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
• Auditing Standard 5
• COSO 2013 Internal Control Framework
• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
• Security and Exchange Commission rules and reporting requirements

Responsibilities

• Execute risk-based approach to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley for all Registrants. This includes controls rationalization, effective control design and testing assessments.
• Serve as an ICFR subject matter leader for the Financial Reporting process, ensuring strong control design, consistent performance, and compliance with COSO and SOX requirements.
• Lead and document walkthroughs, process narratives, flowcharts, control testing, and deficiency evaluations for assigned processes.
• Apply technical accounting expertise to evaluate complex transactions and system flows.
• Effectively assess and evaluate deficiencies, including remediation plans. Communicate the status to impacted stakeholders timely.
• Identify opportunities for improved efficiency, automation, consistency, and control enhancement.
• Coordinate with internal and external auditors on SOX related audit activities. Prepare periodic SOX reports to timely communicate walkthrough and testing results, deficiencies, etc. to management.
• Support special projects or activities as required.
• Leverage available tools to perform data analytics.

Benefits

• Southern Company invests in the well-being of its employees and their families through a comprehensive total rewards strategy that includes competitive base salary, annual incentive awards for eligible employees and health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being.
• This position may also be eligible for additional compensation, such as an incentive program, with the amount of any bonus/awards subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan(s).
• A summary of the benefits offered for this position can be found here https://seo.nlx.org/southernco/pdf/SOCO-Benefits.pdf

What This Job Offers

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