Senior Plant Controller

Requisition
- Posted - SPG Sonoco Birmingham (3911) - Administration (ADM) - Birmingham
- Cascades Specialty Products Group
- Sonoco (_018) - Cascades Sonoco inc. – Birmingham division
- Finance and Accounting

• Salary for Plant Controller ranges from $80 - 115k yearly plus profit sharing with room to grow as you progress in your career!
• Financial Benefits:
  
  Profit Sharing Plan, Retirement Plan with company matching, Stock Options & Annual flexible reimbursement program
• Employee assistance program (because we care about the physical and mental health of our people)

• Lead the month‑end close process, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and continuous improvement of financial reporting cycles.
• Lead and support Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) projects, from initiative identification through execution and follow‑up.
• Supervise and mentor the Senior Financial Analyst, ensuring accuracy, development, and timely financial reporting.
• Maintain the integrity of the general ledger by managing journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and resolving discrepancies.
• Oversee standard costing, inventory valuation, and cost of goods sold (COGS), including monitoring excess, obsolete, and slow‑moving inventory.
• Lead plant‑level budgeting and forecasting processes, providing financial modeling and insights to support operational and strategic decision‑making.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls and SOX requirements, and support internal and external audit activities.
• Act as a strategic business partner to the General Manager (GM) and Plant Manager (PM), providing financial insights to support operational and strategic decision‑making.
• Oversee financial performance and reporting for two manufacturing plants: TAC and BHAM.

Reporting to the Administration Director, the Plant Controller’s mission is to contribute to his or her unit’s business development and ensure its coordination in accordance with the strategic plan. You use your financial expertise to support your unit's management in the business processes’ application and improvement and ensure the implementation of best financial management practices. You analyze operational cost performance indicators and ensure the completeness and reliability of the information produced and communicated.

As a result, you contribute to strategic decision‑making in your plant and maintain an effective control structure to minimize the risk of errors, irregularities and fraud related to processes.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience; minimum of 5+ years in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong expertise in cost accounting, inventory management, manufacturing processes, and month‑end close and financial reporting.
• Proven experience with SOX compliance, internal controls, and supporting internal and external audits.
• ERP system experience required, with SAP strongly preferred; experience with other ERP systems considered.
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, slicers, and data analysis) and proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint).
• Experience with financial and reporting tools such as Power BI (preferred), Longview, BOBJ (Business Objects), Serrala; familiarity with Success Factors is a plus.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, influence cross‑functional teams, and escape issues appropriately.

• Ensure that accounting for inventory quantities, capital assets and operating costs is reliable, complete and accurate.
• Rigorously analyze operating cost performance indicators.
• Disseminate appropriate information.
• Identify opportunities for improvement.
• Contribute to your plant’s decision‑making process.
• Support your sector’s management in improving business processes.
• Maintain an effective control structure to minimize the business risks inherent in operations and fraud.

• Rigour and agility to handle projects based on their scope, budget and timelines.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to set priorities.
• Constant desire to improve the efficiency and quality of services.
• Strong sense of responsibility.
• Leadership and expertise in promoting buy‑in to proposed solutions.
• Strong integrity and sound judgment for making the right decisions.
• Proficiency in French and basic English.
• Proficiency in Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Knowledge of SAP software or other ERP (an asset).

Cascades believes in the success of an inclusive organization that values diversity within its team. All qualified candidates will be considered for this position in a fair manner.