Staff Accountant

Job Description

Staff Accountant | Connect Search, LLC

The Tone:
This is a full-time Staff Accountant role with Connect Search, LLC’s client, an established consumer products organization based in Chicago, IL, operating in a product-driven industry. The company supports a growing business with domestic and international operations, encompassing commercial, distribution, and supply chain activities. This role is crucial for maintaining accurate financial records, ensuring timely completion of recurring financial processes, and contributing to a more efficient and automated finance organization. The Staff Accountant will gain exposure to corporate accounting, financial systems, and cross-functional business operations, making it an ideal opportunity for an intellectually curious individual interested in improving how accounting functions operate.

The TL;DR
• Role: Early Career
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid – Chicago, IL
• Pay: $70000–$75000 yearly
• Team: U.S. accounting team, reporting to senior members.
• Mission: To ensure the accuracy of financial records and the timely completion of recurring financial processes for U.S. operations, actively contributing to workflow simplification and manual processing reduction through technology.
• Tech Stack: Enterprise accounting systems, financial close-management tools, expense-management tools, automated workflows, reporting tools, AI-enabled applications, Microsoft Excel

What You’ll Actually Do
• Financial Close: Support the monthly financial close by completing assigned accounting activities, developing and recording general ledger adjustments, and ensuring all financial information is recorded within established deadlines, adhering to US GAAP principles.
• Transactional Accounting: Manage key transactional processes including recurring customer billing, cash application of incoming payments, and coordinating vendor invoice processing, ensuring accuracy and proper reflection in the accounting system.
• Account Reconciliation: Review and reconcile assigned balance sheet accounts, investigate differences requiring correction, and prepare financial analyses to explain account activity and operating fluctuations.
• Process Improvement: Evaluate existing accounting procedures, identify opportunities to simplify workflows, improve accuracy, and reduce manual processing through the thoughtful application of technology, including automated workflows and AI-enabled applications.
• Compliance & Collaboration: Organize schedules and documentation for internal and external audits, assist with preparing indirect and sales tax filings, and collaborate cross-functionally with Finance, Sales, and Supply Chain personnel to resolve transaction questions.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance, coupled with a solid understanding of US GAAP, accrual accounting, and fundamental general ledger principles.
• Experience: Approximately 1-2 years of professional accounting experience is essential, including practical familiarity with preparing journal entries, reconciling accounts, and comprehensively reviewing financial transactions.
• Skills: Demonstrates strong Microsoft Excel proficiency, encompassing lookup functions, pivot tables, and financial data analysis. Possesses strong analytical capabilities for independent investigation of accounting differences and robust organizational skills to manage recurring deadlines.
• Bonus: An intellectual curiosity in understanding operational factors underlying financial transactions, a proactive ability to identify inefficiencies and recommend solutions, comfort with learning new software applications, and an interest in exploring AI-enabled tools for workflow enhancement.