Cost Accountant

Job Description

Job Description

We are looking for a detail-oriented Cost Accountant to join a manufacturing organization in Oxnard, California. This role is responsible for delivering accurate product cost insights, strengthening cost controls, and supporting informed business decisions through thorough financial analysis. The ideal candidate will work closely with operations, purchasing, inventory, and production teams to evaluate cost drivers, investigate variances, and improve the accuracy of cost data across the business.

Responsibilities:
• Evaluate material, labor, and production-related expenses to measure operating performance and identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency.
• Monitor the financial impact of design updates, supplier pricing shifts, process changes, and service modifications on overall manufacturing costs.
• Create, refine, and maintain documented costing procedures to support consistent and reliable accounting practices.
• Prepare recurring analyses that compare standard costs with actual results, highlighting key variances and trends for management review.
• Maintain cost records and reporting used to support spending control, budgeting, and operational planning.
• Review production cost data, investigate irregular entries, and confirm that inventory and manufacturing transactions are properly reflected in financial records.
• Generate cost estimates for new or revised products and provide profitability analysis to support planning and decision-making.
• Oversee month-end reporting and follow-up for inventory adjustments, purchase price variance, standard cost updates, aging production orders, and other manufacturing-related general ledger activity.
• Partner with production, engineering, planning, purchasing, and inventory teams to resolve structural costing issues, improve master data accuracy, and support monthly cost accounting close activities, audits, and variance reviews.

• Proven experience in cost accounting within a manufacturing environment.

• Strong knowledge of standard costing, cost analysis, and manufacturing cost accounting principles.

• Ability to analyze variances, identify cost drivers, and translate findings into clear financial recommendations.

• Experience preparing month-end reports, reviewing general ledger activity, and supporting budget or operational planning processes.

• Proficiency with SAP or comparable ERP systems used for manufacturing and inventory accounting.

• Degree in Accounting

• Effective communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally with finance, operations, engineering, purchasing, and warehouse teams.