Controller - Legal Aid of North Carolina

Career Opportunity

Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) seeks an experienced strategic leader to serve as its next Controller. The ideal candidate serves as a strategic partner to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a key member of the finance team, responsible for the integrity of LANC’s accounting operations, financial reporting, internal controls, nonprofit fund accounting, and financial compliance framework. The Controller ensures full compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Legal Services Corporation regulations, grant requirements, and organizational policies while providing leadership for accounting operations, audits, and financial stewardship.

Mission: Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Legal Aid is an innovative, creative, progressive, and efficient civil legal services provider working toward an inclusive justice system of equal access. All voices are valued, heard, and respected.

Reporting Structure : The Controller reports directly to the CFO and has four direct reports.

Total Staff and Budget: LANC has 304 staff members and an annual budget of $34 million.

Salary: The salary is commensurate with experience, and the salary range is $110,000 – $120,000.

Working Environment/Location: The Controller is expected to work in LANC’s office, located at 319 Chapanoke Road, Suite 104, Raleigh, NC 27603 with hybrid flexibility available.

Key Responsibilities of the Controller

Accounting Operations and Financial Reporting

• Oversee all aspects of accounting operations and assigned accounting personnel.
• Prepare and/or oversee required monthly journal entries and review supporting documentation for accuracy, completeness, proper approval, and appropriate funding-source coding.
• Lead the monthly and annual general ledger close and maintain a close calendar with clear process ownership and deadlines.
• Ensure general ledger and subledger accounts are reconciled in a timely manner; review and approve account reconciliations prepared by accounting staff.
• Prepare timely and accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements in accordance with GAAP.
• Work with the CFO to prepare the annual consolidated budget, regular financial projections, and year-over-year forecasts.
• Manage the Accounts Payable function and assigned staff supporting general ledger and grant accounting.
• Support the preparation of financial reports for the Board of Directors and the Finance and Audit Committee.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Financial and Grant Compliance

LANC is substantially funded by federal, state, local government, and foundation grants. The Director of Grant Accounting has primary responsibility for day-to-day grant financial management, billing, grant budget maintenance, and grant reporting. The Controller maintains responsibility for the overall adequacy of financial controls, compliance processes, and supporting LSC and other restricted funding sources.

• Serve as LANC’s lead financial compliance resource for LSC funding and maintain current working knowledge of applicable LSC regulations, the LSC Financial Guide, LSC Office of Inspector General guidance, grant terms, and other applicable federal requirements.
• Ensure LSC expenditures are allowable, allocable, reasonable, consistently treated, properly approved, adequately documented, and charged to the correct funding source.
• Review LSC grant activity and financial reports regularly to identify questioned costs, unsupported transactions, coding errors, budget concerns, or control gaps, and ensure prompt corrective action.
• Assist the CFO in maintaining and updating the LANC Accounting Manual and related financial policies to remain aligned with LSC requirements and sound nonprofit financial-management practices.
• Prepare financial reports for assigned grants as needed, ensure proper support for audits and grantor inquiries, and support Development staff with financial information for grant applications.

Internal Controls and Risk Management

• Establish, document, maintain, and continuously improve the organization’s financial internal-control framework.
• Ensure accounting policies and procedures are followed consistently and recommend improvements that strengthen compliance, accountability, efficiency, and asset protection.
• Monitor remediation of control deficiencies and recommendations arising from audits, monitoring reviews, risk assessments, and management reviews.

Audit, Tax, and Regulatory Reporting

• Act as the primary liaison and coordinator for annual external audits, including preparation of financial statements, footnote disclosures, schedules, workpapers, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate single-audit, grant-audit, compliance testing, and LSC audit requirements when applicable.
• Support compliance with applicable federal, state, and local financial and nonprofit reporting requirements, including preparation and review support for Form 990 and related filings.

Leadership and Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, cross-train, and develop assigned accounting and finance staff, fostering a culture of accuracy, service, accountability, continuous improvement, and compliance.
• Serve as a strategic partner to the CFO and executive leadership by providing timely financial insights and clearly communicating accounting, compliance, and risk matters.
• Serve as backup to the CFO and exercise delegated authority when assigned or when the CFO is unavailable, consistent with approved internal controls and authorization limits.

Technology, Process Improvement, and Other Duties

• Evaluate and improve accounting systems, tools, workflows, and reporting processes to increase efficiency, accuracy, control, and service quality.
• Serve as system administrator for assigned accounting and finance systems, including Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, with appropriate access controls and periodic access review.
• Lead or support implementation and optimization of accounts payable, expense management, invoicing, reporting, and other finance systems.

The Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or related business field required.
• CPA certification strongly preferred; master’s degree in accounting or a related field preferred.
• At least seven years of progressively responsible Controller or comparable accounting leadership experience.
• Strong knowledge of GAAP, nonprofit fund accounting, financial reporting, and internal controls required.
• Demonstrated experience with restricted grants and federal grant compliance required; experience with LSC funding, regulations, financial guidance, audits, or monitoring preferred.
• Experience coordinating external audits, compliance reviews, grantor monitoring and resolving findings or corrective actions.
• MS Office 365, Teams, Outlook, Word, and Advanced Excel, with strong data analysis skills and working knowledge of accounting systems; Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT experience preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical accounting and compliance matters to non-financial audiences.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with sound judgment and the ability to balance accuracy, compliance, service, and efficiency.
• Demonstrated supervisory, coaching, project management, and collaborative leadership skills.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive financial, employee, donor, grantor, and organizational information with the highest level of integrity.
• Alignment to the mission, vision, and core values of LANC.

About Legal Aid of North Carolina

Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Legal Aid is an innovative, creative, progressive, and efficient civil legal services provider working toward an inclusive justice system of equal access. All voices are valued, heard, and respected.

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Benefits

Legal Aid of North Carolina provides health, retirement, disability, and leave benefits. Employee medical, vision, dental, and life insurance premiums are covered at 100% by the employer. Annual discretionary 401(k) contributions are provided after eligibility requirements are satisfied, with no employee match required. Paid leave includes 1.75 days per month, 12 paid holidays, two floating holidays, and other paid leave. Appropriate technical continuing professional education courses and fees to maintain accounting licensure are generally paid upon review and pre-approval.

How To Apply

Join Legal Aid of North Carolina and play a critical role in shaping its future while driving impactful change in the community.

To apply, scroll to the bottom of this page. You will see instructions for uploading your compelling cover letter, resume, and salary requirements.
Please provide all requested information to be considered. In case of any technical problems, contact . No phone calls, please, and no applications will be accepted by email or directly from third-party posting sites.