Controller

AZALEA WANG Controller (Wholesale Footwear & Fashion)

Azalea Wang is a dynamic wholesale footwear and fashion brand with distribution through major national retail accounts including Urban Outfitters and Von Maur. We operate at the intersection of creative brand-building and disciplined wholesale operations requiring finance leadership that can move between strategic oversight and hands-on execution.

Our finance team is a small high-ownership group embedded in the business. We dont have layers of process handed down from a large corporate parent we build what we need own what we build and move fast. The person in this role will be expected to bring the same energy.

The Position: Controller (Wholesale Footwear & Fashion)

Location: Chicago IL - Onsite
Department: Finance & Accounting
Reports To: Controller / Senior Leadership

Position Summary:

Azalea Wang is seeking an experienced Controller to lead the accounting function and serve as the primary finance leader for the business. This is a full-ownership role: you will be responsible for the complete accounting cycle from daily transactional operations through month-end close financial reporting and audit readiness.

The right candidate has deep experience in fast-fashion wholesale apparel or footwear or a similarly high-velocity inventory-driven environment. You have led a close built processes from scratch managed a team and understand the full scope of what it means to be the top accounting resource in a fast-moving wholesale business.


Month-End Close & Financial Reporting

• Own and execute the full monthly quarterly and annual close cycle end-to-end

• Prepare and review financial statements supporting schedules and variance analysis

• Ensure timely and accurate revenue recognition inventory accounting and expense accruals

• Maintain general ledger integrity and manage the chart of accounts

• Deliver clean audit-ready financials to leadership on a consistent close calendar

• Support budgeting forecasting and cash flow planning

Wholesale AR & Retailer Reconciliation

• Manage accounts receivable for wholesale retail accounts including department stores and specialty retailers

• Reconcile retailer remittances against open invoices identify dispute and resolve deductions and short payments

• Maintain deduction aging reports and track recovery on disputed retailer deductions

• Partner with sales and operations on retailer compliance requirements and EDI-related billing issues

• Develop and document AR processes to reduce deduction exposure and improve cash application accuracy

Accounts Payable & Vendor Management

• Oversee AP operations including high-volume invoice processing vendor reconciliation and payment management across a large domestic and international vendor base

• Manage payment runs vendor statement reconciliations and dispute resolution

• Work directly with international and domestic vendors on payment timing invoice discrepancies and account cleanup

• Ensure accurate three-way matching and proper cut-off for accruals

Inventory & Cost Accounting

• Ensure accurate inventory accounting across wholesale channels and product categories

• Manage inventory reconciliations reserves and shrink/write-off analysis

• Oversee COGS accounting and gross margin reporting by channel and category

• Partner with merchandising and operations on inventory controls costing and landed cost accuracy

• Support seasonal inventory roll-forwards and physical count reconciliation

Systems Controls & Process Improvement

• Serve as the accounting owner of the ERP system (NetSuite preferred) including saved searches reporting and workflow optimization

• Lead or support system implementations upgrades or integrations as needed

• Build and maintain strong internal controls and process documentation

• Identify and drive process improvements that increase accuracy efficiency and scalability

• Partner with IT/admin on system configuration data integrity and automation opportunities

Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Manage review and develop accounting team members

• Collaborate with operations sales merchandising and logistics on financial reporting and planning

• Serve as a key finance partner to leadership on ad hoc analysis business decisions and strategic initiatives

• Support annual audit preparation and act as primary contact for external auditors
  

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Accounting or Finance; CPA preferred but not required

• 7 years of progressive accounting experience in wholesale apparel footwear fast fashion or retail

• Demonstrated ownership of the full month-end close cycle

• Hands-on experience with wholesale AR retailer deductions remittance reconciliation and high-volume vendor management

• Strong understanding of inventory accounting COGS and cost of goods in a wholesale environment

• NetSuite experience strongly preferred; proficiency in other ERP systems considered

• Advanced Excel skills comfortable building and maintaining complex reconciliation workbooks

• Experience managing direct reports and building team capacity

• Proven ability to build improve and document accounting processes in a fast-moving environment

• Strong communicator with the ability to work cross-functionally and present to senior leaderships
  

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Has worked in a high-SKU high-velocity environment where speed and accuracy both matter

• Understands wholesale AR from the inside how retailer deductions get disputed and recovered and how to manage high-volume vendor relationships with accuracy and accountability

• Has owned a close cycle not just contributed to one and has a track record of hitting the calendar

• Has been through a system implementation and can speak to what went wrong and how they managed through it

• Self-directed high standards and comfortable operating without a detailed playbook

• Brings strong process instincts identifies gaps and fixes them without being asked

• International vendor experience (AP reconciliation payment coordination) is a plus
  

We are committed to fair and transparent compensation practices. Compensation for this position (Pay Range $130000 - $160000) will be determined based on experience qualifications and other job-related factors. Additional compensation and benefits may also apply and will be discussed during the hiring process.

Job Type: Full-Time