Accountant - Operations

Westlake Financial Accounting Operations Accountant
Los Angeles CA - In Office 

Accounting | Data | Automation | Financial Operations

About Westlake

Westlake Financial Services is the largest privately held auto finance company in the United States. We specialize in the acquisition and servicing of prime to subprime automotive retail installment contracts across all 50 states. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Westlake has been a diversified lender for over 30 years, employs more than 5,000 team members, and currently manages over $20 billion in receivables.

As one of the fastest-growing multi-billion-dollar companies in the United States, Westlake operates in a high-volume, data-rich environment where strong accounting, financial analysis, automation, and operational discipline are critical to supporting scalable growth.

Position Summary

The Accountant will report to the Accounting Manager in Operations and play a key role at the intersection of accounting operations, financial analysis, data validation, cash activity, and process automation. This position is responsible for executing core accounting responsibilities while helping improve workflows, strengthen controls, and turn financial and operational data into actionable insights.

• Prepare month-end journal entries, supporting schedules, and account analyses across key accounting areas, including cash, loan receivables, accruals, payments, funding, intercompany activity, and other operational flows.
• Evaluate the business purpose and financial statement impact of proposed entries to ensure transactions are supported, accurate, and appropriately classified.
• Reconcile balance sheet accounts, including cash, loan receivables, intercompany balances, accruals, and other assigned accounts; investigate reconciling items and drive timely resolution.
• Maintain and analyze daily cash balances and support treasury and cash management activities, including the review of bank activity, funding requirements, and cash movement trends.
• Support the month-end close process by preparing review-ready deliverables, documenting assumptions, and communicating issues that may impact financial reporting timelines.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform financial statement fluctuation analysis, research significant variances, and clearly explain the operational or accounting drivers behind the results.
• Analyze financial and operational data to identify trends, exceptions, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Validate data across the general ledger, bank platforms, subledgers, source systems, reconciliation tools, and reporting outputs to ensure completeness and accuracy.
• Partner with Treasury, Finance, Operations, Tax, and Technology teams to resolve accounting issues, research transaction breaks, and improve end-to-end processes.
• Assist in building and maintaining reconciliation logic, data matching frameworks, exception reporting, dashboards, variance analyses, and KPI tracking in a high-volume transaction environment.

Process Improvement, Systems & Automation

• Use Excel, SQL, AI-enabled productivity tools, and automation solutions to reduce manual work, improve repeatability, and build scalable accounting processes.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual reconciliations, streamline exception handling, improve close cycle timing, and enhance reporting accuracy.
• Participate in system implementations, data validation efforts, workflow redesign, and cross-functional projects impacting accounting, treasury, reporting, and financial operations.
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of scripts, workflows, queries, data models, or reporting tools using Excel, Power Query, SQL, Power BI, Python, or similar tools.
• Partner with Accounting leadership to implement best-in-class close, reconciliation, documentation, and reporting processes.

Audit & Compliance

• Prepare audit-ready documentation and supporting schedules for internal reviews, external audits, interim and year-end requests, and other compliance needs.
• Assist with supporting schedules and documentation for annual business license filings, tax-related requests, regulatory inquiries, and other compliance requirements.
• Ensure adherence to U.S. GAAP, internal accounting policies, internal controls, and documentation standards.
• Support the development and maintenance of process narratives, control documentation, and accounting support packages that clearly explain procedures, assumptions, and conclusions.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degre