Accountant, Americas

About Zespri

Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit with over 800  people in New Zealand and throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.

We  help people, communities and the environment thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. We sit at the heart of an interconnected industry working with 2,800 growers in New Zealand and 1,500 growers in Italy, France, Greece, South Korea and Japan. We supply the world’s healthiest little superfruits to people in more than 50 countries. We are fruit on a mission.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do. We commit to guardianship; putting people, the community, and the environment first. We are results-driven, challenging ourselves to grow and deliver better value. We cultivate personal connections, listening and acting with empathy and humility – and treating each other better for it.

We are growing quickly, driven by our success in engaging more and more consumers and by offering the world’s best kiwifruit 12 months of the year. We have bold ambitions and aim to grow sales from approximately $3 billion in 2018 to $4.5 billion by 2025.

To achieve our goals, we’re empowering our people to achieve their goals, designing our work for wellbeing, through flexible work practices and self-leadership.

We have bold ambitions for the future and we want all of our people to live and perform at their best.

About The Role

The purpose of this role is to take full ownership of the financial accounting record-keeping for North American business activities. Role involves knowing business processes and activities to ensure transactions are reported correctly in the local and group financial records. Holder of the role needs to ensure that good accounting practice is followed and that YE Accounts are prepared by international accounting standards.  Is also responsible for all corporate tax-related filings within the North American operations and supports the Regional Finance Manager with all finance-related matters.

Financial Accounting Responsibilities

• In charge of the completion of the monthly/year-end closing process to the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
• Undertake month-end/year-end accounting activities, submit corrections & recharge journals, prepare accruals & prepayments, and participate in year-end disclosure reporting and IFRS questionnaires
• Assist completion of annual Group statutory accounts and other regulatory reporting
• Assist monthly / year-end variance analysis
• Ensure accurate and timely completion of corporate / consumption tax returns
• Ensure accurate reporting of daily cash flow and monitor daily bank statements for optimized cash balance
• Perform fixed Assets management and control

Accounting Reviews

• Check staff expense claims including sample checks of entertainment/meeting/gift expenses
• Perform administrative jobs, such as invoice/accounting document filing
• Review AR and AP aging statements, including monitoring AR receipts and AP payment runs
• Conduct full GL reviews of AP and AR data, run trial balances, and optimize the balance sheet
• Support commercial finance on sales monitoring and report reconciliation
• Perform monthly reconciliations, review and resolve issues
• Submit correction and recharge journals

Budgeting and Forecasting

• Assist with the preparation of budgets and forecasts per the group processes
• Assist with budget and forecast variance analysis and queries
• Assist with management accounting activities when needed

Other Responsibilities

• Assist with induction training on finance-related areas to all new joiners in the region and document finance processes as shareable knowledge. The areas include finance-related master data, such as approvers, cost centers, and account codes. The region covers North America, Central America, and South America.
• Participate in recurring or one-off calls with global financial hub and shared service center teams
• Reconcile import values with final profit margin – done with US Customs
• Support the compliance team in tracking the status of finance audit items 

Key Skills and Experience

• Accounting or related degree level qualification. Or studying towards a qualification.
• Minimum of 7 years’ relevant working experience in a similar field.
• Experience with IFRS and USA accounting standards and working with auditors
• Awareness of “best practice” accounting and internal control processes
• Experience with accounting packages and ERP systems (S4HANA)
• Experience with assisting preparation of tax returns (with external providers) 
• Experience in cashflow management preferred
• Experience in assisting in the preparation of budgets and forecasts
• Sound knowledge of Banking systems and payment method
• Competence in the Microsoft Office suite especially having strong Excel skills
• Well-disciplined and methodical work methods based on careful planning and the management of time
• Good interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to develop effective working relationships both internally and externally
• Retains professional demeanor and thinks clearly under pressure; and uses initiative effectively
• Able to work to strict time frames and works well under pressure
• Have a strong sense of responsibility
• High level of accuracy
• Analytical and problem solving skills

What's in it for you

• The base salary for this position is between USD $80-100k plus a performance-based short-term incentive scheme (for employees who meet the eligibility criteria). Please note that individual total compensation will vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies, performance and work location.
• FlexWELL flexible work ethos
• Additional paid annual leave day per year (Zespri Day).
• Additional paid volunteer day to volunteer within your community (Volunteer Time).
• Global Life and Permanent Disability Insurance.
• Group Medical Insurance benefits.

Agencies

Zespri will not accept applications or contact from any temporary staffing agency, placement service or professional recruiter for this vacancy (“Agency”).

Where Zespri requires the support of an agency to fulfil a vacancy, we will proactively seek this support from our network of Agencies.  We respectfully ask that you do not contact Zespri or any of its affiliates/employees regarding vacancies, and reserve the right not to reply.

Zespri will not be responsible for, and will not pay, any fees, commissions or other payments related to such unsolicited resumes.