Director of Accounting / Controller

Job Description

Job Description

Director of Accounting / Controller

About Ideal Living

At Ideal Living, we believe everyone has a right to pure water, clean air, and a solid foundation for wellness. As the parent company of leading wellness brands AirDoctor and AquaTru, we help bring this mission to life daily through our award-winning, innovative, science-backed products.

For over 25 years, Los Angeles-based Ideal Living has created wellness brands and effective products trusted by millions that positively impact people's health and well-being. Today, as a privately held, fast-growing company with a passionate and diverse team of over 100 people, we strive to make our wellness-tech solutions accessible to everyone through a collaborative, respectful, supportive workplace.

We foster a friendly, down-to-earth culture where every team member's contributions are recognized and valued. We approach our work with drive, purpose, and passion while celebrating creativity, innovation, and teamwork.

Key Responsibilities:

Month-End Close and Financial Reporting

The Controller oversees the close through the Senior Accounting Manager, who manages the day-to-day close work. The Controller sets the standards, reviews the output and owns the final numbers.

•    Lead and develop the Senior Accounting Manager and close team; set the close calendar, deadlines and quality standards.

•    Review and approve close deliverables: journal entries, accruals, reserves, allocations and flux analysis.

•    Hold final sign-off on consolidated and brand-level financial statements under US GAAP.

•    Drive the close to 5–7 business days through process improvement and automation.

•    Own technical accounting judgments: revenue recognition (ASC 606 and ASC 842), inventory reserves, intercompany and consolidation, including foreign entities and currency translation.

•    Present the monthly reporting package and variance explanations to leadership.

Reconciliations and Balance Sheet Integrity

The Senior Accounting Manager owns preparation of reconciliations; the Controller owns the standard, the review and the escalation.

•    Hold the team accountable for complete, timely reconciliation of every balance sheet account: cash, processor clearing, receivables, inventory, fixed assets, accruals, payables, intercompany and deferred revenue.

•    Set reconciliation policy: review cadence, materiality thresholds, documentation and sign-off.

•    Personally review high-risk reconciliations each month, including sales channel to GL to cash, inventory (ERP vs 3PL vs counts) and intercompany.

•    Track aged reconciling items through a status dashboard; escalate and drive root-cause fixes rather than recurring manual adjustments.

•    Sponsor automation of high-volume reconciliations.

Vendor Management, Part 1: Financial Controls and Compliance Audit

•    Lead periodic vendor audits: invoice accuracy against contracts and purchase orders, pricing and rebate compliance, duplicate payments and overbilling.

•    Own the vendor master file: onboarding, W-9 and banking verification, change controls and periodic clean-up.

•    Oversee accounts payable controls, including three-way match, approval workflows and payment-run review.

•    Partner with Operations and Procurement on contract terms, payment terms and cost-saving opportunities.

•    Work with the payments and fraud function to prevent vendor fraud, including bank-change verification and segregation of duties.

•    Manage 1099 reporting and vendor tax compliance.

Vendor Management, Part 2: Vendor Performance Audit and Analytics

Beyond paying vendors correctly, the Controller assesses whether vendors deliver value. This analytical audit compares each key vendor's deliverables against contracted scope and agreed KPIs.

•    Define KPIs and service levels with budget owners for each key vendor, tied to contract and statement-of-work terms.

•    Audit deliverables against scope: what was contracted, what was delivered, whether it was on time and at the agreed cost.

•    Build and maintain vendor scorecards and dashboards that show spend, performance and business impact by functional area.

•    Quantify vendor ROI and flag spend with no measurable outcome.

•    Run quarterly vendor business reviews with budget owners and recommend whether to renew, renegotiate, consolidate or exit.

•    Feed vendor performance into annual budgeting and contract renewal decisions.

•    Partner with Marketing, Creative, Operations and Supply Chain to source performance data from ad platforms, attribution tools, 3PL reports and supplier records.

Analytics and Business Insight

•    Build and maintain reporting and dashboards on margin, contribution, unit economics, cost of goods sold and operating expenses by brand and channel.

•    Analyze landed cost, freight, duties, returns and warranty costs, and identify the drivers behind margin movement.

•    Support FP&A with actuals, budget-versus-actual analysis and forecast inputs.

•    Provide ad hoc analysis for leadership on new products, new channels, pricing, retail expansion and international growth.

•    Translate accounting results into clear, concise insights for non-finance leaders.

Audit, Tax and Compliance

•    Serve as primary contact for the annual external audit or review; prepare schedules and the PBC list and manage the timeline.

•    Coordinate with outside tax advisors on income tax provision, sales and use tax, property tax and international tax filings.

•    Monitor multi-state sales tax nexus and marketplace facilitator rules, and ensure accurate filing.

•    Support compliance for foreign entities, including statutory reporting, payroll tax and transfer pricing with local advisors.

•    Stay current on accounting standards and assess their impact on the business.

Internal Controls and Policy

•    Design, document and maintain internal controls over financial reporting, scaled to a growing company.

•    Maintain accounting policies and procedures, including capitalization, revenue recognition, inventory reserves and expense policies.

•    Oversee controls for corporate cards, expense reimbursement and approval limits.

•    Ensure proper segregation of duties and system access controls.

Leadership and Team Development

•    Lead, coach and develop the accounting team; set clear goals, review work and build bench strength.

•    Build a culture of accuracy, accountability, documentation and continuous improvement.

•    Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, E-commerce, Legal and HR.

•    Support special projects, including new entities, new channels, new product launches and acquisitions.

Required Qualifications

•    CPA license is desired but not required

•    Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related field.

•    3+ years in a Director of Accounting or Controller role, with full ownership of the close and financial statements.

•    8+ years of progressive accounting experience overall; public accounting background preferred.

•    Strong command of US GAAP, including revenue recognition (ASC 606), leases (ASC 842) and inventory accounting.

•    Proven experience leading external audits and working with outside tax advisors.

•    Track record of building and enforcing internal controls and documented processes.

•    Hands-on experience with vendor audits, AP controls and vendor master governance, plus analytical reviews of vendor performance against KPIs.

•    Highly tech-savvy: advanced Excel (pivot tables, lookups, Power Query), comfort with ERP systems, extensive AI utilization, and a habit of automating manual work.

•    Experience managing and developing an accounting team.

Preferred Qualifications

•    Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

•    Background in consumer products, e-commerce or direct-to-consumer companies with multiple sales channels.

•    Experience with Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, payment processors and third-party logistics data.

•    Multi-entity and international accounting, including foreign currency, intercompany and Mexico or Latin America operations.

•    Experience with subscription, rental or lease revenue models.

•    Familiarity with BI and planning tools such as Power BI or Vena, and with AP automation and expense platforms.

•    Experience in a high-growth or private equity–backed environment.

Work Environment

This is primarily an office-based role with standard computer work and extended periods at a desk. Additional hours may be needed during close, audit and budget cycles.

What We Offer

●      Competitive Compensation

●      Full benefits including PTO and 401(k)

●      A collaborative and inclusive work environment

●      Hybrid work environment - 3 days in office, 2 days remote

●      Free EV Charging

●      On-site gym and Pilates studio

About Us:

At Ideal Living, we believe everyone has a right to pure water, clean air, and a solid foundation for wellness. As the parent company of leading wellness brands AirDoctor and AquaTru, we help bring this mission to life daily through our award-winning, innovative, science-backed products.

For over 25 years, Los Angeles-based Ideal Living has created wellness brands and effective products trusted by millions that positively impact people's health and well-being. Today, as a privately held, fast-growing company with a passionate and diverse team of over 100 people, we strive to make our wellness-tech solutions accessible to everyone through a collaborative, respectful, supportive workplace.

We foster a friendly, down-to-earth culture where every team member's contributions are recognized and valued. We approach our work with drive, purpose, and passion while celebrating creativity, innovation, and teamwork.

Company Description

About Us:\n\nAt Ideal Living, we believe everyone has a right to pure water, clean air, and a solid foundation for wellness. As the parent company of leading wellness brands AirDoctor and AquaTru, we help bring this mission to life daily through our award-winning, innovative, science-backed products.\n\nFor over 25 years, Los Angeles-based Ideal Living has created wellness brands and effective products trusted by millions that positively impact people's health and well-being. Today, as a privately held, fast-growing company with a passionate and diverse team of over 100 people, we strive to make our wellness-tech solutions accessible to everyone through a collaborative, respectful, supportive workplace.\n\nWe foster a friendly, down-to-earth culture where every team member's contributions are recognized and valued. We approach our work with drive, purpose, and passion while celebrating creativity, innovation, and teamwork.