Controller - GM Europe - Work From Home - Germany

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.

Responsibilities:

• 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

Initiatives to accelerate and improve the quality of the close process

• Raise the stature of Controllership by investing in relationships with internal and external stakeholders to partner with our constituents for the benefit of GM.
• Support GM Operating and Finance to execute GM business initiatives
• Maintain/ grow external relationships with key stakeholders and organizations/ influencers to understand/ influence changing trends in regulations, financial reporting and disclosure guidance, internal controls, and other industries
• Work cross-functionally with groups such as Legal, FP&A, Tax, Sales and Treasury on various business cases and projects
• Support the team during unique transactions such as segment changes, acquisitions, accounting standard changes, restatements, etc. Requires frequent communication with regional /functional contacts
• Provides support when needed to other team members as issues arise to contribute to a one team environment during month end close activities

Additional Job Description

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

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us 

We aspire to be the most inclusive company in the world. We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Our Work Appropriately philosophy supports our foundation of inclusion and provides employees the flexibility to work where they can have the greatest impact on achieving our goals, dependent on role needs. Every day, we want every employee, no matter their background, ethnicity, preferences, or location, to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Diversity Information

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that workforce diversity creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.   We understand and embrace the variety through which people gain experiences whether through professional, personal, educational, or volunteer opportunities. 

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications and apply for any positions that match your skills and capabilities.