Cost Accountant

Job Summary

Responsible for job costing, financial analysis, and reporting in a CNC machining and gear cutting job shop environment. This role owns job-level cost tracking from quote to close analyzing actual vs. estimated costs on machined and gear-cut parts, maintaining machine and labor rates, and partnering with and shop floor leadership to protect margins on every job.

Key Responsibilities

Maintain job cost records for each work order, capturing material, direct labor, machine time, tooling, and outside processing (heat treat, plating, grinding, gear inspection)

Analyze actual vs. quoted/estimated costs at job close-out; report margin erosion and root causes (setup overruns, cycle time variances, scrap, rework)

Develop and maintain machine hour rates by work center (CNC lathes, mills, hobbing, shaping, gear grinding) including depreciation, tooling, and overhead

Support estimating/quoting with cost data on setup times, run times, material yield, and outside service costs; perform quote vs. actual analysis to improve future quoting accuracy

Track and analyze setup vs. run time by job and machine; identify low-margin part numbers and customers

Reconcile WIP by job and perform monthly WIP valuation, including percent-complete assessment on long-running jobs

Monitor scrap, rework, and first-pass yield by job, machine, and operator; quantify cost impact

Track perishable tooling costs (inserts, hobs, cutters, grinding wheels) and allocate to jobs/work centers

Cost and reconcile raw material (bar stock, forgings, castings)

Analyze capital requests for new machines (ROI, payback, capacity impact on machine rates)

Support month-end close: WIP-to-finished goods transfers, COGS, inventory reserves (slow-moving, obsolete), and job cost journal entries

Assist with physical inventory and cycle counts of raw material, WIP, tooling, and finished goods

Partner with operations and purchasing on cost reduction and pricing decisions

Provide backup & support to Division Controller on critical job functions (Banking, payroll, financial close, KPI & Scorecard reporting, special projects & initiatives as assigned)

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

25 years of cost accounting experience in a job shop, machine shop, or manufacturing environment

Working knowledge of job costing, machine hour rate development, and WIP accounting

Familiarity with routings, work orders, and shop floor data collection (labor/machine time reporting)

ERP experience with job shop systems (e.g., JobBOSS, E2/ProShop, Global Shop, Epicor, Infor, or similar)

Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, cost models)

Solid understanding of GAAP as applied to inventory and cost of sales

CPA, CMA, or progress toward certification a plus

Ability to walk the shop floor and communicate effectively with machinists and supervisors

Preferred Experience

Exposure to gear manufacturing processes (hobbing, shaping, gear grinding, heat treatment) and their cost drivers

Experience supporting quoting/estimating in a make-to-order environment

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