Controller

Company Description Digital Products International (DPI) is a privately held consumer products company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. For more than 50 years, we've designed, sourced, and distributed innovative consumer electronics sold through many of the country's leading retailers and eCommerce channels. Our diverse portfolio of brands—including GPX, iLive, WeatherX, and Sky Rider—spans home entertainment, audio, wireless charging, projectors, personal electronics, and connected lifestyle products. Backed by a collaborative leadership team and a culture of continuous improvement, DPI offers employees the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in a dynamic, growing business. Role Description The Controller is responsible for leading the Company’s accounting operations, financial close, reporting, internal controls, inventory and cost accounting, cash management support, lender reporting, compliance, and accounting process documentation. This role owns the integrity of the general ledger, balance sheet, and related financial reporting processes, and ensures that recurring accounting activities are accurate, controlled, documented, and repeatable. The Controller will partner closely with the CFO and business leaders to provide timely financial information, operational insight, and decision support across a broad range of strategic and day-to-day business matters. This position is expected to be hands‑on, detail‑oriented, process‑driven, and capable of leading the accounting team while improving the scalability, discipline, and reliability of the finance function. Key Responsibilities Accounting Operations, Close & General Ledger Lead monthly, quarterly, and year‑end accounting close activities, including the close calendar, journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations, review procedures, and financial statement preparation. Own the integrity of the general ledger and balance sheet, including timely preparation, review, and resolution of reconciling items. Review monthly financial statements, including balance sheet, income statement, cash flow support, and supporting schedules, to ensure accuracy and completeness. Ensure all significant accounting estimates, accruals, reserves, and judgment‑based entries are properly supported and documented. Maintain recurring journal entry schedules, reconciliation templates, close checklists, and supporting workpapers. Prepare and review monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reporting packages, including budget vs. actual analysis, prior year comparisons, EBITDA support, gross margin analysis, working capital analysis, and other management reporting schedules. Provide commentary and interpretation of financial results to support business insights and decision‑making. Support the CFO with board reporting, lender reporting, MD&A support, forecasts, budgets, and other executive‑level financial analysis. Provide relevant data, analysis, and fact‑based recommendations to help improve profitability, working capital, cash flow, and operational performance. Oversee inventory accounting, including inventory reconciliations, inventory reserves, slow‑moving and excess inventory analysis, in‑transit inventory, inventory adjustments, and physical inventory/cycle count support. Ensure accurate accounting for product costs, landed costs, freight, duties, tariffs, and related inventory cost components. Support gross margin reporting and analysis by customer, product, channel, and sales owner. Partner with operations, purchasing, warehouse, and sales teams to identify and resolve inventory, costing, margin, and customer‑specific inventory issues. Ensure inventory‑related estimates and reserves are consistently calculated, reviewed, and documented. Support cash management through bank reconciliations, cash flow forecasting, bank activity review, payment planning, and debt draw/paydown support. Assist with borrowing base, covenant compliance, and other lender reporting requirements. Maintain support for AR and inventory eligibility, ineligible calculations, customer concentration limits, debt schedules, and availability reporting. Support bank field exams, appraisals, and lender information requests. Ensure debt, interest, bank fees, and related accounting entries are properly recorded and supported. Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable & Payroll Accounting Oversee accounting processes related to accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, employee benefits, commissions, bonuses, customer deductions, vendor payments, and related accruals. Ensure timely and accurate recording of customer receipts, vendor invoices, payment activity, payroll entries, and accruals. Review AR aging, AP aging, customer deductions, vendor issues, and related reserve or accrual requirements. Maintain appropriate controls over vendor setup, customer setup, credit memos, payment approvals, payroll entries, and master data changes. Internal Controls, Policies & Process Documentation Develop, implement, maintain, and regularly review accounting policies, internal controls, SOPs, process narratives, close procedures, reconciliation instructions, and reporting guides. Ensure accounting processes are documented with clear ownership, deadlines, source reports, file locations, review procedures, and examples of completed workpapers. Identify process improvement opportunities and implement practical solutions to improve accuracy, efficiency, controls, and continuity. Maintain strong controls over journal entries, reconciliations, cash disbursements, bank activity, vendor/customer master data, inventory adjustments, payroll, and system access. Ensure accounting and finance best practices are consistently applied across the organization. Audit, Tax & Compliance Lead interactions with external auditors and ensure timely, accurate responses to audit requests. Support annual audit, tax, bank field exam, insurance, payroll, sales tax, 1099, property tax, and other compliance‑related processes. Maintain a recurring compliance calendar for key finance, accounting, tax, lender, insurance, and payroll deadlines. Serve as a key contact for external auditors, tax advisors, payroll providers, and other finance‑related external partners. Ensure company accounting policies are consistently applied, particularly in areas requiring judgment and estimation. Systems, Reporting Tools & Data Integrity Maintain knowledge of key accounting, ERP, banking, payroll, reporting, and operational systems. Ensure key reports, system processes, and data sources used in accounting and reporting are documented and understood. Support data integrity across accounting, inventory, AR, AP, payroll, reporting, and related systems. Identify opportunities to improve reporting tools, system usage, automation, and consistency of financial data. Team Leadership & Cross‑Functional Support Manage, train, and develop a team of accounting professionals, including workload planning, process ownership, cross‑training, and performance management. Promote accountability, accuracy, timeliness, and continuous improvement within the accounting team. Interact with all departments, including operations, warehouse, purchasing, sales, HR/payroll, IT, and executive leadership, to resolve accounting and finance‑related issues. Ensure accounting knowledge is not dependent on one individual by maintaining documentation, cross‑training, and clear process ownership. Experience & Skills Strong business acumen, judgment, and understanding of how accounting impacts operations, cash flow, profitability, and decision‑making. Strong technical accounting, financial reporting, business analysis, and financial planning skills. Experience in an inventory‑intensive, distribution, wholesale, consumer products, manufacturing‑adjacent, import, or product‑based business strongly preferred. Experience with inventory accounting, costing, landed cost, freight, duties, tariffs, reserves, and gross margin analysis preferred. Experience with lender reporting, borrowing base reporting, covenant compliance, or asset‑based lending preferred. Ability to develop, document, manage, and improve accounting processes that are accurate, efficient, controlled, and scalable. Strong balance sheet discipline and ability to identify, research, and resolve accounting issues. Excellent interpersonal, written, verbal, and presentation skills. Demonstrated ability to work effectively across departments and gain commitment from non‑finance stakeholders. Strong organizational skills and ability to prioritize workload in a hands‑on, deadline‑driven environment. Ability to work with professional discretion and confidential information. Experience with multiple currencies and related business/accounting impacts preferred. Education and Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Accounting required. CPA preferred. More than 5 years of progressive accounting, controllership, or business finance experience with demonstrated success and increasing responsibility. Strong knowledge of US GAAP, accounting regulations, internal controls, and company accounting policies and practices. Experience with Apprise or similar ERP system preferred. Advanced Microsoft Excel skills required. Strong Microsoft Word and PowerPoint skills required. Knowledge of Sarbanes‑Oxley concepts and internal control best practices preferred. Note This job description is not all‑inclusive. Additional duties may be performed as assigned. It acts as a guideline and is subject to change over time. #J-18808-Ljbffr