Senior Accounting Manager (20-Month Contract)

Lush Handmade Cosmetics•Toronto, ON

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Lush is a global enterprise with over 900 retail shops in 52 countries, specializing in creative and indulgent cosmetics and bath products made with fresh, organic ingredients. The company is committed to fair-trade sourcing, supporting sustainable communities, and donating 75% of Lush Giving Products to grassroots organizations. As Lush Handmade Cosmetics expands and invests in integrated systems, it is adopting a shared service accounting approach. This role is crucial in evolving and improving this structure while ensuring timely, accurate, and relevant reporting. The position involves managing a team, understanding current processes, and leading the development of improvements. The Senior Accounting Manager will lead a team including two Accounting Managers and one AP Manager, with multiple indirect reports. Lush seeks adaptable individuals who can analyze metrics, translate strategy into actionable behaviors, and drive sales and profit improvement. The company culture emphasizes employees living with purpose and connecting their work and life paths.

Requirements

Chartered Professional Accountant or equivalent with 7+ years progressive accounting experience post-designation
Proven experience in high growth multi-national ecommerce and multi-location in the retail or manufacturing industry.
Proven ability to ensure efficient and accurate day to day accounting tasks are completed while maintaining a view and leading the progress towards the longer-term needs of the business.
Proven success in training, development of others, and leading and building strong, stable, high-performing teams.
Accustomed to, and ability to deliver results within a highly seasonal, high pressure production environment.
Self-motivated and results oriented
Strong knowledge of or ability to learn and understand business system processes at a detailed level.
Broad knowledge of information system development processes with a focus on financial, distribution and manufacturing.
Able to travel domestically and internationally
Thriving with a diverse company culture, celebrating the uniqueness of our staff and committed to inclusion.
Must be located in or around Toronto, Ontario.

Responsibilities

Responsible for the preparation and review of accurate financial reporting for North America (Canada, USA) as it relates to manufacturing and retail operations.
Own month-end/ year-end close governance and execution, including close calendar ownership, deliverable tracking, and on-time completion.
Lead the monthly review process, including balance sheet review, income statement analysis, and ensuring reconciling items are understood, resolved, and appropriately escalated.
Partner cross-functionally with FP&A, Payroll, Tax, and AP leadership to ensure complete and accurate close inputs and outputs.
Support planning activities by providing high-quality actuals and close insights that feed budgeting and forecasting (e.g., trend analysis, key drivers, and variance explanations).
Facilitate the year-end audit end-to-end for the North America scope: develop the audit timeline, coordinate internal readiness, and serve as the primary point of coordination for auditor requests.
Lead audit coordination and governance: partner with external auditors to align timelines, manage deliverables across stakeholders, remove blockers, and escalate risks early to ensure audit deadlines are met.
Connect auditors to the right process owners, coordinate walkthroughs and inquiries, and ensure follow-ups are tracked through to completion.
Lead the identification, escalation, and resolution of complex accounting and reporting matters, including performing technical accounting research, documenting conclusions, and aligning stakeholders on the path forward.
Own technical accounting memo ownership where needed to support audit, external reporting, and internal decision-making.
Provide support to the tax team as it pertains to statutory requests and tax audit support (IRS/CRA and sales tax audits, corporate tax support as needed).
Support reporting needs to stream owners and UK head office as applicable.
Maintain strong working relationships across the business to promote alignment and efficient issue resolution.
Gain a thorough understanding of stakeholder expectations and leverage accounting resources and knowledge to meet those expectations.
Develop, analyze, and interpret statistical and accounting information to support reliable decision-making.
Provide support to the tax team as it pertains to IRS/CRA & sales tax audits, transfer pricing, corporate taxes and any other ad hoc statutory requests.
Assist with reporting to stream owners and head office in UK where applicable.
Review current accounting processes and identify areas for improvement, standardization, automation, and risk reduction.
Develop, implement, and maintain procedures, controls, and documentation to create time savings and improve consistency across business units.
Set clear expectations and measurable performance standards for the team (close quality, timeliness, reconciliation rigor, audit readiness, and control adherence).
Coach and develop managers on delegation, review standards, and running an effective operating cadence (weekly priorities, close kickoffs, post-close retrospectives, and structured escalation).
Build bench strength through cross-training and documented back-ups for critical close, cash forecasting, hedging, and audit coordination tasks.
Drive role clarity and capability development across the team through recurring 1:1s, targeted feedback, and training plans that improve technical depth and execution over time.
Ensure the AP function is appropriately governed through the AP Manager (day-to-day ownership sits with the AP Manager; this role focuses on close linkage, controls, and cash forecasting inputs).