Cost Accountant - Entry Level

WHY PRODRIVEN GLOBAL BRANDS? BECAUSE WE ARE THE PROFESSIONAL’S CHOICE!  You will find our market leading products and brands on job sites all over the world.

Focusing on end users' needs and delivering exceptional customer experience drives our success. Our entire process—from research to engineering to manufacturing to commercialization—creates products that ensure ease of use, productivity, durability and safety for the end user. On jobsites across the world, ProDriven Global Brands are most preferred.

Presently this position is in a hybrid status with a minimum of 3 days a week in the office for collaboration, teamwork, and business needs.  The status and minimum in-office requirements are subject to change based on evolving business needs.

0-3 years of Experience.

The Plant Cost Accountant is the primary finance resource for manufacturing cost accounting, inventory accounting and plant performance analysis. Reporting to the Plant Controller, this role owns key elements of the plant month-end close, maintains accurate product costs and manufacturing standards, and provides timely analysis of material, labor, overhead, scrap, inventory and production variances. The position partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Data Control, Supply Chain and New Product Development to improve cost accuracy, strengthen controls and support plant profitability and productivity decisions.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Working under Moderate supervision,

Month-End Close & Manufacturing Accounting

• Execute the monthly close for plant manufacturing activities, including preparation and review of journal entries for cost of sales, inventory, labor, fixed and variable overhead, warranty, obsolescence, scrap and production variances.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly balance-sheet reconciliations and supporting schedules for inventory, labor, scrap, cost of sales, manufacturing accruals and production variance accounts.
• Analyze actual manufacturing results against standard cost, budget, forecast and prior year; clearly explain material, labor, overhead and volume/mix drivers.
• Support preparation of the plant financial reporting package and serve as backup to the Plant Controller for close, reporting and transmission of financial data to Corporate Finance.

Standard Costing & Product Cost Maintenance

• Maintain standard product costs for new and existing products, including bills of material, routings, work-center rates, labor content, overhead application and scrap assumptions.
• Partner with Engineering, Data Control and New Product Development to validate and enter bill-of-material and routing changes and ensure approved Engineering Change Orders are reflected accurately in product cost.
• Perform BOM and routing audits, investigate cost roll exceptions, and maintain a regular cross-functional review cadence for data accuracy and corrective actions.
• Coordinate the annual standard cost roll with the Plant Controller, including development and validation of labor and overhead rates, review of inventory revaluation impacts, system testing and reconciliation of rolled standards.

Manufacturing Variance & Productivity Analysis

• Analyze material usage, purchase price, labor rate, labor efficiency, overhead spending, overhead volume, scrap and other manufacturing variances by product, work center and department.
• Monitor labor productivity, earned versus actual hours, overhead absorption and production performance; identify unfavorable trends and support corrective-action plans with Operations.
• Develop recurring dashboards and analyses that connect operating drivers such as production volume, uptime, staffing, overtime, scrap and yield to financial performance.
• Validate financial benefits from plant productivity, cost reduction, make-versus-buy, sourcing and continuous-improvement initiatives.

Inventory, Scrap & Fixed Assets

• Maintain accurate inventory accounting for raw materials, work in process and finished goods, including reserves for excess and obsolete inventory and analysis of inventory adjustments.
• Coordinate cycle-count and annual physical-inventory activities, including count controls, variance research, reconciliation, posting and reporting of results.
• Record, track and reconcile scrap generation, collections, recoveries and related proceeds; partner with Operations to improve root-cause visibility.
• Safeguard plant fixed assets by maintaining asset records, coordinating tagging, supporting capitalization and depreciation, reviewing construction-in-progress balances, and ensuring compliant acquisition, transfer and disposal procedures.
• Track capital appropriation requests and report actual spending, commitments and forecast against approved budgets.

Planning, Forecasting & Business Partnership

• Assist with weekly plant forecasts, quarterly forecasts and the annual budget, including materials, labor, overhead, scrap, inventory and capital assumptions.
• Partner with plant leadership and department managers to translate operational plans into financial impacts and provide actionable cost and margin insights.
• Monitor aged vendor invoices pending approval and work with plant stakeholders to resolve approval, coding and accrual issues before close deadlines.
• Support internal and external audits by preparing schedules, documentation and control evidence related to inventory, cost accounting and fixed assets.

Controls, Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain strong internal controls and documented standard work over product costing, inventory, journal entries, reconciliations, fixed assets and capital spending.
• Use ERP, manufacturing and reporting systems to extract, reconcile and analyze detailed transactional data; identify data-quality or process issues and drive resolution.
• Automate recurring reporting and improve cost-accounting processes to increase accuracy, timeliness and visibility while reducing manual effort.
• Performs other duties as assigned within the scope of responsibilities and requirements of the job
• Performs Essential Job Functions and Duties with or without reasonable accommodation

Education, Licenses, and Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or related field preferred or equivalent work experience required
• MBA, CPA or CMA preferred.

Years of Experience and Knowledge

• 1 ~ 3 years of cost accounting or plant accounting experience required; experience in a manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with standard costing, inventory accounting, manufacturing variances, BOMs, routings and month-end close.
• Experience supporting physical inventory, fixed assets, budgeting and forecasting preferred.
• CPA or CMA certification, or progress toward certification, is a plus.

Skills and Abilities

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookup functions, financial modeling and analysis of large data sets.
• Experience with an ERP system and manufacturing cost modules; JD Edwards experience is preferred.
• Experience with reporting and visualization tools such as Power BI or IBM Planning Analytics is preferred.
• Working knowledge of U.S. GAAP, internal controls and cost-accounting principles applicable to manufacturing operations.
• Strong cost-accounting knowledge and the ability to connect shop-floor activity to financial results.
• High attention to detail, data accuracy and control discipline.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and root-cause-analysis skills.
• Ability to prioritize close deadlines and multiple plant requirements in a fast-paced environment.
• Clear written and verbal communication with the ability to work effectively at all organizational levels.
• Collaborative business-partner mindset with appropriate professional challenge and follow-through.
• Self-directed, organized and committed to continuous improvement.
• Ability to work on-site at the manufacturing facility and support physical inventories, annual cost rolls and month-end close schedules, which may occasionally require work outside normal business hours.

Travel Requirements

0% ~ 10% travel domestically and internationally required

Salary Range:

$66,080  - $90,860

The pay range listed is for Illinois based roles.  It is not typical for a candidate to be hired at or near the top of the pay range.  Specific compensation offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including skill sets, qualifications, experience, education, certifications, training, and location.

Benefits:

• 401(k) company match
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life and disability insurance
• Paid time off

ProDriven Global Brands is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. ProDriven Global Brands is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants to ProDriven Global Brands are considered for employment without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status or any other protected characteristic.  ProDriven Global Brands will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind based on these characteristics.

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