VP, Accounting - North American Distribution

Parts Town•Addison, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President, Accounting - North American Distribution is the senior accounting leader responsible for the integrity, accuracy, and scalability of accounting across North American distribution operations. The role leads accounting for a complex, multi-site distribution network and ensures inventory, cost of goods sold, freight, supplier programs, and operating results are recorded accurately and on time. As a member of the CAO's leadership team, the VP partners with Distribution, Supply Chain, Procurement, Commercial Finance, Tax, Treasury, and Technology to strengthen controllership, provide actionable financial insight, and build consistent, SOX-ready processes that support growth. The VP leads North American distribution accounting operations, including close, reporting, inventory and margin accounting, internal controls, compliance, accounting policy, technical accounting, systems and process improvement, and talent development. The role supports operations in the United States and Canada, and Mexico operations as applicable. It also serves as the senior accounting contact for distribution-related internal and external audits and provides accounting leadership for acquisitions, integrations, new distribution centers, network changes, and other strategic initiatives.

Requirements

Active CPA license.
12+ years of progressive accounting and finance leadership experience, including significant responsibility in distribution, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, or another inventory-intensive business.
Proven experience leading multi-site and multi-entity accounting operations across North America.
Deep US GAAP expertise, especially in inventory valuation, cost accounting, supplier programs, revenue recognition, and working-capital-related accounting.
Proven experience implementing or enhancing SOX or SOX-equivalent internal controls.
Experience in a public company, IPO-ready, or large private-equity-backed environment.
Experience leading ERP implementations, finance transformations, or major process-standardization initiatives.
High integrity, strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and ability to balance controllership with business partnership.
Confident communication skills and credibility among senior executives, operational leaders, auditors, and cross-functional partners.
Hands-on leadership ability, including building teams, processes, and structure in a fast-growth environment with increasing complexity.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting acquisitions and integrations.
Experience integrating ERP and warehouse management systems is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead accounting operations for North American distribution, including monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes across distribution centers and related legal entities.
Own the accuracy and completeness of distribution operations’ balance sheet and income statement through reviews, reconciliations, and variance analysis.
Establish consistent accounting practices across sites while addressing local statutory, tax, and business requirements in the United States and Canada; support Mexico operations as applicable.
Provide executive-level visibility into accounting risks, close performance, and emerging business issues.
Own accounting policy and execution for inventory, standard and actual costs, reserves, obsolescence, cycle counts, physical inventories, and inventory valuation under US GAAP.
Ensure accurate accounting for cost of goods sold, inbound and outbound freight, landed cost, intercompany inventory movements, and distribution-center variances.
Oversee accounting for supplier rebates, volume incentives, purchasing programs, customer credits, returns, warranties, and other arrangements affecting gross margin.
Partner with Supply Chain, Procurement, Pricing, and FP&A to improve margin transparency, working-capital performance, and operational decision-making.
Drive an accurate, timely, and predictable close through clear ownership, standardized calendars, disciplined review, and meaningful account reconciliations.
Deliver management reporting and supporting schedules for North American distribution results, including inventory, margin, freight, and operating cost trends.
Serve as senior accounting contact for external and internal auditors on distribution-related matters; lead issue resolution and remediation.
Support enterprise financial reporting, lender reporting, and Audit Committee materials with reliable analysis and documentation.
Design, implement, and maintain effective controls over distribution accounting and financial reporting, aligned with SOX and public-company expectations.
Own process documentation, risk assessments, control design, testing support, remediation, and continuous improvement for key distribution cycles.
Strengthen controls across inventory movements, purchasing, receiving, warehouse operations, vendor programs, order-to-cash, and period-end reporting.
Partner with Internal Audit, external auditors, and functional leaders to ensure controls are practical, scalable, and consistently executed.
Set and enforce accounting policies for North American distribution activities and serve as the technical accounting authority for related matters.
Lead evaluation and implementation of new accounting standards and business practices affecting inventory, revenue, leases, supplier arrangements, and other complex transactions.
Prepare or review technical accounting memos and position papers, ensuring conclusions are well supported and operationalized.
Provide accounting leadership for acquisitions, integrations, new distribution centers, network changes, and other strategic initiatives.
Standardize and automate accounting processes across the North American distribution network.
Lead or partner on ERP, warehouse management, purchasing, inventory, and financial-system implementations and enhancements.
Improve close speed, data quality, master-data governance, and end-to-end visibility from transaction processing through financial reporting.
Build a scalable accounting platform that supports organic growth, acquisitions, and evolving distribution models.
Lead and develop a high-performing North American distribution accounting organization.
Establish clear accountability, performance expectations, succession plans, and development opportunities.
Build strong partnerships with operating leaders while maintaining an independent controllership mindset.
Foster a culture of ownership, rigor, curiosity, continuous improvement, and teamwork.