Senior Cost Accountant

Vaco; La Mirada (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Vaco seeks an experienced Cost Accountant to support a growing organization with complex inventory and manufacturing costing needs. You will maintain product costs, analyze inventory activity, support month-end close, and partner with Operations to explain cost variances.

The ideal candidate has hands-on cost accounting and inventory experience in manufacturing or distribution, familiarity with BOMs and ERP systems, and strong Excel skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field preferred.
• 3+ years of accounting experience with exposure to cost and/or inventory accounting.
• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, or inventory-heavy environments preferred.
• Strong understanding of inventory valuation, COGS, standard costing, and variance analysis.
• Experience with month-end close, journal entries, and balance sheet reconciliations.
• Familiarity with BOMs, production activity, and inventory movement.
• Experience with ERP systems.
• Strong Excel skills, including PivotTables and lookups.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and analyze product costs, inventory valuation, and cost accounting records.
• Support standard costing and review cost changes for accuracy.
• Analyze material, labor, overhead, and other variances.
• Perform monthly inventory reconciliations between ERP and general ledger.
• Prepare journal entries and reconciliations for inventory and COGS.
• Support month-end close activities involving inventory and manufacturing costs.
• Review inventory transactions, adjustments, transfers, receipts, and production activity.
• Research inventory discrepancies and identify root causes.
• Assist with cycle counts and physical inventory processes.
• Analyze slow-moving and obsolete inventory and support reserve calculations.
• Monitor inventory valuation and investigate unusual costing or margin fluctuations.
• Review bills of materials, production costs, and related inventory data for accuracy.
• Partner with Accounting, Operations, Purchasing, and Supply Chain teams.
• Develop costing and inventory reports to improve visibility into operations.
• Identify opportunities to improve cost accounting processes and controls.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting/Finance

Tools

Microsoft Excel

PivotTables

Lookups (VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH)

Job description

Cost Accountant

Onsite | Full-Time

We are seeking an experienced Cost Accountant to support a growing organization with complex inventory and operational accounting needs. This position will play a key role in maintaining accurate product costs, analyzing inventory activity, supporting month-end close, and partnering with Operations to identify and explain cost variances.

The ideal candidate has a strong accounting foundation with hands-on experience in cost accounting, inventory accounting, manufacturing or distribution environments, and ERP systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and analyze product costs, inventory valuation, and cost accounting records
• Support standard costing and review cost changes for accuracy
• Analyze material, labor, overhead, purchase price, and other operational variances
• Perform monthly inventory reconciliations between the ERP system and general ledger
• Prepare journal entries and account reconciliations related to inventory and cost of goods sold
• Support month-end close activities involving inventory, COGS, accruals, and manufacturing costs
• Review inventory transactions, adjustments, transfers, receipts, and production activity
• Research inventory discrepancies and work with Operations to identify root causes
• Assist with cycle counts and physical inventory processes
• Analyze slow-moving, excess, and obsolete inventory and support reserve calculations
• Monitor inventory valuation and investigate unusual costing or margin fluctuations
• Review bills of materials, production costs, and related inventory data for accuracy
• Partner with Accounting, Operations, Purchasing, and Supply Chain teams
• Develop costing and inventory reports to provide greater visibility into operational performance
• Identify opportunities to improve cost accounting processes, inventory controls, and reporting

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field preferred
• 3+ years of accounting experience with exposure to cost and/or inventory accounting
• Experience within a manufacturing, distribution, or inventory-heavy environment preferred
• Strong understanding of inventory valuation, COGS, standard costing, and variance analysis
• Experience with month-end close, journal entries, and balance sheet reconciliations
• Familiarity with BOMs, production activity, and inventory movement preferred
• Experience working within an ERP system
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, lookups, and data analysis
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to investigate discrepancies and identify the underlying cause
• Comfortable partnering with both accounting and operational teams

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone who can go beyond simply recording inventory activity and understand what is driving the numbers. The right candidate will be comfortable digging into costing discrepancies, inventory variances, margins, and operational data while maintaining strong accounting controls.

This is a great opportunity for a hands-on Cost Accountant who enjoys working at the intersection of accounting, inventory, and operations.

By submitting to this position, you are agreeing to be included in our talent pool for future hiring for similarly qualified positions.