Staff Accountant - Commodity Trading

BB Energy

  • Houston, TX
  • 10 days ago

    Highlights

    Within your first year, you will touch nearly every part of the close: trade accruals, inventory valuation, mark-to-market on physical forwards and hedges, broker statement reconciliations, intercompany, and the group reporting package. Very strong Excel skills: pivot tables, lookups (INDEX/MATCH, XLOOKUP), and comfort handling large data extracts; macros/vba knowledge is a plus.

    Numbers & Facts

    LocationHouston, TX

    Description

    About the Role

    We are a global commodity trading firm looking for an early-career accountant to grow into a full-fledged commodity trading accountant. You will start with the fundamentals - invoice posting, cash application, expense processing - and progressively take ownership of month-end close deliverables spanning corporate accounting, trade accounting, and financial reporting under IFRS.

    This is a build-the-whole-toolkit role. Within your first year, you will touch nearly every part of the close: trade accruals, inventory valuation, mark-to-market on physical forwards and hedges, broker statement reconciliations, intercompany, and the group reporting package. You will be mentored directly by the regional controller, and we invest heavily in automation - you will be encouraged to improve and automate the processes you inherit, not just run them.

    What You'll Do

    Transactional Accounting (from day one)

    • Post AP invoices and support vendor payment processing in Microsoft Dynamics
    • Post cash receipts and perform cash application against open receivables
    • Review and process employee expense reports in Expensify, including receipt verification, coding checks, and booking approved reports to the GL

    Month-End Close (progressive ownership)

    • Prepare and post recurring journal entries: accruals and reversals, prepaids and amortization, leases, fixed asset depreciation, payroll allocations
    • Reconcile cash and bank loan balances to bank statements and confirmations
    • Support trade accruals for open costs at month-end using ETRM system data (Symphony and RightAngle)
    • Assist with month-end inventory valuation, including physical inventory reconciliations to terminal statements and weighted-average cost calculations
    • Support mark-to-market entries on physical forward contracts and hedge positions under IFRS 9
    • Reconcile realized and unrealized hedge P&L between ETRM data and broker/clearinghouse statements
    • Assist with intercompany reconciliations and confirmations across global affiliates
    • Perform AR/AP aging reviews, investigate past-due balances, and prepare reclass entries for unapplied cash

    Financial Reporting & Analysis

    • Support trial balance reconciliations, tying account balances to supporting documentation
    • Assist in preparing the monthly group reporting package submitted to global consolidation (IFRS)
    • Prepare monthly SG&A analysis, investigating variances and flagging miscoded or duplicated items
    • Support system-to-GL reconciliations between the ETRMs and Dynamics

    Automation & Process Improvement

    • Identify manual steps in the close and help automate them - we actively use Excel scripting, AI tools, and system reports to shorten the close, and expect you to contribute

    What We're Looking For

    Required

    • Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance
    • 0-2 years of experience; public accounting (Big Four or similar) background preferred, but strong new graduates are encouraged to apply
    • Very strong Excel skills: pivot tables, lookups (INDEX/MATCH, XLOOKUP), and comfort handling large data extracts; macros/vba knowledge is a plus
    • Exposure to AI tools and genuine interest in using them to work faster and more effectively
    • Detail orientation and a reconciliation mindset - you want the numbers to tie, and you dig in when they don't
    • Clear written communication; comfortable documenting processes and flagging issues to reviewers

    Preferred (not required)

    • Coding or scripting experience (Python, VBA, Power Query, or similar) - a significant plus given our automation focus
    • Working knowledge of Spanish
    • Familiarity with IFRS
    • CPA candidacy or intent to pursue licensure
    • Exposure to ERP systems (Microsoft Dynamics) or ETRM systems (Symphony, RightAngle, or similar)

    Systems You'll Use

    Microsoft Dynamics (GL/ERP) · Symphony and RightAngle (ETRM) · Expensify (expense reporting) · Excel and Power BI · AI-assisted workflow tools

    Why This Role

    • Rare early-career exposure to the full trading accounting cycle - physical inventory, derivatives, MTM, hedge accounting - normally reserved for more senior staff
    • Direct mentorship from the Regional Financial Controller with a defined path to owning full close cycles
    • Automation-first culture: you will build tools, not just run checklists
    • Global firm with cross-border exposure to intercompany, consolidation, and multi-entity reporting

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