Senior Plant Cost Accountant

Our client is hiring a Senior Plant Cost Accountant to join its finance team in Lake Forest, IL. This direct-hire opportunity is ideal for a mid-to-senior level cost accountant who enjoys partnering with plant leadership, digging into inventory and manufacturing variances, and improving profitability through actionable insights. The Senior Plant Cost Accountant will play a key role in month-end close, standard costing, and reporting, with exposure to ERP enhancements and cross-functional collaboration across Operations, Supply Chain, and Engineering. This is an exciting chance to step into a growth-oriented environment with meaningful impact.

What’s the job?

• Oversee day-to-day inventory transaction activity and collaborate with Operations/Materials to troubleshoot and correct issues
• Own inventory- and cost-related general ledger reconciliations, researching variances and driving items to resolution
• Support month-end and year-end close by preparing journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations, and related variance analysis
• Evaluate manufacturing variances (purchase price, material usage, labor, scrap) and surface drivers, trends, and recommendations
• Build and maintain inventory reporting and cost dashboards, using financial models to support decision-making
• Partner with cross-functional teams on new product introductions and engineering changes, validating product costs, BOMs, and routings
• Maintain standard costs for purchased and manufactured items, including support for annual standard cost updates and revaluations
• Coordinate and support physical inventory processes to ensure accurate inventory valuation and audit readiness
• Assist with internal and external audit requests tied to inventory and cost accounting, ensuring documentation and support are complete
• Review CAPEX requests and provide financial justification support (ROI, depreciation impact, capitalization policy alignment)
• Track CIP activity and help facilitate timely capitalization of completed projects, including fixed asset tagging coordination
• Deliver product-level profitability and margin insights (revenue, material/labor, overhead absorption) to help improve performance
• Monitor slow-moving and obsolete inventory reporting and partner with Operations/Supply Chain on action plans and disposition strategy
• Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and longer-range planning by providing cost, inventory, and operational inputs
• Participate in continuous improvement efforts and ad hoc projects as assigned

What’s needed?

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field
• 5+ years of manufacturing accounting, cost accounting, or financial analysis experience, including at least 3 years supporting manufacturing operations
• Experience with standard costing, inventory accounting, manufacturing variances, and month-end close
• ERP experience required; Microsoft Dynamics 365 experience preferred
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query, financial modeling, and dashboard development
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and business partnering skills, with the ability to collaborate across Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, and leadership teams
• CPA, CMA, or progress toward certification is a plus
• Ability to work additional hours as needed during month-end close, physical inventories, annual planning, forecasting, and audit activities

Key Details

• Compensation: $90,000–$100,000 base salary
• Location: Lake Forest, IL
• Work Model: Onsite
• Benefits: Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance
• Employment Type: Direct Hire

Ready to take the next step in your career? Apply today. We’re actively interviewing and excited to meet you.

Allee Struve
Lead Recruiter
#LI-AS6