Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

This is role is part of the North America (NAM) Finance leadership team with a focus on driving the Internal Controls of the business processes across USA and Canada. The position expects to bring control expertise to improve overall processes and ensure compliance proper Governance practices, compliance with IFRS Accounting standards, and adidas Global Policies.

Position is integral to ensuring Corporate Governance through business partnering with leadership across NAM. It aims at:

• Develop, support and lead initiatives/projects focused on improving the efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of business processes at both a local and regional level.
• Ensuring compliance with applicable external laws and internal regulations as well as the established Group Internal Control frameworks, and Group/Market/Brand best practices and policies.
• Protect Company physical assets (e.g. stock, cash on different premises), including public and internal dishonesty, procedural failure, administrative error and wastage, as well as maximized profit ensuring effectiveness and efficiency of operations.
• Responsible for working with management to identify opportunities for improvement, measure and analyze current business processes and redesign processes to meet the needs of a complex and growing business.
• Leading a set of Internal Control experts to ensure the effective execution of the areas responsibilities

This role is expected to bring an action-oriented mindset alongside the functional expertise to drive positive changes.  

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership & People management

• Develop team-first mindset through collaboration with other Finance and business areas, and develop own Internal Control team.
• Distribute the team efforts effectively to achieve results.
• Develop and expand a large network within our own function and transversely (internally or externally).
• Constantly strive to achieve operational excellence in the quest to build a winning culture and driving positive corporate change.

Risk Assessment & Key controls review

• Communicate and understand the adidas business to take a risk-based approach to manage the control environment.
• Timely coordination the testing of key business controls as well as ensuring the mandatory documentation.
• Ensure speedily remediation of all identified control deficiencies in collaboration with Senior Leadership and Management.
• Bring expertise on different control frameworks that relate to adidas including eCom, wholesale, and retail sales channels.

• Seek for proactive and continuous review of controls to assess and identify risk within the business.
• Reduce and mitigate risk with the implementation of comprehensive risk reduction strategies and countermeasures.
• Ensure that SAP access rights are review, and properly approve by GBS. (LAC)

Policies & Procedures awareness and processes improvement

• Ensure the team raise awareness/maintain knowledge of the Global/Market policies and procedures, including regular trainings at local & regional level.
• Guarantee correctly design, develop, implementation and regular update of local & regional policies (based on global/market policies if existing), procedures and related internal controls, based on best practices and Group requirements.
• Develop, support and lead initiatives/projects focused on improving the efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of business processes.

Reporting

• Consolidate control testing results & reports to bring visibility of the risk, findings and opportunities to Senior Leadership. (e.g. Effectiveness rate, abnormal transaction analysis, shrinkage data, incident and control deficiencies)
• Immediate communication of major control deficiencies to the relevant parties.
• Support and/or conduct investigations and complete timely reports/findings to the relevant stakeholders.
• Timely coordination of the local bi-annual Representation Letter process for Accounting.
• Participation in the Global Internal Audit meetings, Global/Market ICS network including ICS calls, WebEx sessions, conferences, sharing of best practices.

Key Relationships:

• NAM Market: Managing Director, Finance Leadership, Heads of Departments and Process Owners.
• Group: Group Policies & Internal Controls, Group Internal Audit, Group Risk & Compliance Management, GBS and Cross functional process owners.
• External auditors.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Deliver a great performance record in your career history.
• Lead / manage a business initiative within the function or market.
• Effectively identify and manage project and stakeholder risks.
• Efficiently manage project resources to apply them to the objectives / goals of the project.
• Demonstrated experience in more than one area / discipline of the function.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from senior executives, stakeholders and cross functional business leaders.
• Strong auditing/internal control skills and process improvement experience.
• Accounting accreditation and Finance knowledge preferred.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• 10 years’ experience in similar function/position
• Accounting/auditing qualification preferred
• Consumer goods experience and track record in similar industry preferred
• Knowledge on project management