Controller - GM Europe

at  General Motors

JOB DESCRIPTION

The GM Europe Controller will play a key role in overseeing Europe accounting on day-to-day business operation, month end, quarter end and year-end closing and financial reporting; leading and completing statutory financial reporting; and building up sound control environment to follow all internal and external regulations.

QUALIFICATIONS

• German and English fluent
• Expertise on Germany GAAP and knowledgeable on US GAAP
• Bachelor’s degree with major in accounting or finance
• 10+ years of relevant work experience in accounting/finance
• Experience with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
• Experience with accounting processes including consolidation, financial reporting, etc.
• Familiarity with SAP and Hyperion
• Demonstrate problem solving and analytical abilities where problems are complex
• Ability to prioritize assignments/projects and multi-task within restricted time constraints
• Embrace and manage changes
• Prior experience leading a project/initiative among peers

QUALIFICATIONS – PREFERRED

• Big 4 accounting experience
• CPA (certified public accountant), Chartered Accountant (CA) or equivalent
• knowledgeable of European entities’ GAAPs is a plus

DESIRED SKILLS

• Fosters a culture of teamwork, partnership, and inclusion
• Lead by example displaying GM behaviors, commitment to personal development and dedication to building a positive Workplace of Choice culture
• Positive and energizing; Ability to inspire team and voice ideas to drive value to GM business
• Ability to summarize detailed analysis in a high-level/leadership-focused overview
• Work autonomously with business partners and finance peers
• Strong data analytics / attention to detail, with 80/20 focus on quick turnaround
• Creative and inquisitive; Managerial courage to challenge norms

• Focus on driving to a zero-defect environment for external financial reporting
• Maintain/enhance strong control environment
• Accurate and timely trial balances, financial statements (including statutory filings) and disclosures
• Support reporting initiatives such as transition to ICE/EV reporting
• Partner with Finance to determine accounting implications for all material business decisions
• Track status of the close and report out to leadership
• Provide support for Internal and External (SEC) reporting; Work with external auditors and GM SOX Core Team; Review and ensure application of appropriate internal controls, SOX compliance and financial procedures.
• Understand technical accounting conclusions and ensure planned journal entries will produce the desired result
• Understand implications of transaction and engage other members of consolidations, reporting, tax, treasury, etc. as necessary
• Capable of deep diving to pursue issues that arise during month end close and take full ownership of the resolution of the issue, communicating openly and frequently with the team and leader to work together to resolve quickly
• Recruit and develop a diverse Controllership organization that is a destination of choice for talent and sustains a high-performing team that delivers future leaders, exports talent across GM and becomes a trusted Business Partner to the enterprise
• Lead a team. Support their development by conducting meaningful feedback and career discussions. Recruit internally and externally to support rotations
• Continuously enhance the process and control environment using evolving technologies and World Class end-to-end financial processes to reduce manual interventions and the cost of compliance.
• Support Transformation initiatives
• Ensure that a proactive (vs. reactionary) and automated (vs. manual) controls environment is consistently delivered for new technology deployments
• Focus on managing processes and controls end-to-end
• Support Consolidations process improvements, control enhancements