Senior Vice President - Financial Operations & Accounting
Department: Financial Operations
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Corporate
Description
Position Objective:
The Senior Vice President - Financial Operations & Accounting serves as a leader in the seamless integration and coordination of critical financial and accounting functions. This position is keenly focused on providing oversight and efficiencies that will help to position American Campus Communities for scalability and growth. The SVP - Financial Operations and Accounting will cultivate and maintain a leadership structure and culture that creates an environment conducive to recruiting, developing, motivating, and retaining the highest quality talent in order to support the team and the organization as a whole.
Critical Duties:

• Align and drive efficiencies across multiple areas of Financial Operations and the organization to maximize Company performance and pursue achievement of long-term goals, profitability, and growth.
• Oversee all aspects of the Company's accounting and shared financial services functions, including corporate accounting, property accounting, financial reporting, technical accounting, accounts payable, financial systems, collections, and on-site bookkeeping / accounts receivable support.
• Work closely with department leadership to ensure a strong culture and enjoyable work environment that encourages collaborative communication, professional mentoring and development, ownership in quality work product, and accountability.
• Ensure frequent and clear communication with internal and external stakeholders (i.e. owners) regarding the financial results of the Company's primary business segments.
• Play a key role in coordinating with senior and executive leadership on large and complex transactions such as acquisitions, dispositions, and joint ventures, including advising executive management and owner representatives on accounting considerations, and providing strong collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the transaction is reflected accurately in the financial statements.
• Play a leadership role in the implementation of the Company's cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, including working with consultants and internal stakeholders to assess current systems and processes, participating in vendor selection and collaboration, gathering and documenting business requirements and needs, advising on and managing implementation timelines and processes, and ensuring ongoing robust communication and coordination of needs and deliverables.
• Ensure the financial operations team is organized in an efficient way to allow for future growth and scalability.
• Oversee the efficient execution of multiple annual external audits.
• Collaborate closely with the internal audit team to ensure the Company's internal control processes are followed, ensure internal controls are continuously updated to reflect changes in business processes, and provide recommendations for improvement.
• Support and collaborate closely with the tax, debt, treasury, and FP&A functions to ensure those teams have the information needed to successfully complete their duties.

Essential Duties (Other Duties May Be Assigned):

• Play a leadership role or serve as a key stakeholder in strategic company initiatives and organizational priorities.
• Responsible for leading and maintaining process improvements and driving best accounting and reporting practices.
• Advise on the feasibility of outsourcing arrangements, including spearheading the implementation of such arrangements.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of industry standards and best practices in accounting systems, processes, and reporting practices.
• Provide GAAP guidance and support within the organization, including research and recommendations.

American Campus Communities Culture Commitments:

• Our people are devoted to a culture of inclusion, diversity, and equality in the workplace and our communities. We are committed to intentionally executing an evolving set of goals specific to inclusion, diversity, and accountability, driven by empathetic leadership and embraced by all.
• The core of American Campus culture involves everyone being fully invested in everything that we do down to picking up the smallest piece of trash in the office and around our communities. No matter their position or duration at the organization, everyone picks up trash.
• Serve as an American Campus representative and liaison in all interactions.
• Certain activities involved in this position may be photographed and/or video and audio recorded for quality control and/or training purposes. Compliance with the Photo, Video and Voice Recording Policy is a condition of employment.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the minimum knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, and/or 15 years' experience in accounting and/or financial operations.
• 5 years in a leadership role overseeing a large team.
• CPA required.

Certificates/Licenses:

• CPA (Certified Public Accountant) required.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
Knowledge of:

• GAAP and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Compliance
• Microsoft Office Suite.

Skill in:

• Financial modeling and forecasting.
• Advanced Excel and MS Office Suite
• Business analysis.
• Effective communication, presentation, and public speaking.
• Strategic short- and long-term decision making.
• Creative mindset, innovation, and ideation.
• Driving initiative and timely work product delivery.
• Leading and communicating large-scale initiatives.
• Explaining analytic concepts and derived trends, metrics, and/or results.
• Problem solving and quantitative reasoning.
• Resolving complex problems utilizing a strong analytical approach.
• Collaboration with others.

Ability to:

• Explain analytic strategic conceptualization and consulting to business unit leaders and stakeholders.
• Explain business strategies and concepts to technologists.
• Track, prioritize, and drive multiple concurrent projects to success.
• Problem solve and analyze data by assimilating new information, understanding complex topics, and arriving at sound analysis and judgement.
• Remain detail oriented while multi-tasking across multiple priorities and projects to include personal workload and team workload.
• Drive process and change in a dynamic and complex operating environment.
• Provide strategic thinking and analysis.
• Make decisions effectively and efficiently.
• Read, analyze, and interpret business/financial reports.
• Gain traction quickly and demonstrate ambition and high energy.
• Address common inquiries from business and technical partners.
• Build relationships and liaise with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Motivate a team to achieve organizational goals.

Benefits

• Dental
• Vison
• 401(k)
• Medical & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Life Insurance
• Sick Leave
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Maternity Leave
• Health Insurance
• Short Term & Long Term Disability