About Francaise Foods and the Role

Francaise Foods, established in 1985, is a leading importer and distributor of premium fresh fruit and vegetables in Saudi Arabia. We supply major retail chains and hotel groups across the country, with operations in Jeddah and Makkah. We are seeking a dedicated Warehouse / Inventory Accountant Fresh Produce to join our team on a full-time basis. This role is critical in a fast-paced environment where inventory turns every two to four days, demanding precision and immediate action.

Role Purpose and Impact

This is an operational accounting position, situated directly between the warehouse floor and the financial ledger. The successful candidate will be solely responsible for the accuracy of our stock, encompassing both quantity and value, from the point of pallet unloading through to its appearance in the financial statements. In a business managing over 260 SKUs across five stock locations, with full lot traceability and a short shelf life, even minor costing errors can lead to significant financial discrepancies within a week. This role is designed for an individual who can proactively identify and prevent such errors.

Key Responsibilities

• Reconcile physical stock to system balances daily across all warehouse and van locations, investigating every variance to its root cause.
• Execute the three-way match process between purchase orders, goods receipt notes, and supplier invoices, with specific attention to foreign currency conversion and unit of measure discrepancies.
• Ensure product cost accuracy by setting and maintaining standard costs based on the most recent actual purchase invoices, and controlling access for cost modifications.
• Allocate landed costs, including air freight, customs duty, clearance fees, import permits, loading, and handling, to shipments and down to SKU level to ensure accurate product margin reflection.
• Plan and lead cycle counts and full physical counts, implementing blind count sheets, two-person teams, mandatory recounts for significant variances, and signed, timed documentation.
• Accurately account for spoilage, damage, and repacking losses, distinguishing them from count variances, and publish a weekly waste report by product and branch.
• Monitor lot ageing, enforce FIFO discipline, track expiry exposure, and flag slow-moving stock to procurement before it requires write-off.
• Clear negative stock lines, open transfers, and unvalidated deliveries, and enforce month-end cut-off procedures across all locations.
• Reconcile the inventory control account in the general ledger to the stock valuation report monthly, and prepare the stock closing entry.
• Document supplier quality claims with the receiving team and independent surveyors, and track claim recovery.
• Support month-end close activities with cost of goods sold analysis, gross margin reporting by product, and shrinkage analysis.
• Develop and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for receiving, scrapping, and stock adjustment, and train warehouse staff on their implementation.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Required:
  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
  • 3 to 5 years of experience in inventory, cost, or warehouse accounting.
  • Demonstrated comfort working within a cold store environment and on the receiving dock, including early mornings for shipment arrivals.
  • Advanced Excel proficiency (pivot tables, lookups, large reconciliations).
  • Working knowledge of Saudi VAT and ZATCA e-invoicing requirements.
  • Professional fluency in both Arabic and English, written and spoken.
• Strongly Preferred:
  • Experience in food, fresh produce, dairy, meat, or chilled FMCG distribution, where shrinkage, weight loss, repacking, and short shelf life are common operational realities.
  • Hands-on experience with Odoo, particularly its Inventory and Accounting modules; strong experience with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar ERP systems is equally valued.
  • Familiarity with lot and batch traceability, barcode scanning, and warehouse mobile applications.
  • Exposure to landed cost allocation methodologies and import documentation processes.
  • SOCPA membership or active progress toward a professional accounting qualification.
  • Capability in SQL or Power BI / Looker Studio for independent report building.

Initial Performance Expectations (First 90 Days)

• The inventory control account will align with the stock valuation report, with any differences explained line by line.
• Achievement of zero negative stock balances across all locations.
• Every SKU within the top 25 by value will have a cost traceable to a specific supplier invoice.
• Production of a weekly waste and shrinkage report that management trusts and utilizes for decision-making.
• Implementation of a written and signed receiving and adjustment procedure that is consistently followed by warehouse staff.

About Francaise Foods

This role offers a unique opportunity to address a significant operational challenge within a 40-year-old company that has recently implemented a modern ERP system and is actively rebuilding its financial controls from the ground up. The Managing Director directly sponsors this initiative. If you are seeking a position where the quality of your reconciliation directly and visibly impacts the company's reported margin, this role provides that platform.