Brazil Financial Controller (Country Finance Manager)
Position Title: Brazil Financial Controller (Country Finance Manager)
Location: São Paulo, Brazil office / Hybrid
Advanced English
Summary:
The Legal Entity Controller, Brazil is a strategic controllership leader responsible for end-to-end legal entity ownership for Hershey’s Brazil operations, based in São Paulo. This role ensures accurate financial reporting, statutory compliance, and strong internal control execution across the Brazil legal entity, while supporting business growth and operational complexity in one of Hershey’s most strategically important emerging markets.
In addition to core controllership responsibilities, this position plays a critical role in Brazil indirect tax credit management, including VAT (ICMS, IPI, PIS/COFINS) credit governance, planning, and monetization support, in close partnership with Finance leadership, Tax, Treasury, HBP, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams. This role will be an essential member of the Chief Accounting Officer & Controllership team and serve as the primary liaison with External Auditors for Brazil and is a key finance partner to local leadership, manufacturing, and go to market teams.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
The Legal Entity Controller, Brazil will be responsible for the following duties:
Legal Entity Accounting & Financial Reporting – Brazil (35%)
• Serve as primary accounting owner for the Brazil legal entity, ensuring accuracy and completeness of statutory and U.S. GAAP financial statements.
• Oversee month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close for Brazil, including intercompany, VAT credits, loans and other treasury items, derivatives, leases, other provisions, bank covenants, and partner with the Supply Chain and Commercial Accounting Platforms to understand trends and ensure accuracy of inventories, manufacturing variances, revenue recognition, trade spend, and fixed assets.
• Ensure compliance with Brazil local GAAP and statutory reporting requirements, aligned with Hershey global accounting policies.
• Actively partner with local leadership to explain financial results, key judgments, and balance sheet trends.
• External Audit & Regulatory Interface – Brazil Statutory (25%)
• Serve as the primary Brazil point of contact for external auditors, coordinating statutory audits, SOX/internal control testing, and regulatory reviews.
• Prepare and review Hershey Brazil’s financial statements, including balance sheets and income statements. Ensure compliance with U.S. GAAP and Brazil local GAAP statutory reporting requirements.
• Manage audit planning, PBC coordination, issue resolution, and remediation activities.
• Maintain strong relationships with external auditors and ensure audit outcomes align with both Brazil regulatory expectations and corporate standards.
• Support responses to regulatory, statutory, and government inquiries as needed.
• Internal Controls & SOX Compliance (20%)
• Act as control owner for key Brazil entity level and process level controls.
• Ensure effective internal controls over financial reporting, including controls impacting Commercial programs, Supply Chain, inventory, costing, and revenue processes.
• Lead remediation of control gaps, including coordination with IT, Tax, Treasury, HBP, and operational teams.
• Promote strong internal control culture and financial discipline across Brazil operations.
• Cross Functional Partnership & Brazil VAT Credit Management (15%)
• Partner closely with Tax, Commercial, Supply Chain, FP&A, HBP, and IT teams to support accounting and reporting for complex Brazil operations.
• Play an active role in Brazil VAT (ICMS, IPI, PIS/COFINS) credit governance, including:
o Oversight of VAT credit balances in coordination with Tax and Supply Chain
o Support documentation, reconciliation, and audit defensibility of VAT credits
o Collaboration with Tax on planning, utilization, and monetization strategies (e.g., offsets, transfers, recovery initiatives)
• Ensure accounting alignment for VAT credit utilization and recovery without compromising controllership or audit standards.
• Complete quarterly tax reporting packages for Corporate with an estimate of income taxes under Brazil & U.S. GAAP; apply concept of deferred taxes with temporary and permanent differences
• Collaborate with Corporate treasury on agreements & execution of intercompany loans, dividend flow, investments, intangible assets, etc.
• Act as a finance business partner on new business initiatives, operating model and supply chain changes, and commercial strategies.
• Systems, Transformation & Special Projects (5%)
• Support system operations and transformation initiatives leveraging Microsoft Dynamics and SAP S/4 HANA.
• Contribute to process harmonization, automation, and data quality improvements.
• Support legal entity changes, restructuring, and integration initiatives impacting Brazil.
Minimal Experience Requirement:
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance; CRC, CPA, or equivalent preferred
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience, including Brazil statutory and multinational environments (Big 4 or multinational preferred)
• Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP and Brazil accounting & statutory requirements
Minimal Skills and Knowledge:
• Understanding of legal entity structures, cross-border transactions and intercompany eliminations.
• Demonstrated experience with Brazil indirect taxes, particularly ICMS, IPI, PIS/COFINS credits
• Experience supporting VAT credit recovery, offset, or monetization initiatives in partnership with Tax
• Proven ability to lead external audits and statutory audits in Brazil
• Strong business partnership skills with Commercial and Supply Chain organizations
• Strong project management skills, with ability to manage multiple priorities with competing deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with ability to engage and influence stakeholders without direct authority as a collaborative business partner.
• Strong analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills, with high regard to attention to detail, accuracy, and integrity.
• Fluent in English and Portuguese (required); fluent in Spanish (preferred)
• Influential communication and presentation skills, with ability to convey complex information to diverse audiences at varying levels of the organization
• Eagerness to learn and innovate processes to drive efficiencies in a rapidly evolving statutory landscape
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics, SAP S/4 HANA required
• Exposure to Group Reporting, BlackLine and Workiva software/tools preferred
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office (e.g., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Aspiration to growth within the company
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