Senior Plant Staff Accountant

Based in our Corporate Headquarters in Schaumburg, IL, Mizkan America is a subsidiary of the Mizkan Group, a global, family-owned company that has been Bringing Flavor to Life™ for over 220 years. As one of the leading makers of vinegars, condiments, and sauces in the United States, Mizkan America maintains 12 manufacturing facilities that serve the retail, foodservice, specialty-Asian and food-ingredient trade channels. We are committed to following our two core principles: continuously challenging the status quo and delivering only the finest products for our customers. Our leadership seeks out, embraces, and implements ideas for improvement from all of its employees. Transparency and accountability are two key factors that drive our company’s overall management approach.

We are looking for people who are seeking to deliver their best so that we can deliver ours. Above all, we’re dedicated to maximizing the potential of our greatest assets—our team members. That’s reflected in our ongoing commitment to recruit, develop, reward, and retain our talented, multicultural workforce. We hope to see you as part of our team’s future success!

Position Summary  

The Senior Plant Staff Accountant provides hands-on plant accounting execution with a strong focus on transaction accuracy, internal controls, and manufacturing cost insight. This role owns key period-end close deliverables including journal entries, account reconciliations, and supporting schedules; validates manufacturing transactions in D365 and delivers timely cost and variance analysis that connects operational performance to financial results. The Senior Staff Accountant serves as a day-to-day liaison for plant operations, partnering with across departments (Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, HR, and IT) to resolve transactional issues, strengthen controls, and recommend and track corrective actions. The role also provides regular reporting/coordination to the Senior Operations Controller - MSO (dotted line) to enable consistent corporate close, forecast, budget, and metrics submissions and policy compliance.

Essential Functions:

• Execute plant period-end financial close responsibilities in accordance with GAAP and company policy, including preparing journal entries, account reconciliations, and resolving reconciling items with emphasis on manufacturing-related accounts (inventory and accruals).
• Prepare and validate routine period-end accruals and cutoff checks, including payroll/labor accruals, freight and utility accruals, and receiving/invoice cutoff; reconcile and clear accrual accounts as invoices and settlements post.
• Prepare month-end plant financial and operational reporting packages with clear variance narratives for Assistant Plant Controller review; incorporate feedback and submit decision-ready insights for Plant and Corporate Leadership.
• Serve as the day-to-day finance point-of-contact for plant departments (Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, HR, and IT) leveraging established communication channels, including (1) daily floor check-ins and ad hoc in-person discussions for transactional issues, (2) email and Teams messages for documentation and follow-up, and (3) D365 workflows/requests for approvals, master data, and transaction corrections.
• Maintain an organized open-items log to document requests, owners, due dates, and status through completion.
• Process and reconcile routine plant accounting transactions in D365, including service and freight/utility accruals, AP invoice coding/receiving issue resolution, and timely clearing of GR/IR (or similar receiving/invoice matching) accounts.
• Review and validate daily/weekly manufacturing transactions (production reporting, material issues/consumption, backflushing, scrap reporting, and labor postings) for completeness and accuracy; investigate exceptions, quantify financial impact, coordinate corrections with Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and Engineering, and escalate systemic issues to the Assistant Plant Controller.
• Prepare, document, and process inventory adjustment transactions (cycle count variances, damaged/obsolete write-offs, scrap dispositions, and inventory reclasses) in accordance with plant procedures including required approvals and audit-ready support.
• Perform routine purchase price variance (PPV) and receiving price checks by comparing purchase orders, receipts, and invoices; coordinate corrections (price, quantity, unit of measure, vendor) with Purchasing/AP and escalate recurring issues to the Assistant Plant Controller.
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