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Corporate Controller

Summary

Oversee financial controls, audit readiness, and lender reporting for a professional services firm, ensuring compliance and integrity while influencing technology and process changes.

Position Summary

The Corporate Controller owns BAL’s financial controls environment, audit governance, and lender/covenant reporting posture. This is a controls, compliance, and governance-ownership role — it carries the executive presence for Finance with auditors, lenders, and firm leadership.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Own the design, execution, and maturity of the internal controls framework — risk assessment, control testing, and remediation. Candidates should have built or significantly matured a controls environment before, not only maintained one.
  • Maintain continuous audit readiness as an operating posture, not an annual event. Own the audit relationship process directly.
  • Prepare and manage lender/covenant reporting under a credit facility, revolver, or similar debt structure.
  • Serve as the primary point of authority for auditors and lenders, and represent the firm’s control posture in executive-level financial reporting — this person carries weight in the room, not just prepares the materials.
  • Partner with the Accounting teams on GAAP application and reporting integrity, without owning execution of close.
  • Identify and flag control gaps or financial-integrity risk to the CFO and Finance leadership.

Technology & Change Leadership

  • BAL is undergoing significant technological and organizational change. This role requires genuine learning agility and technical aptitude — not just tolerance for change.
  • Serves as an influential voice in technology and process deployment decisions — a participant in shaping system changes, not just an end user.
  • Evaluates, questions, and champions system/process changes through a controls and financial-integrity lens; asks the right questions whenever new technology touches financial data or workflows.
  • Prior experience navigating systems transformation, ERP change, or major process redesign.

Working Style

  • Hands-on: willing and able to dig into transaction-level detail when something doesn’t tie out, not manage exclusively from a dashboard.
  • Comfortable being the “no” or “not yet” voice when controls or compliance require it. This is a governance role, not a cheerleading role.
  • Curious and adaptable enough to stay credible as the firm’s technology and processes evolve.
  • Operates through influence and control authority rather than line management.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

  • Track record owning internal controls design and execution — risk assessment, control testing, remediation. SOX exposure is a good indicator but not required.
  • Experience in a high-transaction-volume environment (high invoice/payment throughput, complex AR/AP flows).
  • Professional services industry background — law firm, consulting, or similar partner/client-billing model — with working understanding of WIP, billing cycles, and PS-specific revenue recognition.
  • Has led or directly managed external audits and owned the process.
  • Experience preparing or managing compliance reporting under a credit facility, revolver, or debt covenant structure.
  • Strong GAAP technical knowledge with proven practical application.
  • Direct, credible communicator who can explain financial risk and control gaps clearly to non-finance executives.

Education and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance required.
  • CPA strongly preferred, not required.
  • 10+ years of progressive controls/audit/compliance leadership experience required.