Divisional Controller

Job Description

Job Description:\n\n Divisional Controller\n Empower Brands - Residential Division\n Reports to\n Chief Financial Officer\n Location\n Glen Allen, VA / Richmond area; hybrid or remote considered\n Status\n Full-time, exempt\n Team leadership\n 9 accountants; 15 total team members across the departmentThe Opportunity\n The Residential Division brings together nine franchising brands, two company-owned markets and fourteen shared service departments. The Divisional Controller is the senior accounting leader responsible for creating one reliable, well-controlled view of performance across this multi-entity platform while preserving the entity-level accuracy required by management, auditors, lenders, and other stakeholders.\n This is a hands-on leadership role with end-to-end accountability. The Divisional Controller owns franchisor accounting, the company-owned market books, shared service and holding-company entities, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, the general ledger, close, reconciliations, consolidation, financial reporting, controls, and external audit coordination. The role reports directly to the CFO and partners closely with FP&A / Financial Reporting to consolidate the Residential Division into a single reported result.Scope of Responsibility\n Area\n Scope\n Brands\n FRSTeam; Archadeck Outdoor Living; Conserva Irrigation; Koala Insulation; Wallaby Windows; Outdoor Lighting Perspectives; Superior Fence & Rail; Bumble Roofing; and the Residential platform brand portfolio.\n Operating scope\n Nine franchising brands, two company-owned markets, fourteen shared service departments, and related holding-company entities.\n Functional ownership\n AR, AP, GL, close, reconciliations, consolidation, entity and divisional reporting, external audit support, accounting policy, and internal controls.\n Team\n Leads 9 accountants and provides leadership across a 15-person Residential accounting department, including oversight of the AR and AP function.\n Key partners\n CFO, FP&A / Financial Reporting, Treasury, Tax, Legal, brand and operating leaders, corporate accounting, systems teams, and external auditors.Key ResponsibilitiesEnd-to-end accounting and close\n \n Own the complete accounting cycle for all Residential franchisor entities, the two company-owned markets, the fourteen shared-service departments and related holding-company entities.\n Establish and manage one disciplined month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close calendar; assign ownership, monitor task-level deadlines, review journal entries and deliver accurate results on schedule.\n Ensure every balance sheet account is reconciled monthly with documented support, aging, a named owner, and timely resolution of reconciling items.\n Maintain common accounting policies, chart-of-accounts discipline, journal-entry standards, and accrual practices across the Division.\n Franchisor, company-owned and shared-services accounting\n \n Own accounting for franchisor revenue streams under applicable US GAAP, including royalties, initial franchise fees and deferred revenue, technology and other franchisee fees, renewals, transfers, and vendor rebates.\n Oversee accounting for brand and advertising funds, including contributions, spending, reconciliations and reporting consistent with franchise agreements and accounting requirements.\n Own accounting for the two company-owned markets, including customer revenue, job or market-level activity, payroll-related accruals, receivables, and the related balance sheets.\n Own shared-service charges, management allocations, and holding-company activity, with transparent methodologies and supportable intercompany balances.\n Account for franchise lifecycle events, including openings, transfers, terminations, refranchising or divestitures, repurchases and other unusual transactions, in partnership with Legal and operating leadership.\n Consolidation and financial reporting\n \n Own the consolidation of the Residential Division into a single reported result, including consolidation entries, intercompany eliminations, and documented tie-outs from entity-level detail to divisional reporting.\n Partner with FP&A / Financial Reporting so actuals, budget and forecast use consistent definitions, mappings, and reporting logic.\n Prepare or oversee entity-level and consolidated monthly financial statements and actionable variance commentary for the CFO, Residential leadership, and other stakeholders.\n Drive clear and timely Preliminary Financial Reviews with brand and functional leaders, explaining performance versus budget, forecast, and prior year.\n Accounts Receivable, credit, and Accounts Payable\n \n Own Residential Accounts Receivable, including invoicing, cash application, collections, dispute resolution, notes and promissory receivables, franchisee development programs, and aging performance.\n Maintain a documented and supportable allowance for credit losses under ASC 326 (CECL), including consistent reserve methodology, approvals and general-ledger-to-subledger reconciliation.\n Provide oversight of the AP team, including vendor onboarding, approval workflows aligned with the Delegation of Authority, invoice processing, payment runs, expense reporting, credit-card reconciliations, accruals and 1099 compliance.\n Establish service levels, controls and operating metrics for both AR and AP, and use those measures to improve accuracy, timeliness, and stakeholder service.\n Audit, technical accounting and controls\n \n Lead the Residential Division response to the annual financial statement audit and applicable Franchise Disclosure Document financial statement requirements, including planning, PBC ownership, fieldwork coordination, and resolution of findings.\n Serve as the Division's technical accounting authority for new, complex, or unusual transactions; prepare position memos and coordinate with corporate accounting and outside advisors as appropriate.\n Maintain a strong, scalable internal control environment across the Residential entities, document key processes and remediate control gaps promptly.\n Ensure divisional practices remain aligned with Empower Brands accounting policies, corporate reporting requirements, and approved control standards.\n Systems, process improvement, and team leadership\n \n Lead accounting process and systems improvements across NetSuite, billing and royalty systems, AP automation, close management, and reporting tools, including data conversion, testing, and control design where applicable.\n Build standardized processes and automation that increase capacity, improve data quality, and allow the platform to scale without adding resources at the same rate as growth.\n Lead, coach and develop 9 accountants and provide direction across the 15-person department; establish clear ownership, succession depth, performance expectations, and professional-development plans.\n Create one accountable Residential accounting organization with shared standards, effective cross-training and a culture of early issue escalation, disciplined execution, and continuous improvement.\n QualificationsRequired\n \n 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including meaningful experience as a Controller, Divisional Controller, Assistant Controller, or comparable senior accounting leader.\n Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance.\n Demonstrated ownership of a multi-entity close, general ledger, balance sheet reconciliations, consolidation, and financial reporting process.\n Experience leading AR and AP operations and managing an accounting team through managers and individual contributors.\n Strong command of US GAAP, including ASC 606 revenue recognition and ASC 326 credit-loss reserving.\n Experience managing the company side of an external audit, including request-list ownership, technical positions, fieldwork coordination, and financial statement delivery.\n Advanced Excel skills and experience with a modern ERP and financial reporting environment.\n Preferred\n \n CPA strongly preferred.\n Franchising experience, including royalty, franchise fee, advertising-fund, and franchisee receivable accounting.\n Experience in a private-equity-backed, multi-brand or shared-services environment.\n NetSuite experience and a track record implementing or improving ERP, consolidation, billing, AP automation, or close-management tools.\n Experience standardizing multiple sets of books onto common policies, a common chart of accounts and a single close calendar.\n Leadership Profile\n Competency\n What It Looks Like\n End-to-end owner\n Treats the path from transaction through reconciliation, consolidation, and reported result as one accountability.\n Hands-on technical leader\n Can set the standard and develop the team, but will also open the reconciliation, resolve an intercompany difference, or work directly through an audit request when needed.\n Built for scale\n Standardizes, automates, and strengthens processes so the accounting function can support growth without relying on recurring heroics.\n Control-minded business partner\n Protects accounting integrity while explaining results and trade-offs clearly to non-accounting leaders.\n Decisive people leader\n Sets clear expectations, holds the team accountable, develops talent and addresses performance or capacity issues early.\n Calm under pressure\n Maintains accuracy, judgment, and communication discipline in a fast-paced, demanding environment with competing deadlines and changing priorities.Measures of Success\n \n Accurate and timely entity-level and consolidated monthly results, with a predictable close and clear ownership of every deliverable.\n Complete, supportable, and timely balance sheet reconciliations, with aged items and intercompany differences resolved rather than carried forward.\n A clean, repeatable consolidation that ties entity books to the single Residential Division result in partnership with FP&A / Financial Reporting.\n Well-controlled AR and AP operations with transparent service levels, aging, and exception reporting.\n An audit-ready control environment with supportable technical positions and responsive closure of external-audit requests.\n A stronger and more scalable accounting organization, evidenced by standardized processes, better automation, clear accountability, and a developed leadership bench.\n \n Empower Brands is an equal-opportunity employer. This job description describes the role's primary responsibilities and may evolve as the Residential Division and its operating model change.\n The compensation package for this position includes a base salary + performance bonus. Base salary range for this role is $170,000 to $190,000 annually. Actual compensation for the position is based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to years of experience, skills, and qualifications.\n\n \n\n WHO WE ARE:\n \n \n Empower Brands is a leading franchise organization encompassing ten industry-leading brands across residential and commercial services: Archadeck Outdoor Living, Bumble Roofing, Canopy Lawn Care, Conserva Irrigation, FRSTeam, JAN-PRO, Koala Insulation, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP), Superior Fence and Rail, and Wallaby Windows. Empower is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality products and services in the home and commercial services industries while simultaneously delivering its franchise owners committed personal support, tools and empowerment to pursue their own success. Empower Brands is a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm with an excellent track record investing in successful, growth-focused franchise businesses. For more about Empower Brands, visit EmpowerFranchising.com.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Note: \n \n \n This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship. \n \n \n Empower Brands is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.\n This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Empower Brands makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.