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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Finance and Accounting Division Director

💰 $ - $

FinanceAccountingLeadershipCorporate

🎯 Role Definition

The Finance and Accounting Division Director is a senior finance leader responsible for directing all accounting and reporting activities, shaping financial strategy, ensuring regulatory compliance, and partnering with the executive team to drive business performance. This role leads month-end and year-end close, statutory and consolidated reporting, budgeting and forecasting, internal controls and audit readiness, treasury and working capital management, tax coordination, systems optimization (ERP), and the development of high-performing finance teams. The director serves as a trusted advisor to the CFO and other executives and represents the finance function to external auditors, banks, regulators and stakeholders.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Finance Manager / Senior Accounting Manager
  • Corporate Controller / Assistant Controller
  • Head of Financial Reporting or FP&A Director

Advancement To:

  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
  • Group Finance Director / VP Finance
  • Head of Finance Transformation / Chief Accounting Officer

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Treasury or Cash Management
  • Head of Tax / Global Tax Director
  • Director, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead and own the end-to-end financial close and consolidated reporting process for multiple legal entities, ensuring timely, accurate monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements prepared under GAAP and/or IFRS and ready for board review.
  • Oversee accounting policies and technical accounting matters, driving consistent application of GAAP/IFRS, managing complex accounting treatments (revenue recognition, leases, deferred tax, financial instruments) and advising the executive team on interpretation and impact.
  • Manage external statutory and financial statement audits, coordinate with Big 4/other external auditors, facilitate audit planning and deliverables, resolve audit findings, and implement post-audit remediation plans.
  • Drive the annual budgeting and rolling forecasting process in partnership with business unit leaders and FP&A, ensuring alignment to strategic priorities, transparent assumptions, and scenario modeling to support decision-making.
  • Design, implement and maintain robust internal controls and SOX compliance programs, lead control testing, remediation and documentation to mitigate financial risk and support regulatory compliance.
  • Own treasury, cash flow forecasting and working capital management strategies; manage banking relationships, debt facilities, liquidity planning and optimize capital structure to support business operations and growth.
  • Lead tax planning and compliance coordination with internal tax teams and external advisors to ensure timely filing, minimize tax risk, and support tax audits and cross-border tax implications for transactions.
  • Develop and present monthly and quarterly financial performance packages, variance analyses, KPI dashboards and insightful executive-level commentary that links financial results to business drivers.
  • Partner with HR and business leaders to recruit, develop and retain a high-performing accounting and finance team through performance management, succession planning, training and career-pathing.
  • Drive finance process standardization, automation and systems improvements—lead ERP implementation/upgrades (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, etc.), internal controls automation, and reporting/tooling enhancements to increase efficiency and data integrity.
  • Provide financial leadership and due diligence support for M&A, divestitures, integrations and strategic investments, including valuation support, post-close integration and synergies tracking.
  • Monitor regulatory changes and compliance requirements (local statutory, SEC/filing regimes, industry-specific regulation) and implement appropriate policy or process updates to maintain compliance.
  • Establish and maintain comprehensive month-end and year-end closing calendars, best practice checklists and continuous improvement initiatives to shorten close cycle times and increase quality.
  • Oversee fixed assets accounting, intercompany transactions and reconciliations, treasury accounting and hedge accounting where applicable, ensuring accuracy of balance sheet and disclosures.
  • Collaborate with IT and data teams to improve financial data governance, build reliable data pipelines for reporting and analytics, and leverage BI tools for scenario planning and FP&A support.
  • Serve as the primary finance liaison to cross-functional partners (operations, sales, legal, procurement) to align financial controls with operational objectives and embed finance as a strategic business partner.
  • Manage relationships with banks, insurers, external advisors and rating agencies; negotiate financing terms and ensure covenant compliance and reporting obligations are met.
  • Lead cost control initiatives and margin improvement programs, driving deep-dives into cost drivers, pricing impacts and operational efficiencies in partnership with business units.
  • Establish and report on finance KPIs (working capital days, closing cycle time, forecasting accuracy, cost per transaction) and implement performance improvement plans anchored in measurable targets.
  • Ensure quality and compliance of payroll, benefits accounting and payroll tax reporting in collaboration with HR and payroll providers.
  • Oversee the preparation and submission of statutory filings, regulatory returns and parent company consolidations in multi-jurisdictional environments.
  • Act as a mentor and coach to senior accounting managers and controllers, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous learning and cross-functional collaboration across the finance division.
  • Provide ad-hoc strategic analyses, investment appraisals, and business-case modeling to support executive decision-making and new business initiatives.
  • Continuously review and improve the segregation of duties, authorization matrices and approval workflows to strengthen governance and mitigate fraud risk.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Provide periodic training and financial literacy sessions to non-finance stakeholders to improve cross-functional decision-making.
  • Participate in corporate governance committees and policy reviews to ensure finance perspectives inform enterprise risk decisions.
  • Support investor relations activities with financial packs, Q&A preparation and non-deal roadshow materials when required.
  • Support sustainability and ESG reporting initiatives by ensuring alignment between financial disclosures and ESG metrics.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced knowledge of GAAP and IFRS accounting standards and practical experience applying technical accounting in a multicultural or multi-entity organization.
  • Financial reporting and consolidation expertise, including statutory filings, parent company consolidations and multi-currency accounting.
  • Strong FP&A and financial modeling skills: budgeting, forecasting, scenario analysis, sensitivity modeling and KPI development.
  • Experience leading ERP implementations or major upgrades (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics) and integrating financial systems with reporting tools.
  • Proficiency with financial systems and BI/reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau, Hyperion, OneStream, Anaplan) and advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, complex formulas, macros).
  • Hands-on experience with internal controls frameworks and SOX compliance, control design, testing and remediation.
  • Treasury and cash management experience including cash forecasting, banking relationships and debt covenant management.
  • Audit and external auditor liaison experience, including planning, execution oversight and remediation of audit findings.
  • Tax coordination skills with understanding of corporate tax, transfer pricing basics and experience working with external tax advisors.
  • Strong ERP data governance and data integrity knowledge, including intercompany reconciliations and master data management.
  • Experience with M&A support (due diligence, financial integration, carve-outs) and post-merger accounting.
  • Familiarity with regulatory and statutory reporting requirements across jurisdictions (local filings, SEC reporting where applicable).

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinker with the ability to translate financial data into clear business insights and actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
  • Exceptional leadership and people development skills: coaching, delegation, talent planning and conflict resolution.
  • Strong communication and presentation skills with experience briefing boards, executive teams and external stakeholders.
  • High integrity, ethics and commitment to strong corporate governance and risk management.
  • Project management skills and ability to lead cross-functional initiatives under tight deadlines.
  • Change management and stakeholder influencing capabilities to drive finance transformation and process adoption.
  • Problem-solving mindset and attention to detail with a focus on continuous improvement and operational excellence.
  • Customer-oriented business partnering skills to build trust and credibility with non-finance teams.
  • Adaptability and resilience working in fast-paced, high-growth or matrixed organizations.
  • Analytical curiosity and data-driven decision-making skills.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics or related field; or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

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

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Business Administration
  • Information Systems (for ERP/data-heavy roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 10–15+ years of progressive finance and accounting experience, including 5+ years in a senior leadership or director-level role.

Preferred:

  • 12+ years with multi-entity, multinational or public company experience.
  • Prior experience with Big 4 audit firms or in-house audit/controls functions is a strong advantage.
  • Demonstrated track record of ERP implementations, finance transformation projects, SOX compliance and leading cross-functional finance teams.
  • Experience supporting M&A and investor relations preferred.
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