Cost Controller

Ssutra Consultancy; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Ssutra Consultancy is seeking a seasoned Senior Cost Accountant to drive cost savings and provide monthly costing reports across the group in a South Africa setting.

The role requires leading budgeting processes, coordinating inputs from multiple entities, and ensuring robust cost governance, including stock valuation and IFRS compliance.

Qualifications

• Qualified accounting degree with professional designation.
• 7+ years in cost or management accounting.
• Experience in heavy manufacturing sectors.
• Strong IFRS inventory valuation and standard costing experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead cost-saving initiatives across group operations.
• Produce monthly costing reports and variance analysis.
• Prepare budgets and rolling forecasts for entities.
• Oversee cost controls, stock counts and inventory valuation.

Skills

Cost accounting

IFRS inventory valuation

Budgeting

Process optimization

Stakeholder management

Education

MCom.

CA- Inter (Not pursuing CA any further)

CIMA

SAIPA

CA(SA)

Job description

Role Purpose

Drive cost savings across the group, deliver monthly costing reports and finalise all budgets, giving management clear control over spend and margins.

Key Responsibilities

1. Cost savings

• Identify cost-saving opportunities across all entities and operations, including energy, raw materials, consumables, maintenance, logistics and overheads.
• Benchmark cost per ton across plants and periods to pinpoint inefficiencies.
• Analyse yields, wastage and production losses and propose improvements.
• Review supplier pricing, contracts and utility bills for savings and billing errors.
• Challenge discretionary spend and non-essential overheads.
• Evaluate make-vs-buy and rent-vs-buy decisions on equipment and services.
• Quantify savings, agree actions with management and track realised savings against targets.

2. Monthly costing reports

• Prepare monthly costing reports per entity and plant, including cost per ton and variance analysis.
• Calculate actual cost per ton by product, split into raw materials, energy, labour, consumables and overheads.
• Maintain standard costs and update them for price and process changes.
• Calculate product and customer margins to support pricing decisions.
• Produce daily and weekly cost dashboards for key plants.
• Explain cost movements and recommend corrective actions to management.

3. Budgets

• Prepare, review and finalise all budgets across the group, from annual entity budgets to departmental, project and capex budgets.
• Coordinate budget inputs from entity and department heads and challenge assumptions.
• Prepare monthly rolling forecasts and reforecast when conditions change.
• Review cost estimates for capex and projects before approval.
• Monitor actual spend against budget, flag overruns early and track projects to completion.

4. Cost control and governance

• Oversee stock counts, inventory valuation and reconciliations.
• Set and enforce costing policies, procedures and cost-centre structures across the group.
• Support internal and external audits on costing and inventory.

Minimum Requirements

• MCom.
• CA- Inter (Not pursuing CA any further)
• Professional designation: CIMA, SAIPA or CA(SA).
• 7+ years in cost or management accounting, with at least 3 years at senior or group level.
• Experience in heavy manufacturing steel, metals, smelting, foundry or mining.
• Strong process and standard costing and IFRS inventory valuation experience.