Manager, Financial Controller (Inventory)

What you will be doing:
Amer Sports is seeking a Manager, Financial Controller to define the governance of inventory accounting standards, costing policy, and reserve methodology across the global portfolio. This is a finance controlling role with broad cross-brand scope, sitting within the FP&A function and reporting to the Director of Inventory and a dotted line into the Chief Accounting Officer.

The primary focus of this role is ensuring that inventory is valued consistently and accurately across all brands and markets, from the build of standard costs through PPV, scrapping, donations, reserve rates, and physical inventory programs. The right candidate is a subject matter expert in inventory accounting who can translate policy into practice, build scalable processes, and partner with Brand Controllers to embed rigorous standards without being prescriptive.

This is a hands-on role that requires both technical depth and the ability to influence cross-functionally across a complex, multi-brand global organization. The candidate must be a self-starter who can operate with limited oversight, build structure from ambiguity, and drive consistency at scale.

Key Responsibilities:
Standard Cost Governance
Define global governance of standard cost setting and policy compliance for raw materials, WIP, and finished goods, partnering with Brand Controllers to ensure consistent application across manufacturing, DC, and retail inventory.
Provide guidance to brands on standard cost methodology, including input cost assumptions, overhead absorption, and inter-company transfer pricing.
Lead the annual standard cost roll process and monitor mid-year adjustments for compliance.
PPV Analysis and Guidance
Build and maintain a global framework for PPV calculation, reporting, and accountability, partnering with Brand Controllers and supply chain finance to ensure accurate capture and classification at the brand and entity level.
Provide guidance on PPV accounting treatment, including recognition timing, disaggregation by category, and reconciliation to inventory balances.
Identify patterns and root causes in PPV trends across brands and escalate systemic issues.
Inventory Reserve Methodology and Rates
Design and maintain the global reserve rate methodology by brand and product category, grounded in a rolling 12-month lookback of sales below cost, write-offs, and disposals, and manage the obsolescence, excess, and slow-moving reserve calculations across brands and geographies.
Partner with Brand Controllers to review reserve adequacy, including monitoring aged inventory balances, challenge positions that do not reflect underlying risk, and align scrapping and disposal accounting treatment across brands.
Prepare judgmental reserves analysis each period to support technical accounting review and external audit.
Inventory Accounting Policy and Controls
Define global governance for inventory accounting policy across all brands, entities, and inventory types, including GiT, raw material, WIP, finished goods in DC and retail, and fast-close accruals, and review key reserve positions each period.
Establish and monitor internal controls over inventory accounting, partnering with Brand Controllers and GBS to remediate deficiencies, and serve as finance lead for inventory topics in internal and external audits.
Drive process improvements and standardization across inventory accounting & warehouse processes globally, including system enhancements where applicable.
Physical Inventory and Cycle Counting
Partner closely with manufacturing, supply chain, and warehouse leadership to strengthen inventory accuracy, operational processes, and financial controls.
Oversee the planning and execution of annual physical inventories across all sites, including coordination with manufacturing plants, warehouses, and 3PL partners.
Lead the development, implementation, and governance of a formal cycle counting program to drive continuous improvement in inventory accuracy and control effectiveness.
Oversee remediation plans for control deficiencies across manufacturing sites, warehouses, and inventory.
Establish and maintain robust internal controls over inventory accounting and related financial processes. Serve as the finance lead for inventory-related internal and external audits, ensuring documentation, controls, and processes meet regulatory and company requirements.
Cross-functional Partnership
Build strong partnerships with Brand Controllers to ensure inventory accounting policy is understood, adopted, and applied with consistency across the brand portfolio.
Partner with the GBS GL and Transactional Accounting teams on execution of inventory journal entries, reconciliations, and entity-level inventory close activities.
Collaborate with supply chain, manufacturing, and operations teams to ensure financial controls are embedded in operational inventory processes.
Partner with the Director of Inventory FP&A to align on reserve adequacy, working capital implications, and inventory KPI reporting.
What you need to succeed:
Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
5-7 years of progressive experience in finance or accounting, including significant experience in inventory and manufacturing finance.
Professional accounting qualification (CPA or equivalent e.g. CA, ACA, ACCA) required.
Experience in multinational operations across multiple countries or regions.
Deep understanding of inventory accounting, cost accounting, and manufacturing financial processes.
Strong understanding of internal control frameworks (SOX). Experience coordinating physical inventories and implementing cycle counting programs in complex operational environments.
Strong experience working with a complex multinational environment including shared service models.
Proven ability to partner cross functionally to drive financial and operational improvements.
Experience interacting with internal and external auditors and managing audit processes.
Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience with SAP (ECC or S/4HANA)
What we consider a plus:
Experience with OneStream, BlackLine, and advanced data analysis tools.
Experience with global IFRS standards including proven experience with IAS 2