Accounts Payable Analyst

Description

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose.

At Lactalis in the USA, we’re committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive—whether you’re just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we’re proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

From your PASSION to ours

Lactalis Heritage Dairy, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Accounts Payable Analyst based in Wausau, Wisconsin. We are looking for a detail-oriented analyst who will be responsible for overseeing the accounts payable process and ensuring timely payments to vendors and suppliers. In this role, you will be expected to maintain accurate financial records and reconcile accounts payable transactions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve discrepancies, maintain financial records, and support the overall financial health of the site.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

- Responsible for overseeing the accounts payable process of the whole Walton Plant
- Monitors transactions performed by purchasing team to improve process and identify opportunities for cost savings
- Validates that all expenses are classified properly (plant code/material group/cost center/GL accounts) and tie back to the plant's budget
- Audits accounts payable transactions for completeness, accuracy, and conformity to Lactalis policy, IRS regulations, and generally accepted accounting standards
- Analyzes key reports (GR-IR balancing/vendor past due/vendor master data) for integrity; diagnoses errors and makes necessary corrections
- Researches and resolves invoice errors, discrepancies, and validation holds to ensure the timely processing of invoices
- Identifies areas of risk for the business related to the payables process and implements controls to mitigate the risk
- Continuously seeks opportunities to make improvements of procedures and systems
- Responds to external vendors and internal managers in a timely manner regarding all
- aspects of the accounts payable process, including processing invoices for payment, recording sales tax and reconciling employee expenses (& Corporate P-Card)
- Communicates effectively in a professional, tactful, and courteous manner always
- Ensures quality of payment processing and reporting within assigned deadlines to avoid IRS and other government penalties
- Ensures timely payment of vendor invoices through matching of purchase orders, requesting invoices from vendors and monitoring of all payment authorizations to payment completion
- Collaborates with EDI team to ensure accurate electronic (imaged) vendor invoices and credit memos transfer from vendor to Oracle SAP
- Processes foreign currency payments, manual checks, wire transactions, and other specialty exception payments
- Keeps informed of regulatory requirements and best practices in accounting
- Assists with any internal or external audits by providing necessary documentation (ensures that document retention policy is followed)
- Prepares any necessary rebills/allocations to Corporate or other plants for shared expenses
- Tracks freight invoices and allocates the expense back to the material components as
- applicable (important to capture proper pricing for material ledger)
- Reviews purchase price variances for raw materials, packaging, ingredients, chemicals and spare parts to compare material standards with the invoiced price
- Executes any material ledger adjustments for pricing errors, freight or rebates then communicates any journal entries to Corporate accounting team
- Prepares monthly accrual for charges missing at the end of month (utilities, lab expenses, security services, lawn care, etc)
- Analyzes past financial data to identify trends, create visual presentations and prepare projections based on that information
- Assesses current operations, identifies areas for improvement, and forecasts outcomes
- based off previous performance and future volumes
- Participate in special projects, ad-hoc research and data analysis as needed
- Acts as a backup for the GMP and supports the finance team as needed

Requirements

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education and experience:

- Minimum requirements include a college degree in related field or 3-5 years' experience in role

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

- Strong knowledge of accounting principles and practices (US GAAP)
- Ability to analyze financial data and provide insights or recommendations
- Experience in Manufacturing, Food Industry preferred
- Must be dependable and be able to work well within a team environment
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- SAP, Concur, Oracle, Microsoft Excel

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affirmative Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations