Controller

TreePeople; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

TreePeople, an environmental nonprofit in Los Angeles, seeks a Controller to oversee all accounting functions, ensuring best practices in financial management and grant compliance.

The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of experience in non-profit accounting, a Bachelor's degree, and strong skills in leadership and financial analysis. This position requires proactive engagement with staff and external auditors to achieve organizational goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or a related discipline is required.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in non-profit accounting is required.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; self-motivated and self-directed.

Responsibilities

• Guide financial decisions by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policies.
• Oversee all grants accounting, ensuring expenditures align with grant budgets.
• Supervise accounting staff and maintain job performance standards.

Skills

Accounting principles

Grant management

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Leadership

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in accounting or related discipline

Master's in Accounting or CPA designation

Tools

Sage accounting software

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

Job description

TreePeople is an environmental nonprofit organization that mobilizes individuals, families, communities, philanthropists, and public agencies to work together to create green, resilient communities by providing education on the benefits of planting trees, capturing rainwater, greening schools, and providing fun environmental educational activities. TreePeople unites with communities to grow a greener, shadier and more water-secure region at homes, neighborhoods, schools, and in the local mountains.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Accounting

• Guides financial decisions by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policies and procedures; protects assets by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing internal controls; monitors and confirms financial condition by conducting audits; providing information to external auditors.
• The Controller is responsible for leading the accounting department on month-end close.
• Prepares monthly closing entries including journal entries, general ledger account, and bank reconciliations on a monthly basis; Review general ledger for proper recognition of revenue, expenses, liability, and net assets.
• Maintaining monthly balance sheet reconciliations and reviewing reconciliations prepared by Staff Accountant.
• Manage all audit activity; ensure compliance with local, state and federal financial reporting requirements. (Single Audit and 990 preparation)
• Ensure filing dates for disclosure of new vendors, sales tax, and 1099 to the appropriate government entities are met.
• Maintains all banking relationships and banking documentation.
• Review accounting processes, at a minimum semi-annually, to ensure best practices and the established processes are still sound.

Grant Management / Payroll Reporting

• Oversees all grants accounting; ensuring that expenditures are consistently aligned with grant budgets; Assists with financial reporting materials for all government and private grants.
• The Controller meets regularly with the Programs to ensure that grants are reported to funders accurately and on time.

Supervision / Leadership

• Oversees all aspects of recruitment and development of accounting staff.
• Completes operational requirements by scheduling and assigning employees, and following up on work results.
• Maintains accounting staff job results by coaching, counseling, disciplining employees, planning, monitoring, and appraising job results.

Administration

• Complies with federal, state, and local legal requirements by studying existing and new legislation, anticipating future legislation, enforcing adherence to requirements, filing financial reports, and advising management on needed actions.
• Ensures operation of equipment by establishing preventive maintenance requirements and service contracts; maintaining equipment inventories; evaluating new equipment and techniques.
• Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, establishing personal networks, and participating in professional societies.
• Protects operations by keeping financial information and plans confidential.
• Maintain inventory for the Organization.
• Contributes to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, or related discipline. (Required)
• Master’s in Accounting or accounting designation (CPA) is preferred, business administration.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in non-profit accounting. Knowledge of theory and practice in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and the standards set for financial audits. Audit Guide as well as any other current and applicable, federal, state, local or programmatic audit requirements (Required)
• Demonstrated experience with grant management and reporting, state grant experience a plus. (Required)
• Proven ability to supervise accounting staff and experience leading month end close.
• Proven experience with working with external auditors for financial filings.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; impeccable analytical and organizational skills; self-motivated and self-directed. (Required)
• Proven ability to work independently, to establish and revise priorities to meet shifting deadlines, and to prioritize and organize workload to meet multiple deadlines. (Required)
• Advanced accounting and reporting software knowledge, particularly Sage and proficiency using Excel, Word and PowerPoint. (Required)
• Verified experience to analyze data and identify patterns and trends and capture data from a variety of sources and merge together for analysis and reporting purposes. (Required)
• Established supervisory skills to recruit, train and assign work, conduct performance evaluations, and manage performance. Clearly communicate job expectations, mediate conflicts, conduct staff meetings, design development and training programs.
• Proficiency to determine strategies to move the organization forward, set goals, create and implement actions plans, and evaluates the process and results. (Required)