The Commercial Operations Accountant is responsible for delivering accurate, timely, and decision-relevant financial reporting for crude and refined product commercial activities related to the crude distillation unit. The role supports commercial and refining teams by ensuring financial outcomes are properly captured, understood, and communicated. The position requires a strong working knowledge of accrual accounting, mark-to-market accounting, and hedge accounting, and the ability to apply that knowledge in a fast-moving commercial environment.
This role operates at the intersection of supply and marketing, refining, and finance, with a strong emphasis on transparency, process discipline, and alignment between commercial decisions and reported financial results.
The position will be located in the Sullivan Brothers shared office located in Houston, Texas directly reporting to the controller for TIRCO within the Finance Function, which is overseen by the President of TIRCO.
Responsibilities:Financial Reporting & Close- Prepare, review, and explain monthly P&L for supply, marketing, and refining activities
- Support timely and accurate period close, including coordination of inputs from traders, schedulers, and operations
- Ensure financial results appropriately reflect physical flows, pricing outcomes, and timing impacts
Commercial Accounting Support- Maintain refinery and commercial trading books, including activity-level visibility of crude and product movements
- Assemble and validate crude and product sales data for actual margin analysis
- Coordinate demurrage accruals, settlements, and claims with scheduling and commercial teams
Risk & Hedging Support- Support financial reporting related to hedging activities, including coordination with trading and risk functions
- Maintain clear linkage between physical positions, commercial exposures, and financial outcomes
- Ensure accounting considerations are understood and embedded in commercial workflows
Cross-Functional Coordination- Act as a primary accounting contact for traders, schedulers, yield accounting and planning teams across the Sullivan Brothers affiliates.
- Establish and enforce clear reporting expectations, timelines, and data quality standards
- Partner with corporate accounting on G/L structure, reconciliations, and reporting consistency
Systems, Data & Process- Support the use and evolution of accounting and reporting systems
- Participate in defining repeatable, well-documented work processes for commercial accounting activities
- Contribute to continuous improvement of data flows, controls, and reporting tools
- Prepare Journal Entries and Accounting Reports in MS Business Central
Expectations: Knowledge & Judgment- Demonstrated working knowledge of:
- Accrual accounting
- Mark-to-market accounting
- Hedge accounting
- Ability to apply accounting knowledge pragmatically in support of commercial decision-making
- Strong judgment in identifying issues, trade-offs, and risks that affect financial results
Performance & Ownership- Deliver accurate, explainable financial results with minimal rework
- Take ownership of commercial accounting outcomes, not just transactional processing
- Proactively identify gaps or inconsistencies between operational activity and financial results
Communication & Credibility- Clearly explain financial results and drivers to non-accounting stakeholders
- Build credibility with traders and leadership as a reliable, value-adding partner
- Operate with high standards of control, documentation, and professionalism
Experience Requirements- 5-8 years of accounting or finance experience
- Experience in one or more of the following environments strongly preferred:
- Energy, commodities trading, refining, or supply & logistics
- Prior exposure to:
- Commercial P&L reporting
- Trade or inventory accounting
- Strong communication skills for effective interaction with commercial desks or risk functions
- Experience with ETRM systems and commercial data environments is a plus
- Experience with Microsoft Business Central is an important plus
- Experience working in a growing start up environment strongly preferred
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to prioritize and meet deadlines
- Ability to work without direct supervision, and efficiently manage tasks and time
Education- Bachelor's degree in accounting (required)
- CPA or CMA preferred
What Success Looks Like- Leadership trusts that reported financial results reflect commercial reality
- Traders and schedulers have clarity on how actions flow through financial outcomes
- Accounting is viewed as a partner in execution and performance, not a downstream control function
