Director of Accounting/ Controller

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