Controller, Accounting, Financial Controller

Job Description

We're looking for a hands-on Controller to own the accounting backbone of our client, a rapidly growing, vertically integrated apparel business. This is not a typical retail Controller role. Our client owns and operates a manufacturing facility in South America, sells across three distinct channels, and is actively transitioning day-to-day financial operations from an outsourced accounting services firm into an in-house function.

You'll report to the President, partner closely with their Finance Committee, manage the outsourced components of finance, and be a fully dedicated in-house finance leader building institutional knowledge that currently lives outside the company.

We're looking for a hands-on Controller to own the accounting backbone of our client, a rapidly growing, vertically integrated apparel business. This is not a typical retail Controller role. Our client owns and operates a manufacturing facility in South America, sells across three distinct channels, and is actively transitioning day-to-day financial operations from an outsourced accounting services firm into an in-house function.

You'll report to the President, partner closely with their Finance Committee, manage the outsourced components of finance, and be a fully dedicated in-house finance leader building institutional knowledge that currently lives outside the company.

This role requires genuine apparel and manufacturing accounting experience and preferably fluent Spanish — their South American facility team communicates primarily in Spanish, and this role will work directly with them on a regular, ongoing basis.

Financial Close, Reporting, Budgeting & Cash Flow

• Own the monthly close process — journal entries, account reconciliations, variance analysis — and deliver accurate financial statements on a consistent timeline.
• Work with the outsourced accounting services firm to understand the data download from the current ERP system used to prepare the monthly excel based financial reporting package, and evaluate alternatives
• Lead the annual budget and monthly forecast processes, consolidating projections across wholesale, e-commerce, and private label, and communicating results to the Fractional CFO, President, and Finance Committee.
• Prepare detailed cash flow forecasting to fund a business with seasonal inventory buys and sales and an owned manufacturing facility.

• Responsible for cost accounting and inventory valuation for a company that manufactures its own product — standard costing, landed cost, duty/import classification, and COGS by channel.
• Serve as the financial point of contact for the South American operations team, consolidating their entity financials into the client's US reporting.
• Partner directly — in Spanish — with the South American team on production planning, budgeting and expense tracking, cash flow requirements, and impact of foreign currency fluctuations on operations
• Bring rigor to import/export compliance, duty codes, and customs-related cost accounting across the US–South-American supply chain.

• Evaluate the client's legacy financial systems, currently split across multiple platforms with manual handoffs, and determine best next steps in evolution
• Partner with FP&A on commission calculations across wholesale, e-commerce, and private label commission structures.
• Evaluate accounting functions performed by outsourced resources and determine what functions if any should be moved in-house (A/P cash disbursement, payroll and commission calculations, general ledger, accounts receivable collections) to enable the most cost efficient structure
• Build the financial controls, policies, and documentation…