Cost Accountant

Job Description

Job Description

We are looking for a Cost Accountant to support manufacturing finance operations at our facility in Middleville, Michigan. This role will take ownership of product costing activities, provide insight into manufacturing performance, and work closely with operations, engineering, and supply chain teams. The ideal candidate brings strong experience in standard costing, inventory-related accounting, and variance analysis within a manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities:
• Act as the primary resource for cost accounting matters at the plant, advising cross-functional teams on costing practices and financial impact.
• Collaborate with supply chain and engineering partners to establish, evaluate, and maintain direct material standards used for planning, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Work with manufacturing engineering to keep labor standards current, reflect process updates in system routings, and align costing data with shop-floor operations.
• Review overhead application methods across products and production groups, track key cost drivers, and recommend opportunities to improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Assess supplier pricing against historical benchmarks, build complete cost summaries, maintain item cost records, and finalize system updates.
• Compare actual production results to expected cost models, investigate differences, and support costing decisions tied to engineering change activity.
• Contribute to month-end close, recurring financial reporting, and special analysis requests by identifying data sources and preparing meaningful output for stakeholders.
• Lead or assist with standard cost revisions and periodic cost roll activities to ensure bills of material, routing structures, labor assumptions, and overhead rates remain current.
• Analyze material, labor, and overhead variances, explain root causes to finance and operations leaders, and help drive corrective action and continuous improvement.
• Strengthen costing processes, reporting routines, and internal controls by documenting procedures and training business partners when needed.• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• At least 3 years of accounting experience with exposure to inventory and manufacturing operations.
• Strong background in cost accounting, with additional experience in heavy manufacturing environments preferred.
• Solid understanding of standard costing methodologies, variance analysis, and month-end close activities.
• Experience working in ERP systems; Oracle experience is preferred.
• Ability to present financial findings clearly to both finance professionals and operational teams.
• Experience supporting continuous improvement efforts such as lean initiatives, scrap reduction, or yield improvement is preferred.
• Comfortable working on site in a manufacturing setting, including time on the production floor, participation in inventory counts, and adherence to required safety practices.