LET’S TALK ABOUT THE JOB!
You report to the Accounting Manager and will and will assist the Accounting Manager with monitoring, analyzing, and reporting major expense categories for the Group, with a primary focus on IT expenses, marketing costs, consultancy fees, and the financial follow-up of external partnerships. This role ensures transparency, cost control, and accuracy of financial information to support strategic decision-making. The Cost Accountant works closely with Finance, Procurement, IT, Marketing, and senior leadership to drive efficiency and provide actionable insights.

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES!
About your Accounting and Finance responsibilities:

• You ensure expenditure/commitment follow-up on IT, Marketing projects on a European level in close collaboration with the responsible department heads.


• You supervise the daily administration of the invoice and purchase order cycle.


• You review the allocations and posting of invoices ensuring basic controls with respect to legal entity data, VAT reminder and claim handling.


• You support the month-end closing activities including accruals, reconciliations, intercompany recharges and adjustments.


• You analyze variances vs. budget, forecast, and prior periods; prepare commentary and insights.


• You support financial reporting and present findings to department heads and partnership owners.


• You support the capitalization and amortization/depreciation process and related integrity reports.


• You support communication with contractors, suppliers, partnership owners etc.


• You assist with the preparation of the internal and external audit process.


• You assist with the preparations of budgets.


• You ensure strict compliance with IFRS and local GAAPs.


• You offer administrative assistance in various ad-hoc projects

About your process and systems responsibilities:

• You implement procedures and systems necessary to maintain proper records and to afford adequate accounting controls and procedures for all business cycles in accordance with Shurgard’s standards.


• You implement the roll out of various control systems in your market(s).


• You assist with the review, improvement and implementation of cost allocation keys.


• You contribute to European projects: systems, integration of new entities, maintenance of policies and procedures.


• You support the Accounting Manager with special projects and workflow process improvements.


• You ensure the application of and compliance with control processes.

About your people responsibilities:

• You collaborate with the other finance department colleagues to support overall department goals and objectives.


• You provide training to new and existing staff as needed.

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR SKILLS!

• You understand the company strategy and the strategic context of own work.


• You act as a change agent, “selling” and implementing change effectively.


• You actively seek opportunities for self-development and learning.


• You drive team action to achieve business results.


• You proactively look for ways to increase customer satisfaction, and ensure a customer oriented attitude in the team.


• You recognize commercial opportunities in own work as they arise.


• You demonstrate market and business awareness in a broader context.


• You effectively influence others and gain collaboration by persuasive two-way communications.


• You prioritize own and team’s work, are decisive and take initiative beyond call of duty.


• You promote co-operation within own team and between teams, and act as an example of effective teamwork.

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR PROFILE!

• You have a bachelor/master’s degree in accounting, finance or economics, or similar through experience


• You have at least five years of experience in Accounting.


• Experience in the Services or Retail sector is required.


• You are fluent in English. Good French or German language skills are considered a strong asset. Any other market’s language is considered a plus.


• Exposure to a multi-country/shared service center environment is considered a plus.


• Experience with IFRS and local GAAP is considered a plus.


• You have a working knowledge of Microsoft applications and an advanced level in Excel.


• Experience with SAP is required, while familiarity with SAP S/4HANA is considered a plus.


• You have a general interest in obtaining a deep knowledge of (financial) IT systems.


• You are open and flexible to occasional travel.

And colleagues? Well, they are very important to you too. You like sharing and collaborating. You want to contribute to a fun and constructive work climate. And needless to say, you love to learn and to develop your knowledge and skills.