Accounting Manager

Distinguished Programs LLC Job Description & Requirements

Job Title

Senior Financial Accountant

Distinguished Programs LLC is a growing, entrepreneurial national insurance program manager who provides specialty insurance programs to brokers and agents.

Distinguished has a strong and unique culture focused on people, their performance and their experience at the company. We foster an environment which attracts, develops and engages diverse, smart, determined, innovative and motivated high potential colleagues. We are honored and excited to report Distinguished has been named as one of the best places to work in the insurance industry by Business Insurance.

This successful candidate will report to the Controller and will work with the CFO and senior management in his or her duties.   

Roles & Responsibilities:   The person in this position will assist the Controller in the operations, oversight and maintenance of the general ledger, including hands on work with journal entries, reconciliations, account analysis as well as the design and maintenance of the ERP system. This will entail detailed review, ongoing completion oversight, troubleshooting, investigation, resolution and execution of GL reconciliations. The role will require active participation and assistance in the monthly close of a multinational, divisional enterprise. The candidate should have an understanding of currency fluctuations and their impact on financial statements.  Follow-up preparation of monthly financial reports and the related variance analysis for delivery to the operational managers will be part of the monthly close process.  Control process design and implementation will be a critical responsibility of this role; additionally, a solid, logical working knowledge of master data design and the ability to operate within the infrastructure of the ERP system is required.   A business-level competence to assist in tax filings is desired. The person in this role will provide assistance and own partial responsibility over the annual planning process. Attention to detail, timelines, logic and base IT/system skills are required for this position.      

Consider:

• People Management:  The candidate must be able to manage across boundaries[KJ1] , influence decision makers, work to gain acceptance [KJ2] as well as adhere to policies and controls.   The successful candidate will be an individual contributor initially, but the role may expand to have several direct reports.
• Customer Relationship Management:   The successful candidate must be able to partner with stakeholders in understanding of their financial statements, and the ability to add value through consulting and advising.  The person must be attentive to the reporting needs of the business as well as innovative in presenting solutions and creative in metrics and operational updates.
• System Design and Architecture:  Distinguished is in the final stages of selecting a new ERP. This role will be pivotal in the implementation and ongoing process design and maintenance of the new system.Experience in process design and a solid understanding of accounting controls and auditable control points is essential.
• Accountability and Timeliness:  The candidate must have a good internal sense of responsibility regarding task completion and understands internally the necessity of deadlines which may require considerable time and effort during the fiscal year.

Experience and Education:

• Degree in accounting
• 5+ years in financial reporting, general ledger management
• Accounting process design and how systems can help to make these processes more efficient.
• Strong understanding of meta data and the ability to analyze and draw conclusions from it
• Exposure and understanding of tax compliance/filing  
• Experience in insurance or brokerage strongly desired

Competencies:

• Action Oriented- Enjoys working hard, is action oriented and full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging, not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning, seizes more opportunities than others.
• Dealing with Ambiguity- Can effectively cope with change, can shift gears comfortably, can decide and act without having the total picture, isn't upset when things are up in the air, doesn't have to finish things before moving on, can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Business Acumen- Knows how businesses work, knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, and information affecting his/her business and organization, knows the competition, is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.
• Comfort Around Higher Management- Can deal comfortably with more senior managers, can present to more senior managers without undue tension and nervousness, understands how senior managers think and work, can determine the best way to get things done with them by talking their language and responding to their needs, can craft approaches likely to be seen as appropriate and positive.
• Innovation Management- Is good at bringing the creative ideas of others to market, has good judgment about which creative ideas and suggestions will work, has a sense about managing the creative process of others, can facilitate effective brainstorming, can project how potential ideas may play out in the marketplace.
• Learning on the Fly -Learns quickly when facing new problems, a relentless and versatile learner, open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement, experiments and will try anything to find solutions, enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks, quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
• Managing and Measuring Work Clearly assigns responsibility for tasks and decisions, sets clear objectives and measures, monitors process, progress, and results, designs feedback loops into work.
• Perspective- Looks toward the broadest possible view of an issue/challenge, has broad-ranging personal and business interests and pursuits, can easily pose future scenarios, can think globally, can discuss multiple aspects and impacts of issues and project then into the future.
• Planning- Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects, sets objectives and goals, breaks down work in the process steps, develops schedules and task/people assignments, anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks, measures performance against goals, evaluates results.
• Presentation Skills- Is effective in a variety of formal presentation settings: one-on-one, small and large groups, with peers, direct reports, and bosses, is effective both inside and outside the organization, on both cool data and hot and controversial topics, commands attention and can manage group process during the presentation, can change tactics midstream when something isn't working.
• Priority Setting-Spends his/her time and the time of others on what's important, quickly zeros in on the critical few and puts the trivial many aside, can quickly sense what will help or hinder accomplishing a goal, eliminates roadblocks, creates focus.
• Problem Solving- Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions, probes all fruitful sources for answers, can see hidden problems, is excellent at honest analysis, looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answers.
• Written Communications- Is able to write clearly and succinctly in a variety of communication settings and styles, can get messages across that have the desired effect.

Distinguished Programs Group, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All decisions concerning the employment relationship will be made without regard to age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, marital status, veteran status, the presence of any physical or mental disability, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Discrimination or harassment based upon any of these factors is wholly inconsistent with our Company values and will not be tolerated. Furthermore, such discrimination or harassment may violate federal, state, or local law.

Employment is subject to verification of pre-employment drug-screening results and background investigation.