Accounting Contractor - Inventory

A fast-growing retail technology company is seeking a hands-on Accounting Contractor with deep inventory accounting experience to support a critical inventory project. This person will lead the physical inventory count process, match inventory to historical purchase invoices, establish cost support, design SKU/master data structure, and build a perpetual inventory sub-ledger from scratch. This is a high-impact project for an independent inventory accounting professional who can operate with minimal supervision, partner closely with Finance and Operations, and deliver audit-ready documentation, training materials, and a clean handoff plan. The contractor will report directly to the CFO and work closely with warehouse and finance teams.

• Company: Confidential
• Location: In-office preferred; open to hybrid
• Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours per week
• Duration: 2-3 months
• Compensation: $60Hr - $100Hr

• Plan and execute a wall-to-wall physical inventory count across warehouse locations in partnership with the warehouse team.
• Establish a counting methodology for an environment without existing SKUs, including item identification, photography, attribute capture, and unique tagging.
• Be available for on-site warehouse presence during count execution as needed.
• Document count procedures, locations, exceptions, and discrepancies in a standardized, audit-ready format.
• Investigate and reconcile inventory count variances.
• Recommend disposition for damaged, obsolete, or unidentifiable inventory.
• Match counted items to purchase invoices to establish original cost.
• Build a centralized cost file linking items to source invoices, vendors, purchase dates, purchase prices, and landed-cost components such as freight, duty, and brokerage.
• Investigate items with missing or unclear invoice support and escalate gaps to Finance and Operations.
• Design and implement a SKU taxonomy aligned with how the company transacts inventory, including brand, category, item attributes, and condition.
• Assign SKUs and populate item master data, including descriptions, unit of measure, location, and cost.
• Partner with warehouse teams to label and tag inventory to support future cycle counts and ongoing operations.

• Build a perpetual inventory sub-ledger from scratch, capturing item, location, quantity, cost, and value for inventory on hand.
• Establish opening balances and tie out inventory detail to the general ledger.
• Document assumptions, sources, and supporting evidence.
• Define and document inventory transaction types, including receipts, sales, transfers, adjustments, and write-offs.
• Evaluate inventory and assign defensible fair value using historical sales trends, market research, comparable transactions, and condition assessment.
• Apply lower-of-cost-or-NRV principles and quantify required write-downs for slow-moving, obsolete, or damaged inventory.
• Document valuation methodology in a technical accounting memo suitable for audit review.
• Maintain the inventory sub-ledger and reconcile it to the general ledger on a recurring basis.
• Prepare and review COGS journal entries.
• Reconcile data flows between internal platforms, order management systems, warehouse management systems, and ERP systems as applicable.
• Lead variance analysis related to count-to-system, cost-to-invoice, and value-to-ledger differences.
• Partner with Operations to identify root causes and improve inventory controls.
• Establish reserves for excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and damaged inventory, including periodic NRV review.
• Create written documentation covering the end-to-end inventory ledger build, valuation methodology, and reconciliation procedures.
• Produce training materials and lead knowledge-transfer sessions for Finance and Operations.
• Establish a go-forward cycle count program and inventory controls framework prior to handoff.

• Hands-on accounting experience with strong inventory accounting expertise.
• Experience building or improving a perpetual inventory sub-ledger.
• Strong cost capture and invoice matching experience.
• Experience with landed-cost components, including freight, duty, and brokerage.
• SKU taxonomy and item master data design experience.
• Strong understanding of inventory valuation, lower-of-cost-or-NRV, reserves, and write-downs.
• Ability to produce audit-ready documentation.
• Comfortable working on-site in warehouse environments during count execution.
• Ability to work independently and deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines.
• Strong documentation, training, and handoff capabilities.
• Experience partnering with Finance, Operations, and warehouse teams.