Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Unit Controller

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Unit Controller is the senior finance leader embedded in a business unit who owns the integrity of financial reporting, drives budgeting and forecasting, partners with commercial and operational leaders to optimize profitability, and ensures compliance with accounting standards (IFRS/US GAAP) and internal control frameworks (including SOX where applicable). This role combines technical accounting expertise, advanced financial analysis, ERP/BI fluency, and strong stakeholder management to translate operational performance into reliable financial insight and actionable recommendations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Financial Analyst with demonstrated P&L experience and cross-functional influence.
Accounting Manager or Senior Accountant with experience in month-end close and statutory reporting.
FP&A Manager or Commercial Finance Business Partner supporting a product line or region.

Advancement To:

Finance Director / Director of Controlling for the region or division.
Head of Finance / CFO of a business unit or smaller company.
VP of Finance, Corporate Controller, or Global Controlling Lead in a multinational.

Lateral Moves:

Commercial Finance Manager or Strategic FP&A Lead.
Program Finance Lead for large cross-functional initiatives.
Finance Transformation or ERP Program Manager supporting broader roll-outs.

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own end-to-end month-end, quarter-end and year-end close activities for the business unit, ensuring timely and accurate general ledger reconciliation, accruals and adjusting entries, and delivery of statutory and management reports in compliance with IFRS/US GAAP.
Prepare, review and present monthly consolidated P&L, balance sheet and cash flow analyses to business unit leadership, explaining key drivers, variances to plan and forecast, and providing actionable recommendations to improve margin and working capital.
Lead the annual budgeting process and rolling forecast cycles for the business unit, facilitating cross-functional inputs from sales, operations and supply chain; build driver-based models and scenario analyses to enable agile decision-making.
Act as the primary business partner to commercial and operational leaders, translating revenue and cost dynamics into financial forecasts, pricing analyses, margin improvement plans and investment evaluations that align with strategic goals.
Develop, maintain and improve management reporting packages (KPIs, dashboards) using ERP and BI tools (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Power BI, Tableau) to provide real-time performance insight and support executive decision-making.
Drive cost control and margin optimization initiatives by analyzing cost-to-serve, product/service profitability, and overhead allocation methods; recommend and track implementation of cost reduction and process efficiency programs.
Ensure robust internal controls across the business unit finance processes, lead SOX compliance activities where applicable, design and document control matrices, and coordinate remediation actions with internal and external auditors.
Oversee inventory accounting, valuation and reconciliations (including obsolescence, slow-moving inventory and cycle count coordination) and collaborate with operations to optimize inventory turns and reduce write-offs.
Manage cash flow planning and treasury interactions for the business unit by forecasting working capital needs, monitoring receivables, overseeing credit terms and supporting collection strategies to minimize DSO and improve liquidity.
Lead statutory and management consolidation activities for the unit, coordinate intercompany transactions, prepare supporting schedules for group reporting and assist with external audit requests and regulatory filings.
Provide technical accounting guidance and lead implementation of new accounting standards, complex transactions, and one-time events (M&A integrations, divestitures, lease accounting, revenue recognition) with cross-functional stakeholders.
Build, validate and maintain financial models for long-range planning, capital expenditure (CapEx) approvals and business cases, quantifying ROI, sensitivity analyses and payback periods to support investment decisions.
Supervise and mentor a team of accountants and financial analysts; set performance objectives, provide coaching, manage talent development, and ensure continuity of finance operations within the business unit.
Establish and maintain effective relationships with corporate finance, tax, legal, procurement and HR to ensure alignment on policies, transfer pricing, tax provisioning and workforce-related cost planning.
Lead variance analysis and root cause investigations for budget to actual and forecast to actual differences, producing clear executive summaries and recommended corrective actions tied to measurable KPIs.
Drive continuous improvement in finance processes through automation, ERP optimization, standardized templates and elimination of manual reconciliations to shorten close cycles and increase data reliability.
Support pricing governance by providing margin and cost analyses for new product introductions, promotional campaigns and contractual negotiations, ensuring pricing decisions reflect full cost and profitability impact.
Prepare and deliver monthly and quarterly finance reviews and board-level materials, ensuring clarity, auditability of assumptions, and alignment with corporate strategic priorities.
Coordinate and support external audits, tax audits, internal control testing and compliance assessments across the business unit, acting as the primary point of contact and ensuring timely remediation.
Monitor and report on key regulatory, market and accounting developments that could materially impact the business unit, recommending updates to policies and disclosures as necessary.
Lead financial due diligence and integration support for acquisitions or divestitures affecting the business unit, including closing adjustments, carve-out accounting and post-close integration of finance processes.
Champion a commercial mindset within finance by embedding analytical tools and insights into sales and operations planning cycles, enabling frontline managers to make data-driven decisions that improve EBITDA.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc financial and operational data requests and perform exploratory data analysis to inform short-term decisions and special projects.
Contribute to the organization's finance transformation roadmap by identifying process gaps, automation opportunities and change impacts across the business unit.
Collaborate with IT and Business Intelligence teams to translate finance requirements into system enhancements, reporting specifications and ERP configuration needs.
Participate in cross-functional project teams (pricing, supply chain optimization, product launches) to ensure financial rigor, budgeting discipline and measurable performance targets.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Financial reporting and technical accounting (IFRS and/or US GAAP) with hands-on experience preparing P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements.
Full-cycle month-end and year-end close, general ledger reconciliation, accruals, and journal entry preparation.
Budgeting, forecasting, rolling forecasts and driver-based financial modeling including scenario and sensitivity analysis.
Advanced variance analysis and management reporting, including KPI definition, dashboard creation and trend analysis.
ERP systems expertise (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite or similar) with demonstrated experience in system-driven processes and reconciliations.
Proficiency with BI and reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau, Qlik) and advanced Excel (pivot tables, Power Query, complex formulas).
Cost accounting and product profitability analysis, including standard costing, cost-to-serve and indirect cost allocation methodologies.
Internal controls, SOX compliance, audit coordination and remediation experience.
Cash flow management, working capital optimization and treasury interaction.
Experience with tax provisioning, transfer pricing basics and coordination with tax teams for statutory filings.
Exposure to M&A accounting, purchase price allocation, carve-outs and integration accounting preferred.
Process improvement and finance automation (RPA, VBA, Python for finance, or ERP process re-engineering) experience valued.

Soft Skills

Strategic business partnering and strong commercial acumen; ability to translate financial data into actionable business insight.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of delivering complex financial concepts to non-finance stakeholders and executive teams.
Leadership and people management, including coaching, performance management and talent development.
Strong analytical mindset, curiosity and attention to detail balanced with ability to focus on high-impact priorities.
Problem-solving orientation, able to lead root-cause analysis and implement pragmatic corrective actions.
Stakeholder management and influence—comfortable negotiating trade-offs between finance rigor and operational constraints.
Project management and change leadership, adept at delivering finance transformation and system implementation initiatives.
Time management and ability to deliver under tight month-end/quarter-end deadlines while maintaining quality.
Ethical judgment, integrity and commitment to compliance and governance.
Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, matrixed organizations with shifting priorities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, MBA, or professional qualification such as CPA, ACCA, CMA, or equivalent.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Accounting
Finance
Economics
Business Administration
Data Analytics (beneficial for reporting roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5–12 years of progressive finance and accounting experience with demonstrated P&L ownership; typically 7+ years preferred for larger or more complex business units.

Preferred:

Prior experience as a Business Unit Controller, Commercial Finance Lead, FP&A Manager, Accounting Manager or comparable role within the same industry.
Demonstrated track record managing month-end close, budgets/forecasts, internal controls and business partnering; experience in multinational, multi-entity environments and exposure to ERP implementations or finance transformation projects is highly desirable.