Staff Accountant

Our client is seeking a hands-on Staff Accountant who wants to gain manufacturing costing experince to join a growing manufacturing operation in the West Michigan area. This role is ideal for an accounting professional who thrives in a heavy manufacturing environment and enjoys partnering closely with operations, engineering, and supply chain teams to drive accurate costing, reporting, and continuous improvement initiatives. The Staff Accountant will play a critical role in maintaining standard costs, analyzing manufacturing performance, supporting month-end close activities, and improving financial visibility across plant operations.

This opportunity offers strong exposure to plant leadership, operational strategy, ERP systems, and process improvement initiatives in a dynamic production environment. Candidates with a strong foundation in standard costing, manufacturing variance analysis, and ERP-driven cost accounting processes will be especially successful in this role.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Staff Accounting subject matter expert (SME) for the manufacturing facility
• Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering teams to develop, review, and maintain standard direct material costs
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering to establish and maintain standard labor costs and routing accuracy within the ERP system
• Analyze and maintain overhead allocations by product line and production category
• Validate supplier quotes, prepare cost rollups, update cost records, and maintain costing data within the ERP system
• Review production output and evaluate actual versus expected product costs
• Support Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and final product costing approvals
• Assist with month-end close activities, financial reporting, management reporting, and ad hoc analysis requests
• Lead or support standard cost updates and periodic cost rolls
• Analyze manufacturing variances, including material, labor, overhead, purchase price variance (PPV), and manufacturing absorption
• Communicate cost drivers, operational impacts, and corrective action recommendations to leadership and cross-functional teams
• Identify opportunities to improve costing processes, reporting accuracy, internal controls, and operational efficiencies
• Support inventory counts and production floor observations as needed

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Minimum 2+ years of accounting experience within inventory or manufacturing environments
• Strong understanding of standard costing methodologies and manufacturing variance analysis
• Experience supporting month-end close and financial reporting activities
• ERP system experience required, including Oracle EBS, SAP, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar platforms
• Ability to communicate financial insights effectively with both finance and operations teams
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
• Comfortable working in both office and plant floor environments
• Ability to wear required PPE and follow all safety procedures and environmental policies

Preferred Experience

• 2+ years of cost accounting experience within heavy manufacturing environments such as metal fabrication, machining, foundry, stamping, paper, or chemical manufacturing
• Oracle EBS experience
• Experience supporting lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, scrap reduction, or yield improvement initiatives
• CMA certification or active progress toward certification
• Experience supporting BOM maintenance, routing structures, and manufacturing process optimization

Titles Encouraged to Apply

• Staff Accountant
• Manufacturing Accountant
• Plant Accountant
• Inventory Accountant
• Operations Accountant
• Cost Analyst

If you're looking for an opportunity to make a measurable impact within a manufacturing organization while partnering directly with operations leadership, we encourage you to apply.