Cost Accounting Manager

About this role

Cost Accounting Manager

Location: Austin, Texas

Work Arrangement: Hybrid; in office Tuesday through Thursday

Reports To: VP of Accounting

Direct Report: Senior Plant Accountant, Mexico

Travel: At least quarterly travel to the Mexico manufacturing facility, with additional travel as business needs require

Position Summary

We are seeking a hands-on Cost Accounting Manager to lead cost accounting, inventory accounting, manufacturing financial controls, and inventory working capital initiatives for a rapidly growing manufacturing organization with operations in the United States and Mexico.

This role will own the company's product costing framework, including costed bills of materials (CBOMs), standard costs, inventory valuation, manufacturing variances, overhead absorption, routings, labor standards, and related month-end close activities.

The Cost Accounting Manager will also play a key role in improving inventory efficiency and reducing Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO). This individual will partner with Supply Chain, Operations, Procurement, Engineering, FP&A, and Finance leadership to improve visibility into inventory drivers, identify excess and slow-moving inventory, and support actions that improve working capital without compromising customer service or manufacturing continuity.

The role will directly manage the Senior Plant Accountant supporting our Mexico manufacturing operation and will travel to the plant at least once per quarter.

Costed Bills of Materials and Product Costing

• Own the creation, maintenance, review, and approval process for costed bills of materials (CBOMs).

• Ensure every manufactured product has a complete and accurate CBOM reflecting current materials, quantities, labor, routings, outside processing, and applicable manufacturing overhead.

• Partner with Engineering to ensure engineering BOMs and manufacturing BOMs are accurately translated into financial product costs.

• Establish a formal process for reviewing and updating CBOMs for new products, engineering changes, supplier changes, material substitutions, and manufacturing process changes.

• Reconcile CBOM costs to ERP standard costs and investigate discrepancies.

• Identify missing, outdated, or inaccurate BOM components and drive corrective action with Operations and Engineering.

• Maintain appropriate documentation and controls over product cost changes.

• Support new product introductions by developing preliminary and final product costs before production launch.

• Provide visibility into the impact of design, sourcing, and manufacturing changes on product cost and margin.

Inventory and Working Capital Management

• Own accounting and financial analysis for raw materials, work in process, and finished goods inventory.

• Partner with Supply Chain, Operations, Procurement, and FP&A to develop and execute initiatives to reduce Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO).

• Develop reporting that provides visibility into DIO by inventory category, product, location, and other relevant operational drivers.

• Identify excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and aged inventory and drive cross-functional action plans to reduce exposure.

• Analyze inventory purchasing patterns, production schedules, safety stock levels, lead times, and demand assumptions to identify opportunities to reduce working capital.

• Evaluate raw material, WIP, and finished goods levels to identify where cash is unnecessarily tied up in inventory.

• Monitor inventory turns and DIO trends and provide clear explanations of key drivers to Finance and Operations leadership.

• Quantify the cash flow impact of inventory reduction opportunities.

• Partner with Procurement on order quantities, purchasing cadence, supplier terms, and material lead times where these affect inventory levels.

• Partner with Operations on production scheduling, batch sizes, WIP levels, scrap, and yield improvements.

• Support development of inventory targets and working capital KPIs.

• Ensure inventory reduction initiatives maintain appropriate controls over customer service levels, production continuity, and financial reporting accuracy.

• Establish processes for excess and obsolete inventory reserves and net realizable value assessments.

• Oversee cycle counts and physical inventory accounting procedures.

• Ensure inventory subledgers reconcile to the general ledger.

Standard Costing

• Own the company's standard costing methodology and standard cost roll process.

• Establish and maintain standard material, labor, subcontract, freight, and manufacturing overhead costs.

• Review labor and machine routings to ensure standards reflect current manufacturing processes.

• Develop and maintain labor and overhead rates in partnership with Operations and Finance.

• Validate standard costs before they are loaded into the ERP system.

• Perform periodic reviews of standard versus actual costs and recommend updates when assumptions materially change.

• Maintain controls around standard cost changes and approvals.

Manufacturing Variance Analysis

• Analyze material usage, labor efficiency, manufacturing overhead, scrap, yield, purchase price, and other production variances.

• Investigate significant variances and work with Operations to identify root causes.

• Distinguish operational performance issues from BOM, routing, costing, or system-data issues.

• Provide clear monthly explanations of manufacturing variances and their impact on gross margin.

• Develop reporting that allows management to identify cost trends and manufacturing inefficiencies.

Month-End Close

• Own the manufacturing and inventory portions of the monthly close.

• Prepare and review manufacturing-related journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and supporting schedules.

• Review inventory and cost-related balance sheet accounts.

• Ensure manufacturing variances are properly recorded, analyzed, and explained.

• Partner with the VP of Accounting to improve the speed,…