Senior Cost Accountant

Parcc Associates; North Carolina; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Parcc Associates is seeking a Senior Cost Accountant to join its corporate finance team, supporting multiple manufacturing locations. You will oversee standard costing, inventory analysis, and manufacturing variance reporting, partnering with plant finance and operations to ensure accurate costs and meaningful insights.

The role offers enterprise-level exposure, with involvement in budgeting, forecasting, and strategic cost initiatives across product lines and business units.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• At least five years of progressive accounting experience with manufacturing cost accounting.
• Strong knowledge of standard costing, inventory accounting, overhead absorption and COGS.
• Experience supporting monthly close and account reconciliations.
• Understanding GAAP and internal controls.
• Advanced Excel skills and large-data analysis.
• Experience with a major ERP or manufacturing accounting system.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain standard costing processes across facilities and product lines.
• Analyze material, labor, overhead variances and production volume variances.
• Review BOMs, routings, overhead rates, and cost allocations for accuracy.
• Collaborate with plant finance and operations to investigate variances and root causes.
• Support inventory accounting, cycle counts, and GAAP-compliant reporting.
• Prepare monthly cost accounting entries, reconciliations, and cost reports.
• Assist with budgeting, forecasting, and profitability analysis across plants.

Skills

Cost accounting

Manufacturing analysis

Financial reporting

Analytical skills

Communication to leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

Tools

ERP system (SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics)

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

A large, well-established manufacturer is seeking a Senior Cost Accountant to join its corporate finance team. This position is based at the company’s corporate office and supports multiple manufacturing locations across the organization.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced cost accounting professional who enjoys analyzing manufacturing performance, improving costing processes, and partnering with plant finance and operations leaders. Unlike a traditional plant-based cost accounting position, this role provides broader, enterprise-level exposure across multiple facilities, product lines, and business units.

Position Summary

The Senior Cost Accountant will oversee corporate-level cost accounting, inventory analysis, standard costing, manufacturing variance reporting, and financial support for multiple production facilities.

This individual will partner closely with plant controllers, operations finance, supply chain, procurement, engineering, and corporate accounting to ensure accurate product costs, consistent costing practices, and meaningful analysis of manufacturing performance.

The ideal candidate has strong manufacturing cost accounting experience, excellent analytical skills, and the ability to translate complex financial data into clear business insights.

Key Responsibilities

Cost Accounting and Manufacturing Analysis

• Manage and maintain standard costing processes across multiple manufacturing facilities and product lines.
• Analyze material, labor, overhead, purchase price, usage, yield, efficiency, and production volume variances.
• Review product costs, bills of materials, labor routings, overhead rates, and cost allocations for accuracy.
• Partner with plant finance and operations teams to investigate significant cost variances and identify root causes.
• Evaluate manufacturing cost trends and provide recommendations to improve margins and operational performance.
• Support new-product costing, make-versus-buy analysis, sourcing decisions, and product profitability reviews.
• Assist with annual standard cost updates and ensure consistent costing methodologies across the organization.

Inventory Accounting and Controls

• Support corporate inventory accounting, including raw materials, work in process, finished goods, and inventory reserves.
• Review inventory valuation, absorption, capitalization, obsolescence, and excess-and-slow-moving inventory calculations.
• Reconcile inventory-related general ledger accounts and investigate discrepancies.
• Monitor inventory controls and collaborate with plant teams to improve transaction accuracy.
• Support physical inventory counts and cycle-count programs across multiple manufacturing locations.
• Help ensure inventory is valued appropriately and reported in accordance with GAAP and company policies.

Financial Close and Reporting

• Prepare and review monthly cost accounting journal entries, account reconciliations, and supporting schedules.
• Support the monthly, quarterly, and annual financial close processes.
• Prepare corporate manufacturing cost reports and clearly explain performance against budget, forecast, and prior periods.
• Analyze gross margin and cost-of-goods-sold results by facility, product line, customer, and business unit.
• Develop reporting that provides leadership with greater visibility into manufacturing costs and profitability.
• Assist with budgeting and forecasting for inventory, cost of goods sold, overhead, and manufacturing variances.

Business Partnership and Process Improvement

• Serve as a corporate cost accounting resource for plant controllers and manufacturing finance teams.
• Partner with supply chain, procurement, engineering, operations, and commercial teams on cost-related initiatives.
• Help standardize cost accounting policies, processes, and reporting across multiple facilities.
• Identify opportunities to automate reporting, strengthen internal controls, and improve the accuracy and timeliness of financial information.
• Support ERP implementations, system upgrades, acquisitions, and other corporate finance initiatives.
• Assist internal and external auditors with inventory and cost accounting documentation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• At least five years of progressive accounting experience, including significant cost accounting experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of standard costing, inventory accounting, manufacturing variances, overhead absorption, and cost of goods sold.
• Experience supporting the monthly financial close and preparing account reconciliations.
• Understanding of GAAP and internal-control requirements.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, formulas, and large-data analysis.
• Experience working with a major ERP or manufacturing accounting system.
• Ability to communicate financial information effectively to accounting, operations, and senior leadership.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA, CMA, or MBA.
• Experience supporting multiple manufacturing plants, business units, or product lines from a corporate environment.
• Experience with SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics, or a comparable ERP platform.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or another business-intelligence tool.
• Background in a large, complex, or publicly traded manufacturing organization.
• Experience improving or standardizing cost accounting processes across multiple facilities.

What the Company Offers

• High-visibility role within a large manufacturing organization.
• Corporate-office environment with exposure to multiple plants and business units.
• Competitive base salary and annual bonus opportunity.
• Comprehensive health and retirement benefits.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• Professional development and advancement opportunities.
• The opportunity to influence company-wide costing, inventory, and profitability initiatives.

This position is based at the company’s corporate office and is not assigned to a manufacturing plant. Occasional travel to manufacturing facilities may be required to support inventory reviews, costing initiatives, audits, or cross-functional projects.