Controller

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Aero Powell River Services is a third-generation, family-owned business that has served the Powell River region since 1964. What began with logging trucks and a machine shop has grown into a group of companies spanning industrial parts, automotive parts, propane distribution, tire and mechanical sales and service, powersport sales and equipment rentals.

The business is in the middle of a generational transition and an active growth phase. Taran Brown has taken on operational leadership as the third generation of the family to run the company, and the group is expanding through acquisition, new financing, and a more complex multi-entity structure. Ownership is now building the leadership capacity needed to support that next stage.

The Controller will hold financial responsibility across the following entities:

• Aero Powell River Services Ltd. The primary operating company. Industrial and automotive parts, tires and mechanical sales and service. The largest of the group by transaction volume, with roughly 400 accounts receivable accounts and a broad vendor base.
• ProFuel Propane Ltd. Propane distribution. Lower transaction volume, with invoicing currently handled by the owner.
• Two Wheel Tech and Economy Rentals (2026) Ltd. Established for a recent asset purchase. Powersport sales, repairs and rental store. Active invoicing, smaller in scale than Aero.
• Holding company. Holds Aero shares and supports the generational ownership transfer.
• CHER Properties (2021) Ltd. Owns the land beneath the operating businesses. Currently holds the Two-Wheel property and is expected to acquire the Aero property in January 2027.

The entities are financially intertwined. Bookkeeping and payroll are centralized through Aero and cross-billed to the other companies based on estimated time allocations. Understanding and improving these intercompany flows is a core part of the role.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This newly defined role has been created following the planned retirement of the group’s long-serving financial leader, who has guided the finance function for more than two decades and remains a shareholder in the business.

This role represents an opportunity to strengthen and modernize the group’s finance function during a period of growth and increased complexity. The organization now requires more robust reporting, forecasting, margin analysis, and decision support to keep pace with its evolving operating structure. Formal executive reporting, a consistent forecasting cycle, and a more disciplined cost-of-goods-sold process will be important priorities, particularly as recent lender requirements have underscored the need for stronger in-house financial planning across the entities.

The Controller will play a central role in building and strengthening this infrastructure. The successful candidate will be the senior financial voice in a business led by an operator who understands financial statements well and values practical, timely business advice. Ownership is seeking a finance leader who can provide constructive challenge, bring financial discipline to key decisions, and offer clear, timely advice to both ownership and the General Manager while remaining genuinely engaged in the company’s growth ambitions.

The role also offers a meaningful path for future progression beyond the Controller mandate. As the group continues to grow through acquisition and increased operating complexity, this role has the potential to evolve into a CFO-level mandate. That progression will depend on the scale of the business, the complexity of the finance function, and the impact demonstrated by the successful candidate.

Reporting relationship

Reports to the General Manager, who is also a part-owner of the business. Works closely with ownership, the external accounting firm, lenders, and the managers of each operating business.

Two direct reports: one responsible for accounts payable, one for accounts receivable.

This is a hands-on leadership role. With transactional processing covered by the two direct reports, the Controller will personally lead month-end close, financial statement preparation, payroll oversight, forecasting, and analysis. The role is best suited to someone who is comfortable remaining close to the detail while contributing at a strategic and advisory level.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Financial reporting and month-end close

• Own the full accounting cycle across all entities, including month-end and year-end close.
• Prepare internal financial statements for each company and on a consolidated basis.
• Design and deliver a monthly executive reporting package that gives ownership a clear view of performance, margin, working capital, and emerging issues.
• Establish a reliable reporting calendar and prepare year-end working papers for the external accounting firm.

Budgeting, forecasting and financial planning

• Build an annual budget process driven by the operating plan, including revenue, gross margin, expenses, capital requirements, and cash flow.
• Prepare and maintain rolling multi-year forecasts for each entity, including debt service and lender requirements.
• Model the financial impact of growth initiatives, acquisitions, property transactions, and capital purchases before commitments are made.
• Explain forecast variances and provide analysis that supports or challenges proposed business decisions.

Multi-entity and intercompany accounting

• Maintain accurate intercompany accounting across the operating companies and holding company.
• Review and improve the methodology used to allocate shared staff costs and centralized overhead between entities.
• Work with external advisors on the accounting and reporting aspects of the generational share transfer.

Costing, inventory and margin analysis

• Advise on moving the business from an opening and closing inventory approach toward a proper cost-of-goods-sold process.
• Develop inventory controls, cycle counting, and reporting on shrinkage, obsolescence, and carrying cost.
• Build margin reporting by business line, product category, and where useful by customer or vendor.
• Produce operating metrics and efficiency analysis that managers can act on.

Cash, credit and lender relationships

• Manage cash flow across the group, including intercompany funding requirements.
• Serve as the primary financial contact for lenders. Prepare covenant reporting, forecasts, and financing submissions.
• Oversee accounts receivable and credit management across roughly 400 active accounts, including credit limits, collection practices, and aging.
• Oversee accounts payable and vendor terms, including the group’s largest supply relationships.

Systems and process improvement

• Take ownership of the group’s accounting systems, reporting tools, and the flow of data between them.
• Preserve the sales and inventory functionality of Counterpoint while improving the accounting and reporting layer that supports management decision-making.
• Assess the current systems arrangement across the entities and recommend a practical path forward with a clear business case.
• Document financial processes and build internal controls appropriate to the size and structure of the group.

Payroll, benefits and administration

• Oversee company payrolls.
• Ensure compliance with employment standards, remittances, WorkSafeBC, and related statutory obligations.
• Review the group’s benefits plans and recommend whether consolidation would improve consistency, coverage, and cost effectiveness.
• Oversee insurance renewals and coverage adequacy across the entities.

Advisory and leadership

• Act as a trusted financial advisor to the General Manager and ownership, with the credibility to offer constructive challenge when required.
• Bring forward risks and opportunities before they are asked for.
• Lead and develop the accounts payable and accounts receivable staff, and build capacity so the function does not depend on any single person.
• Support personal tax and related matters for ownership where appropriate. The primary responsibility of the role remains the companies’ finances.

FIRST-YEAR PRIORITIES

Key indicators of success in the first twelve months will include:

• A working transition from the outgoing financial leader, with the full cycle documented rather than held informally.
• A monthly executive reporting package in place and delivered on a reliable schedule.
• A budget for the coming fiscal year built from the operating plan, covering revenue and margin as well as expenses.
• Rolling forecasts established for each entity, with lender reporting handled in-house.
• A clear recommendation on the systems question, supported by cost and benefit.
• A recommendation on benefits plan consolidation.
• Ownership and the General Manager receiving timely financial challenge and advice that improves decision-making.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• CPA designation in good standing.
• Industry experience, with demonstrated responsibility for financial reporting inside an operating business. The role calls for someone who has owned the numbers month after month and understands how financial information affects decisions in real time.
• Five or more years in a Controller, Assistant Controller, or comparable role, including full ownership of the accounting cycle and financial statement preparation.
• Direct experience advising an owner-operator or entrepreneurial business leader, including the ability to influence decisions with sound financial analysis and practical judgment.
• Demonstrated experience with budgeting, cash flow management, and multi-year forecasting.
• Experience in a multi-entity environment, including intercompany transactions and consolidations.
• Working knowledge of inventory accounting and cost of goods sold in a distribution, retail, or service environment.
• Comfort with accounting systems and system change, including practical judgment about when a system should be replaced and when it should be left alone.
• Payroll and Canadian statutory compliance experience.

Preferred

• Experience in a family-owned business through a growth phase or an ownership transition.
• Background in distribution, automotive, industrial supply, fuel, powersports and equipment rental, or a related sector.
• Experience preparing financing submissions and managing lender relationships.
• Exposure to real estate holding structures and related-party property transactions.
• Experience building or significantly improving a finance function in a growing or evolving business.

What will make someone successful

The technical requirements describe the baseline. The successful candidate will also bring the judgment, confidence, and practical style required to build trust in a family-owned business while strengthening the finance function for future growth.

• Confident, constructive challenge. The role calls for someone who can question decisions before they are made, explain the financial implications clearly, and earn the trust to challenge both the General Manager and ownership when needed.
• Entrepreneurial as well as disciplined. The business is pursuing growth, and the Controller must be able to support opportunity while protecting financial discipline.
• Skilled at building structure from the ground up. Much of what this role requires is still being developed, so the successful candidate must be comfortable creating structure, process, and useful reporting in a practical and sustainable way.
• Hands-on and strategic. This is a small team, and the Controller will need to stay close to the detail while also contributing meaningful financial insight at the leadership level.
• Practical about people. The business has long-tenured employees who know the operation well. The Controller will need to bring change thoughtfully and respectfully while still moving the finance function forward.
• Genuinely interested in Powell River. The family has deep roots in the community and expects the successful candidate to build meaningful local connections over time.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Base salary: $110,000 to $145,000, commensurate with experience.

Bonus: A discretionary annual bonus is under consideration, tied to company and individual performance.

Vacation: Vacation will be discussed based on experience and market expectations for candidates at this level.

Benefits: Extended health and dental, including approximately 90 percent prescription coverage, life and disability insurance, and critical illness coverage.

Location: On-site in Powell River, British Columbia.

We encourage you to submit your application through MNP’s official process. To ensure a fair and consistent experience for all candidates, we also ask that you refrain from contacting the client or its staff directly regarding this opportunity.

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