Group Accounting Lead

About Foodstuffs North Island Limited

We are Foodstuffs, the co-operative behind well-known brands like New World, PAK'nSAVE, Gilmours, and Four Square with over 300 stores and more than 27,000 team members across New Zealand's North Island. Our Finance division is essential in driving financial insight, stability, and operational support that empowers the co-op and its stores to prosper. Joining us means being part of a collaborative and progressive team dedicated to continuous advancement and collective success.

Role Overview

The Group Accounting Lead holds critical responsibility for delivering accurate and timely financial reports, ensuring statutory compliance, and managing financial controls across the Foodies group. Reporting directly to the Group Accounting Manager, this role involves guiding the Group Accounting team daily, fostering partnerships within Finance and other business units to provide accounting expertise and enhance operational practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the entire month-end closing process, including consolidated group financial reporting.
• Oversee daily Group Accounting operations ensuring accuracy and completeness.
• Maintain the integrity of the general ledger and balance sheet accounts.
• Lead the statutory reporting process for half yearly and annual periods and support external audit activities.
• Apply New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS) and offer accounting advisory for complex transactions.
• Drive initiatives for process improvements, standardization, and automation to increase efficiency.
• Utilize SAP and other finance systems to enhance reporting and operational workflows.
• Provide coaching and development support to the Group Accounting team to build capability.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will exhibit strong technical acumen in accounting complemented by sound commercial judgment and a cooperative leadership style. Comfortable navigating complexity, they will balance meticulous attention to detail with a strategic business outlook while cultivating trusted relationships throughout the organization.

Qualifications & Experience

• Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification accompanied by a degree in Accounting, Commerce or a related discipline.
• Extensive experience working within large or complex organizations focusing on financial accounting, including consolidated group reporting.
• Demonstrated expertise in executing month-end and year-end closing processes, preparing statutory reports, managing external audits, and conducting balance sheet review controls.
• Proficient understanding of NZ IFRS standards with capability to apply them to multifaceted business issues and transactions.
• Proven experience in leading teams by prioritizing workloads, reviewing deliverables, and mentoring colleagues.
• A background in enhancing finance functions through simplification, process standardization, automation, or technological integration.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving aptitude and stakeholder relationship management skills.
• Familiarity with SAP or equivalent enterprise finance systems is considered beneficial.

Core Attributes

The successful applicant takes ownership, quickly builds credibility, and seeks continuous betterment of work processes. They are open to challenging existing practices and motivating teams to achieve high standards of quality.

Inclusivity and Support

We embrace diverse experiences, talents, and adaptability to learning. We encourage applications even if all criteria are not fully met. We value inclusiveness and welcome applicants from varied backgrounds including physical, mental health, and neurodiverse conditions. Support for accessibility during recruitment is available on request.

Benefits and Perks

• Complimentary parking with over 1,000 spaces including electric vehicle charging stations.
• Southern Cross health insurance coverage.
• Onsite café offering subsidized meals, a mini-mart, and a 5% staff discount at our retail outlets.
• Flexible working arrangements, birthday leave, and long-service leave options.
• Internal learning and development courses, annual flu vaccines, and social groups known as Tribes.

Recruitment Note

We may use artificial intelligence tools to assist with resume review and application analysis during the hiring process. However, all final hiring decisions are made by people. Please contact us for details about how your data is processed.