Manager, Customer Accounting Operations

About the role

• Work Schedule
• Standard (Mon-Fri)
• Environmental Conditions
• Office

About the role

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, our Finance teams are important to our business and functional teams to make educated, sound decisions that drive our Mission and make us a stable and trusted industry leader. From Financial Planning & Analysis, Tax, Treasury, Financial Reporting, Audit, Investor Relations, Strategy & Corporate Development to Accounting, our Finance functions have a diverse and global presence, providing significant opportunities to develop outstanding career experiences and perspectives.

How you will make an impact

The Manager, Customer Accounting Operations is a key member of the LPG Group Accounting Operations team, responsible for leading customer-related accounting activities, process governance and financial risk management across LPG. The role combines hands-on accounting review and issue resolution with process ownership across customer rebates and accruals, accounts receivable, credit risk, bad debt and other customer-related accounting matters.

The Manager partners closely with Division Controllers, Commercial and Finance teams, Global Business Services (GBS), Technical Accounting and other stakeholders to drive accurate, timely and compliant accounting, consistent execution and timely escalation of material or complex accounting matters.

What you will do

• Lead and coordinate customer-related accounting activities across LPG, including rebate accounting, accrual methodologies and calculations, reconciliations, accounts receivable, bad debt, customer-related reserves and related controls.
• Review and challenge material or complex customer-related accounting entries, accruals, reconciliations and estimates; provide accounting guidance and hands-on support for unusual or higher-risk matters.
• Support monthly and quarterly close activities for customer-related accounts, identifying material exposures, unusual movements and accounting issues and partnering with Division Controllers and other stakeholders to drive timely resolution.
• Own and maintain standardized accounting processes, operating procedures and controls for assigned customer-accounting activities, consistent with Company accounting policies and U.S. GAAP.
• Monitor compliance with established policies, procedures and controls; identify gaps or control risks and drive remediation with divisional and GBS stakeholders.
• Identify significant, unusual or judgmental accounting matters, including revenue-recognition matters, and escalate to the Sr. Manager GAO, relevant Division Controller and/or Technical Accounting in accordance with established governance.
• Review and approve assigned revenue-related account reconciliations in BlackLine in accordance with established reconciliation ownership and approval requirements.
• Use analytics and dashboards to assess accounts receivable aging, collection risk and bad-debt exposure; partner with Commercial, Finance and GBS to address significant exposures and support credit decisions within established decision rights.
• Partner early with Commercial, Legal and Finance on non-standard or complex customer arrangements to identify accounting implications and provide accounting input on proposed terms and conditions.
• Partner with Division Controllers to ensure customer-related balance sheet accounts, exposures and accounting risks are appropriately understood, reviewed and reflected in divisional financial results.
• Provide accounting oversight and support to GBS for assigned processes, including issue resolution, controls and service-performance matters, and escalate gaps in responsibilities or decision rights to the Sr. Manager GAO.
• Drive standardization, simplification and automation of customer-accounting processes, including transition of appropriate transactional activities to GBS while maintaining appropriate controls and business continuity.
• Develop metrics and reporting, perform root-cause analysis of recurring issues and lead cross-functional actions to improve process performance and financial risk management.
• Support internal and external audit requirements and timely remediation of identified customer-accounting issues.
• Lead, develop and provide direction to team members, building capability in accounting judgment, controls, analytics and effective stakeholder partnership.
• Perform other related accounting, operational and project responsibilities as assigned, based on evolving business needs and organizational priorities

Requirements

• *Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or related field; CPA or equivalent preferred
• 7+ years of progressive accounting, finance or customer accounting experience, including accounts receivable, credit, revenue-related accounting, rebates or similar customer-facing financial processes. Leadership or process ownership experience preferred

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP applicable to receivables, reserves, rebates and customer-related transactions.
• Strong understanding of internal controls, financial risk management and customer credit/accounting processes.
• Ability to apply sound accounting judgment, analyze complex data and resolve unusual accounting or operational issues.
• Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on execution with process ownership, governance and continuous improvement.
• Ability to influence across functions and geographies in a large, matrixed global organization.

Proven process improvement, standardization and change-leadership capabilities.

Travel requirements

• Less than 25% domestic/international travel required