Cost Analyst

Burnett Staffing Specialists; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Burnett Staffing Specialists is seeking a Cost Analyst in Houston to support project teams with cost tracking, forecasting, budgeting, accruals, and financial reporting. You will partner with Project Managers to monitor performance, identify variances, and provide forward-looking analysis for timely decisions.

Responsibilities include preparing cost reports, validating actuals and forecasts, and assisting with annual budgets and long-range plans.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and distribute cost reports to support project teams and management.
• Pull, analyze, and validate actual costs, forecasts, accruals, and budgets.
• Partner with Project Managers to develop monthly accruals and ensure costs are recognized correctly.
• Maintain and input project forecasts, incorporating actual performance, commitments, and risks.
• Coordinate with Planning & Performance on monthly cost submissions and reporting deliverables.
• Support management in development and maintenance of annual budgets, forecasts, and long-range plans.
• Identify and communicate budget variances, cost trends, risks, and potential overruns with mitigation actions.
• Perform analysis to evaluate purchase orders, contracts, remaining obligations, and expenditures.
• Support PO and WBS closeout activities, including validation of commitments and costs.
• Partner with Accounting to resolve accrual and cost discrepancies.
• Prepare cost analysis and reporting packages for Project Managers and leadership.
• Develop weekly and monthly labor progress and cost tracking reports.
• Support change management processes, including budget transfers and contingencies.
• Provide forward-looking cost analysis and mitigation planning for projects.
• Participate in bi-weekly and monthly project cost reviews with stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain project budgets and forecasts in cost-tracking tools.
• Perform data audits and quality checks to ensure cost information accuracy.
• Liaise between PM, Procurement, Vendors, Operations, Accounting, Billing to resolve issues.
• Identify and process cost corrections and coding adjustments.
• Apply Earned Value Management (EVM) principles to evaluate cost and performance.

Job description

Cost Analyst - Houston

The Cost Analyst supports project teams by managing cost tracking, forecasting, budgeting, accruals, and financial reporting. The role partners with Project Managers and key stakeholders to monitor project performance, identify cost variances and risks, maintain accurate financial data, and provide forward-looking analysis to support effective project and financial decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and distribute ad hoc, weekly, and monthly internal and external cost reports to support project teams and management.
• Pull, analyze, and validate actual costs, commitments, forecasts, accruals, and budget data from applicable financial and project systems.
• Partner with Project Managers and Work-in-Progress (WIP) teams to develop accurate monthly accruals and ensure costs are recognized appropriately.
• Maintain and input project forecasts, incorporating actual performance, commitments, anticipated expenditures, schedule impacts, and identified risks.
• Coordinate with Planning & Performance (P&P) on monthly cost and forecast submissions and other required reporting deliverables.
• Support management in development and maintenance of annual budgets, forecasts, and long-range financial plans.
• Identify and communicate budget variances, cost trends, financial risks, and potential overruns early, providing forward-looking analysis and recommended mitigation actions.
• Perform analysis to evaluate purchase orders, contracts, remaining obligations, and anticipated project expenditures.
• Support PO and WBS closeout activities, including validation of outstanding commitments, final costs, and required cost corrections.
• Partner with Accounting to research and resolve accrual, actual cost, coding, project accounting, and other cost related questions or discrepancies.
• Prepare cost analysis and reporting packages for Project Managers and project leadership, highlighting key variances, trends, risks, and forecast changes.
• Develop and maintain weekly and monthly labor progress and performance reports, including project cost tracking for direct and indirect labor, rental equipment, materials, and subcontracts.
• Support the development and maintenance of change management processes, including change orders, budget transfers/shifts, trends, forecast changes, and contingency management.
• Provide timely and accurate forward-looking cost analysis and assist project teams in developing mitigation plans to reduce or eliminate unforeseen cost impacts.
• Actively participate in bi-weekly and monthly project cost reviews, presenting and discussing cost-control deliverables with Project Managers and other project stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain project budgets and forecasts within applicable cost and progress tracking tools.
• Perform routine data audits, reconciliations, and quality checks to ensure the completeness and accuracy of project cost information and reporting.
• Serve as a liaison between Project Management, Procurement, Vendors, Operations, Accounting, Billing, and other functional teams to resolve cost and project-control issues.
• Identify and process cost corrections, reallocations, and coding adjustments to maintain accurate project financials.
• Apply Earned Value Management (EVM) principles and other project-control methodologies to evaluate project cost and performance where applicable.
• Assist with the development, enhancement, standardization, and implementation of cost-control tools, templates, dashboards, and reporting processes to improve efficiency and consistency across projects.

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