Senior Cost Accountant

Senior Cost Accountant Food Manufacturing

We are a growing food manufacturing company producing a diverse portfolio of products including brownies, cookies, Rice Krispies, nut butter protein bars, muffins, cupcakes, and other specialty food products.

We are seeking a hands-on, analytical Senior Cost Accountant to serve as a key financial partner to our Operations, Production, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Finance teams.

This position is responsible for understanding and analyzing the Company's manufacturing cost structure, product and customer profitability, operational KPIs, manufacturing variances, inventory, forecasting, and capital expenditures.

The successful candidate will spend significant time working with the plant team to identify where the operation is losing money or failing to meet targets, quantify the financial impact, identify root causes, and help Operations implement corrective actions and cost-saving initiatives.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced manufacturing accountant who wants to have a direct impact on operational performance and profitability in a growing company.

Key Responsibilities

Manufacturing Cost Accounting & Profitability

• Develop a deep understanding of the Company's manufacturing cost structure by SKU, product family, production line, and customer.
• Develop and maintain product costing models incorporating direct materials and ingredients, packaging, direct labor, variable manufacturing overhead, fixed manufacturing overhead, and other manufacturing-related costs.
• Develop and maintain activity-based cost allocations by SKU and customer where appropriate.
• Analyze product and customer profitability and identify low-margin or unprofitable products and customers.
• Ensure standard costs appropriately reflect actual manufacturing processes and update costing assumptions as needed.

Operations KPI Reporting & Analysis

Partner closely with Operations leadership to develop and maintain weekly and monthly manufacturing KPI reporting.

Key metrics will include production output and production hours, labor efficiency and labor cost per unit/pound, production yield and material usage, scrap, waste, and rework, downtime and changeover time, overtime, production efficiency and line utilization, schedule attainment, conversion cost per unit/pound, manufacturing overhead, budget/forecast versus actual performance.

Clearly identify where Operations is missing targets and quantify the financial impact of operational performance.

Translate operational data into financial information that management can use to make better decisions.

Variance Analysis & Cost Reduction

Analyze manufacturing variances and partner with Operations to identify root causes and corrective actions, including direct labor and labor efficiency variances, ingredient/material price and usage variances, yield variances, scrap and waste, production volume variances, manufacturing overhead variances, downtime and overtime, rework and production losses, packaging usage.

Work with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and Supply Chain to develop and track cost-saving and continuous-improvement projects.

Quantify expected savings and track actual results against the original business case.

Forecasting & Budgeting

• Support annual budgeting and ongoing financial forecasting.
• Forecast manufacturing costs based on expected production volumes, product mix, labor rates, material costs, yields, and operating efficiency.
• Partner with Operations to develop realistic production and cost assumptions.
• Analyze actual results versus budget and forecast and explain significant variances.
• Provide financial analysis to support production, pricing, capacity, and operational decisions.

Capital Expenditures & ROI Analysis

• Track approved CapEx budget, commitments, actual spending, remaining budget, and projected final cost by project.
• Work with Operations and Maintenance to develop and update CapEx forecasts.
• Identify potential project overruns before they occur.
• Reconcile capital spending to the general ledger and supporting documentation.
• Assist with determining whether expenditures should be capitalized or expensed.
• Develop financial analysis for proposed capital investments, including initial investment, labor savings, scrap/yield improvements, maintenance savings, downtime reduction, increased capacity, incremental contribution margin, annual cash savings, ROI, payback period, NPV and IRR when appropriate.
• After completion, compare actual project results to the original investment business case.

Month-End Close & Inventory Accounting

• Manufacturing cost accounting
• Inventory accounting and reconciliations
• Raw material, WIP, and finished goods analysis
• Standard cost and manufacturing variance analysis
• Accrued expenses
• Fixed assets and depreciation
• Cost of goods sold
• Manufacturing overhead
• General ledger reconciliations
• Month-end journal entries

Assist with physical inventory counts, cycle counts, investigation of inventory variances, and analysis of obsolete, damaged, or slow-moving inventory.

Operations Business Partner

A critical component of this position is the ability to work directly with the plant and Operations team.

The successful candidate will regularly be on the plant floor learning how products are manufactured and building strong relationships with Production, Maintenance, Quality, Warehouse, and Supply Chain personnel.

The expectation is to move beyond simply reporting financial results: identify the issue ? quantify the financial impact ? determine the root cause ? partner with Operations on corrective action ? measure the savings.

The Cost Accountant will help create a culture of financial accountability, operational efficiency, continuous improvement, and cost reduction.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or related field.
• 37+ years of accounting/finance experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Food manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing cost accounting.
• Experience with standard costing and manufacturing variance analysis.
• Understanding of direct labor, material usage, manufacturing overhead, yield, scrap, and production efficiency.
• Experience with inventory accounting.
• Experience with budgeting and forecasting.
• Strong Microsoft Excel and financial modeling skills.
• Experience working with an ERP/accounting system.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work full-time on-site in the Miami, Florida manufacturing facility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Food manufacturing experience.
• Experience with activity-based costing.
• SKU and customer profitability analysis.
• Manufacturing KPI development.
• Production yield and scrap analysis.
• CapEx tracking and forecasting.
• Capital investment analysis, including ROI and payback calculations.
• Continuous improvement/cost reduction experience.
• Experience with Power BI or other business intelligence tools.
• CPA, CMA, or other relevant certification is a plus.

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who is:

• Hands-on and comfortable working on the plant floor
• Highly analytical and detail-oriented
• Commercially minded
• Curious about how products are manufactured
• Comfortable challenging assumptions using data
• A strong communicator who can explain financial concepts to non-financial employees
• Self-directed and comfortable in a growing, entrepreneurial company
• Focused on solving problems rather than simply reporting them
• Able to work collaboratively with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance
• Passionate about improving manufacturing performance and profitability

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 612 months, the successful candidate will:

1. Develop a strong understanding of the Company's true manufacturing cost by SKU and customer.
2. Establish reliable weekly and monthly Operations KPI reporting.
3. Identify and quantify the financial impact of labor, material, yield, scrap, downtime, and efficiency issues.
4. Partner with Operations to implement measurable cost-reduction initiatives.
5. Improve the accuracy and usefulness of product costing.
6. Establish disciplined CapEx tracking and forecasting.
7. Provide management with meaningful ROI and payback analysis for capital investments.
8. Improve manufacturing cost forecasting and variance analysis.
9. Strengthen inventory and manufacturing accounting processes.
10. Become a trusted financial business partner to plant and Operations leadership