Financial Analyst/Sr. Financial Analyst - Accounting & Treasury

About our family of companies:

We are on a mission to bring learning to life! At our family of companies, Learning Resources®, Educational Insights, and hand2mind, we create a unique range of toys, educational products and supplemental curriculum trusted by teachers and loved by families alike. Voted among the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for the last four consecutive years, we are a 350-person strong, family-owned organization dedicated to helping kids succeed in school and develop a love of learning. In addition to high-quality, hands-on products like VersaTiles® and Cuisenaire® Rods, we make award-winning toys, including top sellers such as the Pretend & Play® Cash Register, the Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set and Toy of the Year winner Botley® the Coding Robot as well as Educational Insights top sellers Kanoodle®, GeoSafari® Jr. series, and Playfoam™. We pride ourselves on being committed to our employee’s personal and professional development, a thriving culture and a diverse, creative atmosphere. Along with our culture and competitive benefits package, we offer opportunities for training and development by Harvard and UCLA professors as well as in-demand, motivating external speakers. We are looking for professionals who are truly just kids at heart! We hope you’ll come join our award-winning team today!

Team & Position Description: 

We are currently seeking a Sr. Financial Analyst to join our Accounting & Treasury team! Here’s what makes this team awesome: We are working to automate and streamline our accounting & treasury procedures by leveraging our state-of-the-art D365 system and corresponding analytic platform including Power BI reporting capabilities. We aim to tell the story of the business through numbers by preparing monthly financial bridge analyses that provide insights into the business. We work cross functionally across the organization to understand the pulse of the business, identify internal controls that can be strengthened, and incorporate that knowledge into the preparation of the financial results and cash forecasting. 

What you’ll do day to day: 

• Prepare monthly consolidated bank reporting including borrowing base calculations and fixed charged coverage calculations
• Prepare weekly consolidated cash forecasting models and provide commentary around the weekly changes
• Drive accounting process automation projects 
• Identify bottlenecks within the accounting department and create dashboards or new reports to improve efficiency 
• Develop exception reporting to improve internal controls
• Perform gross margin and other analyses for the monthly financial bridge reporting
• Develop predictive financial metrics to assist in the management of the business

What we’re looking for (Key Performance Objectives): 

• Streamline the fixed charge coverage calculation model within the first 3 months
• Prioritize and develop timeline for automation projects (including but not limited to royalty reporting and monthly financial support schedules) within the first 3 months 
• Automate the borrowing base calculation within the first 4 months
• Review and recommend improvements to the cash forecasting models (company specific and consolidated) within the first 5 months
• Develop a methodology for validating customer, vendor, and item setup and implement exception reporting within the first 6 months

Requirements/Ideal Attributes:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting. MBA/CPA a plus.
• 3 - 5 years of financial analysis and accounting experience.
• Solid understanding of financial statement construction and GAAP fundamentals.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong technical skills in the use of Excel, Power BI, Access or similar analytic tools.
• Inquisitive
• Ability to identify and solve problems
• Ability to work both independently and cross functionally
• Flexible and able to adapt quickly to changing priorities
• Eager to learn and grow professionally

We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.

Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.

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