Financial Inventory & Cost Analyst

Northern Fitness; Vaughan; On-site; CAD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A fitness-focused company in Vaughan is seeking a Senior Cost Analyst to transform finance from reactive reconciliation to proactive cost management. This analytical role involves maintaining accuracy in inventory cost, supporting budgeting processes, and building financial models. The ideal candidate will have 3–6 years of experience in financial analysis, a solid understanding of ASPE/GAAP, and proficiency in advanced Excel. Strong ERP experience is essential, preferably with Odoo. Join to drive efficiency in financial operations and support company growth.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years of experience in financial analysis, cost accounting, or FP&A.
• Strong foundation in ASPE/GAAP inventory accounting.
• Experience in inventory-heavy distribution or manufacturing environments.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain inventory and freight cash flow models.
• Perform contribution margin analysis at SKU and vendor levels.
• Support annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting processes.

Skills

Financial analysis

Cost accounting

Inventory management

Data modeling

Variance analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance or Accounting

Tools

Excel

Odoo (or similar ERP)

Power BI

Job description

Reports To: Director of Finance, cross-functional collaboration with Procurement, Supply Chain, Operations, Warehousing, and Leadership

Employment: Full-Time, Permanent

Compensation: $65,000 – $75,000 annually

Role Purpose

Northern Fitness is hiring a Senior Cost Analyst to elevate the finance function from reactive reconciliation to proactive cost management and decision support. This is a hands-on analytical role responsible for inventory cost accuracy, operational cash outflow modelling, contribution margin analysis, and building the FP&A infrastructure that will support our next phase of growth.

The right person owns the numbers, partners closely with procurement and operations, and turns messy operational data into structured financial insight. This role is a direct enabler of better cash visibility, more predictive planning, and ERP/MRP readiness.

This is not a Controller or CFO role. Strategic decisions rest with Finance leadership. This role executes, builds, and enables leadership & operations to make decisions. It is also not a data entry or bookkeeping role. If you’re not comfortable building models from scratch and partnering with operations daily, this role is not the right fit.

Core Objectives

• Move finance from reactive reconciliation to proactive analysis and decision support.
• Build cash flow visibility and structure around inventory purchases, inbound/outbound freight, and operating expenses.
• Deliver SKU-level, vendor-level, and channel-level contribution margin and profitability analysis.
• Maintain BOM accuracy across systems during active software consolidation.
• Maintain Average Unit Price and Landed cost accuracy
• Support budgeting, demand planning, and cost analysis as data quality improves.
• Document procurement–finance workflows and SOPs to lay the groundwork for a future ERP/MRP implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the build and maintenance of the inventory and freight cash flow model
• Maintain a rolling 12-week cash flow forecast with clear assumptions around inventory purchasing timing, inbound freight, and duty/customs obligations.
• Support demand-planning inputs; quantities, SKUs, and timing, that feed directly into the cash flow model.

Inventory Cost Accounting & Landed Cost

• Maintain accurate landed cost calculations for all inventory: purchase price, inbound freight, duties, customs, and surcharges.
• Ensure proper capitalization of inventory-related costs and correct timing of expense recognition under ASPE/GAAP.
• Reconcile the inventory subledger to the GL monthly with zero unexplained variance.
• Track in-transit inventory and maintain clean period-end cut-off procedures.
• Investigate and resolve discrepancies: shrinkage, damages, misallocated freight, ERP valuation issues, and timing gaps.
• Track inventory metrics including valuation, turnover ratios, and movement velocity.
• Ensure COGS is accurately stated each month in alignment with physical inventory movement.

Contribution Margin & Profitability Analysis

• Perform contribution margin analysis at the SKU, vendor/category, and channel level
• Identify unprofitable SKUs, low-margin segments, and structural warehouse or logistics costs that could be optimized.
• Build and maintain margin analysis tools that are robust, repeatable, and self-updating as source data improves.
• Translate findings into actionable recommendations — not just reporting.

FP&A Support — Budgeting, Forecasting & Analytics

• Support annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting processes, with a focus on cost of goods, freight, and warehouse operating costs.
• Contribute demand-planning inputs: historical sales by SKU, seasonal patterns, lead time assumptions, and vendor constraints.
• Build and maintain variance analysis between actuals and budget; with root cause explanations, not just numbers.
• Support any ad hoc financial analysis requested by leadership, especially cost-vs-volume and break-even questions.

Month-End Close Discipline

• Own inventory-related reconciliations & Sub-Ledgers as part of the monthly close process.
• Maintain and continuously improve a month-end close checklist and timeline; consistently and proactively working toward a shorter, cleaner close.
• Ensure all receipts, transfers, adjustments, and write-offs are properly recorded and approved within the close period.
• Provide Finance leadership with a clear monthly inventory and margin summary.

Process Documentation, SOPs & ERP Readiness

• Document and update end-to-end workflows for:
• Procure-to-pay: purchase orders, receiving, invoice validation, and payment approval.
• Inbound and outbound freight: billing, allocation, and reconciliation.
• Draft and/or maintain SOPs that:
• Clarify who does what across procurement and finance — eliminating scope gaps and overlap.
• Are suitable to hand to a future ERP/MRP vendor as documented business requirements.
• Help implement segregation of duties between purchasing, receiving, and inventory adjustments.
• Support Finance in building systems and controls that scale with company growth.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• 3–6 years of progressive experience in financial analysis, cost accounting, FP&A, or inventory finance.
• Strong accounting foundation — ASPE/GAAP inventory accounting, COGS recognition, landed cost methodology.
• Experience in inventory-heavy, distribution, logistics, or manufacturing environments.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets — model building, pivot tables, variance analysis, multi-source data reconciliation.
• ERP experience required with Inventory & Purchasing focus; Odoo or similar WMS-integrated ERP strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain financial models that are robust, pragmatic, and maintained based on data over time.

Preferred

• Active pursuit of CPA.
• Experience supporting a finance transformation or ERP implementation project.
• Background working directly with procurement, supply chain, or warehouse operations teams.
• Exposure to demand planning, inventory forecasting, or S&OP processes.
• Exposure to Power BI or similar business intelligence tools. As we scale, this role will transition from Excel/Sheets-based reporting toward a structured BI environment. Prior experience is an asset; willingness to learn is required.