Automotive Accounting & Mapping Analyst
Jackson DawsonSummary
Jackson Dawson is seeking an Automotive Accounting & Mapping Analyst to translate dealership financial data into clear, accurate reporting within TrueTrack. In this customer-facing role, you will analyze each dealership’s General Ledger (GL), map its accounts to TrueTrack’s standardized Chart of Accounts (COA), and help Controllers and Dealer Principals understand how their financial information is organized and presented.
This role combines hands-on accounting analysis with customer education and consultative support. You will explain mapping decisions, reconcile TrueTrack reporting to dealership financial statements, and help leadership use the data to understand departmental performance and identify opportunities for improvement. Success requires sound accounting judgment, critical thinking, attention to detail, and the ability to communicate complex financial concepts in practical business terms.
Work Environment: Hybrid - 3 days on-site at Dearborn Office
Responsibilities
- Review GL accounts, trial balances, OEM financial statements, and account schedules to understand how each dealership records revenue, cost of sales, expenses, and balance sheet activity across New Vehicle, Used Vehicle, Finance & Insurance (F&I), Service, Parts, and Body Shop departments.
- Identify accounts shared across departments or dealership locations, interdepartmental activity, and store-specific allocations. Document combined accounts, misclassified expenses, inactive accounts, and other nonstandard practices that may affect reporting. Meet with Controllers or Office Managers to clarify account purpose before mapping.
- Map dealership accounts to the appropriate TrueTrack categories based on their accounting purpose and underlying financial activity, rather than account names alone. Maintain a dealership-specific record explaining material decisions and mappings that require judgment.
- Reconcile mapped results to dealership trial balances and OEM financial statements, investigate variances, and resolve missing or incomplete data. Follow data-integrity and security standards to protect dealership information.
- Update mappings as dealerships add, retire, or restructure accounts, and document changes that affect comparisons with prior periods.
- Guide Controllers and Dealer Principals through how their accounts flow into TrueTrack categories, departments, and key performance indicators (KPIs). Explain differences between TrueTrack’s standardized reporting and the dealership’s internal or OEM presentation, address questions, and obtain leadership approval of the mapping.
- Demonstrate how consistent mapping supports departmental profitability analysis, meaningful benchmarking, and trend reporting. Help dealership leaders use TrueTrack to monitor performance, identify underperforming departments, and track progress toward business goals.
- Close review meetings with prioritized, documented next steps, clear owners, and follow-up. Coordinate dealership accounting corrections and TrueTrack mapping adjustments, and quantify potential weekly time savings for accounting teams.
- Flag misposted entries, inconsistent cost allocations, unreconciled balances, and other issues affecting financial reporting. Explain findings to Controllers and recommend steps for correction and prevention.
- Deliver live and recorded training on TrueTrack reports, KPIs, and departmental performance. Present virtually and in person to groups of approximately 1–10 participants, and develop clear mapping guides, COA references, and KPI explanations.
- Share dealership feedback and recurring mapping challenges with product, design, and development teams. Help improve mapping automation, validation, and documentation, and maintain standards, playbooks, and DMS-specific reference materials as the program grows.
- Explain accounting issues in plain language to dealership liaison teams, provide accounting insight for sales discussions, and respond to helpdesk tickets and dealer questions.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance or equivalent work experience
- 2–4 years of experience in accounting or financial statement preparation and review. Automotive dealership accounting experience is strongly preferred, including experience in a dealership accounting office, on a Controller’s team, at a CPA firm serving dealerships, or in OEM or 20 Group financial analysis.
- Understanding of balance sheets, income statements, GL account relationships, and reconciliation practices. Knowledge of dealership financial statements, departmental profit and loss statements, and common account schedules.
- Familiarity with metrics such as departmental gross profit, fixed absorption, expense-to-gross ratios, inventory days’ supply, and F&I income per vehicle retailed. Ability to identify financial anomalies and performance outside expected benchmark ranges.
- Demonstrated experience presenting financial information to business owners or senior leaders. Ability to explain accounting decisions clearly, lead consultative discussions, and address questions with confidence and diplomacy.
- Proficiency in Excel, including lookups, pivot tables, and reconciliations; Power BI or similar business intelligence tools; Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams; and Zoom.
- Experience with a dealership management system (DMS) and its GL structure is preferred. Experience with multiple DMS platforms is not required.
- Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, and documentation skills, with the ability to manage follow-up and communicate practical solutions to dealership and internal teams.
- Ability to prepare concise, effective emails, mapping documentation, and customer-facing educational materials.
- Ability to travel up to 15% for in-person dealership meetings and to walk short distances and stand for short periods, with or without reasonable accommodation.