VP, Accounting - North American Distribution

Parts Town; Addison (IL); On-site; USD 212,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off and holidays

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Parts Town, a top distributor of restaurant equipment and parts, seeks a seasoned VP of Accounting for North American Distribution. Lead multi-site accounting, ensuring accurate inventory, COGS, freight, and margins while partnering with CAO and cross-functional teams.

You will drive internal controls, provide strategic financial insight, and build scalable processes in a fast-growth environment, with a focus on SOX readiness and executive-level reporting.

Qualifications

• Active CPA license.
• 12+ years of progressive accounting and finance leadership in distribution, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, or inventory-intensive business.
• Experience leading multi-site and multi-entity accounting across North America.
• Deep US GAAP expertise: inventory valuation, cost accounting, supplier programs, revenue recognition.
• Experience implementing or enhancing SOX/internal controls.
• Public company or large private-equity-backed environment; acquisitions/integrations experience a plus.
• Led ERP implementations and major process-standardization initiatives; ERP/WMS integration preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead accounting operations for North American distribution across multiple sites.
• Own balance sheet and income statement accuracy with disciplined reviews and reconciliations.
• Establish consistent practices across sites addressing US/Canada tax and statutory needs.
• Provide executive-level visibility into accounting risks, close performance, and issues.
• Oversee inventory costing, COGS, freight, supplier programs, and margin-related accounting.
• Drive SOX-ready controls and scalable processes for growth.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Strategic thinking

Public-company experience

Education

CPA license

Tools

ERP systems

Financial reporting tools

Job description

VP, Accounting - North American Distribution

As the fastest-growing distributor of restaurant equipment, HVAC and residential appliance parts, we like to do things a little differently. First, you need to understand and demonstrate our Core Values with safety being your first priority . That’s key. But we’re also looking for unique enthusiasm, high integrity, courage to embrace change…and if you know a few jokes, that puts you on the top of our list!

Do you have a genius-level knowledge of original equipment manufacturer parts? If not, no problem! We’re more interested in passionate people with fresh ideas from different backgrounds. That’s what keeps us at the top of our game. We’re proud that our workplace has been recognized for its growth and innovation on the Inc. 5000 list 15 years in a row and the Crain’s Fast 50 list ten times. We are honored to be voted by our Chicagoland team as a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace for the last four years.

The Job at a Glance

The Vice President, Accounting - North American Distribution is the senior accounting leader responsible for the integrity, accuracy, and scalability of accounting across our North American distribution operations. You'll lead the accounting for a complex, multi-site distribution network, ensuring that inventory, cost of goods sold, freight, supplier programs, and operating results are recorded accurately and on time.

As a key member of the CAO's leadership team, you'll partner closely with Distribution, Supply Chain, Procurement, Commercial Finance, Tax, Treasury, and Technology. You'll strengthen controllership, deliver actionable financial insight, and build consistent, SOX-ready processes that can keep pace with Parts Town's fast-growth environment.

A Typical Day

North American Distribution Accounting Leadership

• Lead accounting operations for North American distribution activities, including monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes across distribution centers and related legal entities.
• Own the accuracy and completeness of the balance sheet and income statement for distribution operations, with disciplined reviews, reconciliations, and variance analysis.
• Establish consistent accounting practices across sites while addressing local statutory, tax, and business requirements in the United States and Canada; support Mexico operations as applicable.
• Provide executive-level visibility into accounting risks, close performance, and emerging business issues.

Inventory, Cost and Margin Accounting

• Own accounting policy and execution for inventory, standard and actual costs, reserves, obsolescence, cycle counts, physical inventories, and inventory valuation under US GAAP.
• Ensure accurate accounting for cost of goods sold, inbound and outbound freight, landed cost, intercompany inventory movements, and distribution-center variances.
• Oversee accounting for supplier rebates, volume incentives, purchasing programs, customer credits, returns, warranties, and other arrangements that affect gross margin.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Procurement, Pricing, and FP&A to improve margin transparency, working-capital performance, and the quality of operational decision-making.

Close, Reporting and Audit

• Drive an accurate, timely, and predictable close through clear ownership, standardized calendars, disciplined review, and meaningful account reconciliations.
• Deliver management reporting and supporting schedules for North American distribution results, including inventory, margin, freight, and operating cost trends.
• Serve as the senior accounting contact for external and internal auditors on distribution-related matters; lead issue resolution and remediation.
• Support enterprise financial reporting, lender reporting, and Audit Committee materials with reliable analysis and documentation.

Internal Controls and Compliance

• Design, implement, and maintain effective controls over distribution accounting and financial reporting, aligned with SOX and public-company expectations.
• Own process documentation, risk assessments, control design, testing support, remediation, and continuous improvement for key distribution cycles.
• Strengthen controls across inventory movements, purchasing, receiving, warehouse operations, vendor programs, order-to-cash, and period-end reporting.
• Partner with Internal Audit, external auditors, and functional leaders to ensure controls are practical, scalable, and consistently executed.

Accounting Policy and Technical Leadership

• Set and enforce accounting policies for North American distribution activities and serve as the technical accounting authority for related matters.
• Lead the evaluation and implementation of new accounting standards and business practices affecting inventory, revenue, leases, supplier arrangements, and other complex transactions.
• Prepare or review technical accounting memos and position papers, ensuring conclusions are well supported and operationalized.
• Provide accounting leadership for acquisitions, integrations, new distribution centers, network changes, and other strategic initiatives.

Systems, Process and Scale

• Standardize and automate accounting processes across the North American distribution network.
• Lead or partner on ERP, warehouse management, purchasing, inventory, and financial-system implementations and enhancements.
• Improve close speed, data quality, master-data governance, and end-to-end visibility from transaction processing through financial reporting.
• Build a scalable accounting platform that supports organic growth, acquisitions, and evolving distribution models.

Leadership and Talent Development

• Lead and develop a high-performing North American distribution accounting organization.
• Establish clear accountability, performance expectations, succession plans, and development opportunities.
• Build strong partnerships with operating leaders while maintaining an independent controllership mindset.
• Foster a culture of ownership, rigor, curiosity, continuous improvement, and teamwork.

To Land This Opportunity

• You must hold an active CPA license
• You have 12+ years of progressive accounting and finance leadership experience, including significant responsibility in distribution, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, or another inventory-intensive business.
• You have proven experience leading multi-site and multi-entity accounting operations across North America.
• You bring deep US GAAP expertise, especially in inventory valuation, cost accounting, supplier programs, revenue recognition, and working-capital-related accounting.
• You have proven experience implementing or enhancing SOX or SOX-equivalent internal controls.
• You have experience in a public company, IPO-ready, or large private-equity-backed environment; experience supporting acquisitions and integrations is a plus.
• You have led ERP implementations, finance transformations, or major process-standardization initiatives; experience integrating ERP and warehouse management systems is strongly preferred.
• You are a high-integrity executive with strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to balance controllership with business partnership.
• You are a confident communicator with credibility among senior executives, operational leaders, auditors, and cross-functional partners.
• You are a hands-on leader who is comfortable building teams, processes, and structure in a fast-growth environment with increasing complexity.

About Your Future Team

You will be joining our growing North American Distribution Accounting team. We are kind of number nerds, but we view that as a good thing! There are no prima donnas here - everyone rolls up their sleeves and does whatever it takes to deliver for our team members, customers, and business partners.

At Parts Town, we value transparency and are committed to ensuring our team members feel appreciated and supported. We prioritize our positive workplace culture where collaboration, growth, and work-life balance are celebrated. The salary range for this role is $ 212,135.90 to $ 319,893.65 annually which is based on including but not limited to qualifications, experience, and geographical location. Parts Town is a pay for performance-company. In addition to base pay, some roles offer a profit-sharing program, and an annual bonus depending on the role. Our comprehensive benefits package includes health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k) with match, employee assistance programs, paid time off, paid sick time off, paid holidays, paid parental leave, and professional development opportunities.

Parts Town welcomes diversity and as an equal opportunity employer all qualified applicants will be considered regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.