Financial Controller Specialist

Based in Houghton, MI and onsite, the Financial Controller Specialist role at Charleston Way offers USD 100,000 per year and focuses on international bookkeeping, compliance, audit support, and coordinating across entities in multiple countries, with potential to transition responsibilities from Acting Financial Controller.

Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate books and financial records for multiple international business entities.
• Bookkeeping activities, ensuring accuracy and adherence to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
• Support bookkeeping, invoicing, reconciliations, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and month-end close processes.
• Work with multiple foreign currencies, including British pound sterling, Icelandic krona, euro, Brazilian real, Indian rupee, and Australian dollar.
• Ensure transactions are properly recorded, categorized, reconciled, and supported by appropriate documentation.
• Help develop and maintain consistent bookkeeping practices across international entities.
• Participate in additional projects, including U.S. accounting and audit, tax review, and state tax review.
• Collaborate with IT to roll out advanced accounting and automation features for re-occurring revenue customers.
• Prepare regular financial reports for management review.
• Provide clear, accurate financial summaries across entities and currencies.
• Assist in identifying trends, gaps, risks, and inconsistencies in financial records.
• Support reporting needs related to business performance, compliance, tax, and audit readiness.
• Prepare financial records and supporting documentation for compliance reviews and audits.
• Work directly with external auditors, CPA firms, tax advisors, and other financial professionals.
• Coordinate and support tax filing preparation across domestic and international entities.
• Ensure records are organized, complete, and audit-ready.
• Track outstanding compliance requirements and help ensure timely completion of required filings and reviews.
• Conduct internal reviews and audits of various business books and accounting records.
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, missing documentation, process weaknesses, and areas of risk.
• Prepare corrective action plans and support implementation of improved accounting procedures.
• Assist with special projects related to entity setup, international expansion, audit readiness, and accounting process improvements.
• Help align accounting practices with business needs, compliance expectations, and applicable standards.
• Develop and document accounting best practices for international bookkeeping and reporting.
• Support the transition of financial controller responsibilities from the current Acting Financial Controller.
• Improve consistency, accuracy, and efficiency across accounting workflows.
• Help create scalable accounting processes that can support expansion into additional international markets.
• Become familiar with country-specific requirements and help translate them into practical internal accounting procedures.

Requirements

• Strong experience in U.S. domestic accounting and bookkeeping.
• Excellent bookkeeping skills, including reconciliations, invoicing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and financial record preparation.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with auditors, CPA firms, tax advisors, and external accounting professionals.
• Strong understanding of accounting records, documentation standards, and audit preparation.
• High attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to manage multiple entities, deadlines, currencies, and reporting requirements.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to identify gaps in financial records or accounting processes.
• Ability to quickly learn new accounting requirements, systems, jurisdictions, and business structures.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfortable working independently while reporting directly to senior financial leadership.
• Experience with multi-entity bookkeeping or accounting.
• Experience preparing records for audits or compliance reviews.
• Familiarity with international accounting, tax coordination, or cross-border business operations.
• Experience working with foreign currencies and exchange-rate considerations.
• Experience supporting international subsidiaries, branches, or affiliated entities.
• Experience with accounting systems, invoicing tools, document management systems, and reporting platforms.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Ideal Candidate Profile

• The ideal candidate is a highly capable accounting professional who has mastered domestic U.S. bookkeeping and is ready to expand into international accounting operations. This person should be detail-oriented, curious, disciplined, and enthusiastic about working across countries, currencies, and compliance environments.
• They should be comfortable reviewing books, finding gaps, preparing records for audit, coordinating with external professionals, and building better accounting processes as the business grows internationally.
• This role is well-suited for someone who enjoys both day-to-day accounting precision and special projects that require investigation, cleanup, documentation, and process improvement.

Key Success Factors

• Excellent bookkeeping accuracy.
• Excellent notetaking and documentation
• Ability to share responsibility implementing and follow AICPA SOC2 and ISO27001 as it relates this role
• Strong audit and CPA firm coordination skills.
• Ability to learn international accounting practices quickly.
• Comfort working with multiple foreign currencies.
• Strong documentation and compliance discipline.
• Ability to identify gaps and improve accounting processes.
• Professional communication with internal leadership and external advisors.
• Enthusiasm for supporting international business operations.