Financial Analyst

Who We Are:

Mid-States Distributing ("Mid-States") is the leading Farm, Ranch, and Home Retail Cooperative. Our company is owned by 31 independent Farm, Ranch & Home retailers (“Members”) who operate over 800 stores in 36 states and 9 Canadian provinces with combined annual sales in excess of 7.5 billion dollars.  Our member/owners retail items such as agriculture parts & supplies, petroleum products, hardware & tools, pet food, lawn & garden, animal health supplies, apparel & footwear, sporting goods, and various other products for the Farm, Ranch, and Home.

We are looking for competitive people who like to win big and have fun doing it.  We place a tremendous amount of emphasis on creating a unique and positive company culture.  Most of our employees will tell you this is the best place they’ve ever worked.  We value high-energy people who like to work hard and play hard.  Our consumers are primarily rural people raising “kids, pets, cows, and crops” so traditional values like God, family, and patriotism are important virtues around here.  So, if you are enthusiastic and competitive, have a great attitude, have good communication skills, build relationships, love to win, and like ice cream – Mid-States is the place for you!  If you are not, please apply with our competitors! 

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Financial Analyst will assist with budgets, forecasts, variance analysis, evaluate profitability of supplier programs and support strategic initiatives. They will also provide financial consulting and strategic support to senior management, help with capital expenditure analysis, support cash management strategies, identify new business opportunities and execute special projects as needed. This role acts as an analytical engine for the company helping to provide insights and support “optimal” business decision making and strategic initiatives.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Help develop annual budgets and maintain monthly financial forecasts
• Analyze operational and financial results against established budgets and forecasts
• Monitor performance indicators, highlight trends and analyze causes of unexpected variance
• Improve company performance by evaluating ROI in pricing, supply chain, and inventory management
• Analyze current and past trends for all areas of revenue, cost of sales, expenses and capital expenditures, and offer opinions and creative solutions to help maximize business results
• Develop and provide appropriate business analysis to influence category management strategies, and recommend future purchases
• Provide technical support for the Treasury Area
• Update weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports
• Potential to cross train and gain professional experience in additional Corporate Financial Management functions, including FP&A, Treasury, Tax, Risk Management, Benefits, and Compliance
• Support functional departments (i.e. category management, inventory, supply chain and accounts payable) with ad hoc analysis and reporting as needed
• Other duties as assigned

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university in Finance, Accounting or related field required
• Minimum of three (3) years professional experience in finance – retail, distributor, wholesale environment preferred
• Proficient in MS Office applications such as Excel, Outlook, Word and PowerPoint 
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking and problem solving skills with a high attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to provide actionable insights and resolve issues, with a demonstrated passion for teamwork
• Demonstrated ability to work with data and details with high level of accuracy
• Results-drive mindset, with the ability to multi-task and define long and short-term objectives and establish priorities. 

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Knowledge of one or more areas of Product Management: brand management, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, pricing, marketing/sales
• 2 - 3 years experience in data mining, statistics and data analysis.
• Profound understanding of financial statements
• Importing and/or extracting large amounts of data, creating tables and databases, cleansing data, analyzing data, creating and formatting reports for senior management.
• Self-directed associate who can make decisions and drive results
• Ability to work in a cross functional team as well as work independently with a high level of energy and initiative
• Must be adaptable to working in a rapidly changing and evolving environment
• Ability to offer opinions and support senior management and business leaders
• Demonstrated integrity and ethical standards

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Generally, the job requires 80% sitting, 10% walking, and 10% standing. This job is performed in a generally clean environment.  The usual and customary methods of performing the job's functions require the following physical demands: some lifting, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling, some stooping and significant fine finger dexterity. Additionally, the job may require business occasional travel for supplier meetings, member visits and tradeshows.

TRAVEL: There is minimal travel associated with this position.

OTHER DUTIES:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive

listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this position. Duties,

responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Mid-States Distributing provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.