Controller with fifteen years in manufacturing finance, four of them running accounting for a
40M maker across four plants. Rebuilt standard costing for 4,800 parts and exposed .1M of hidden margin.
Experience
Financial Controller, Halloway Machine Works · June 2021 – present
Accounting for a 40M manufacturer across four plants, with a team of eleven.
Leads close, accounts receivable, accounts payable and cost accounting for four plants, with a team of eleven and two direct managers.
Took the monthly close from fourteen days to five by moving intercompany eliminations into the ERP and retiring 26 spreadsheet handoffs.
Rebuilt standard costing for 4,800 part numbers, exposing .1M of margin absorbed into one overhead pool and repricing 340 loss-making items.
Ran the SOX readiness program ahead of a planned listing, documenting 71 key controls and closing all six significant deficiencies within two cycles.
Renegotiated the borrowing base after tightening inventory reporting, releasing $6M of additional revolver capacity.
Assistant Controller, Vandermeer Plastics Group · January 2018 – May 2021
Consolidated four legacy ledgers onto one ERP instance on schedule, retiring
80k a year of maintenance on the systems replaced.
Introduced a weekly cash forecast that held forecast error under 3% for eight consecutive quarters.
Built the plant-level income statement pack that the operations directors still run their weekly reviews from.
Accounting Manager, Vandermeer Plastics Group · September 2015 – December 2017
Managed a team of four through the close, cutting post-close adjusting entries from 31 a month to seven.
Implemented the fixed asset module for 6,200 assets, correcting $940k misstated under the prior manual schedule.
Audit Senior, Ketteridge & Voss LLP · August 2011 – August 2015
Led fieldwork on eleven middle-market manufacturing clients with revenue from $40M to $600M.
Trained 14 associates on the firm inventory observation methodology across three busy seasons.
Education
B.A. Accounting · Michigan State University · August 2007 – May 2011
Skills
Controllership: US GAAP, Month-end close, Consolidations, Standard costing, Internal controls, External audit management
Planning and capital: Annual budget, Cash forecasting, Borrowing base reporting, Capital expenditure approval, Pricing analysis
Systems: NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Hyperion, BlackLine, Power BI, Excel
Certifications
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) — Michigan Board of Accountancy
Certified Management Accountant (CMA) — Institute of Management Accountants
Why this Financial Controller résumé works
Close speed is given as a before and after, “from fourteen days to five”, with the method: eliminations moved into the ERP and 26 spreadsheet handoffs retired.
The standard-costing rebuild across 4,800 part numbers exposed
.1M of margin and repriced 340 loss-making items. It shows the controller as a source of profit, not only of reports.
Control work is concrete: 71 key controls documented and six significant deficiencies closed in two cycles, which is what a SOX-readiness employer is looking for.
Both credentials, Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, appear in the header label and the certificates, signalling financial and cost accounting depth for a manufacturing controller role.
Financial Controller résumé: common questions
What should a financial controller resume include?
Close timeline, team size, control and audit results, systems implemented and the business result of costing or working capital work. Include credentials such as CPA or CMA beside your name.
Is a CMA useful on a controller resume?
In manufacturing and other cost-heavy industries, yes. It signals cost accounting and performance management skills beside the CPA’s reporting and audit grounding.
