SENIOR ACCOUNTANT/INTERNAL CONTROLS

This position is a great opportunity to both contribute to and learn the overall business of Southern Company and its Subsidiaries. In this shared-service role, you will support the Company’s internal control program to ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. The position plans and executes the controls program including risk assessment, control design, documentation, testing, and evaluation of operating effectiveness. The successful candidate will be fully engaged in the business, developing and enhancing relationships with the various business units impacted by SOX. To be successful, the candidate should be comfortable learning new processes, asking challenging questions, and questioning the status quo. The ability to work independently, assess processes and recommend improvements for accuracy, consistency, efficiency and/or automation is required. This position will support multiple Accounting, Finance and Treasury (AFT) and Operations groups within Southern Company

**This position is in a hybrid work environment (in office/remote).  It is expected that the successful candidate will report to the Atlanta or Birmingham office a minimum of 2x per week (with minimum subject to change at any time). 

Job Requirements 

A bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Accounting-related field is required Certification (such as CPA or CIA) is preferred 

Experience

Minimum 2-3 years’ experience in accounting, auditing, or related field is required. Experience in internal controls or internal audit is preferred. Proficiency in Oracle and PowerPlan (or similar accounting systems), Microsoft Office Suite, and audit software such as Workiva preferred.  Demonstrated communication and interpersonal skills, especially the ability to interact effectively with diverse stakeholders including non-financial stakeholders. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects at once, prioritizing and completing work with some supervision.

Preferred Areas of Knowledge

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Auditing Standard 5 COSO 2013 Internal Control Framework Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Security and Exchange Commission rules and reporting requirements

Major Job Responsibilities

Perform top-down risk-based approach to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley for all Registrants, which includes controls rationalizations, risk assessments, and evaluations of and control design & testing. Perform and document walkthroughs, flowcharts, control testing, and deficiency evaluations (when needed) for in scope processes. Partner with Registrants and Shared Service management and staff to ensure Internal Controls activities are designed and operating effectively. This involves working with both financial and non-financial business units to develop a working knowledge of their end-to-end processes and leading efforts to achieve alignment on controls and processes. Maintain effective and timely communication around reporting of monitoring and testing results, changes to processes and controls as well as deficiencies. Support non-SOX related projects or activities as required. Work closely with and coordinate external audit SOX activities. Continuously identify process improvements to achieve Company goals of efficiency and alignment across registrants. Leverage available tools to perform data analytics.