Cost Accountant

Key responsibilities

• Drive product- and customer-wise profitability analysis, including contribution and variance analysis, to support pricing and portfolio decisions.
• Perform detailed margin, contribution, and cost–volume–profit (CVP) analysis and highlight improvement levers to business and plant leadership.
• Own pricing control for both purchase and sales by validating standard costs, monitoring actual vs standard, and ensuring pricing decisions protect target margins
• Lead and track cost optimization projects across material, conversion, overheads, and logistics, with clear baselines, savings tracking, and governance.
• Monitor inflationary impact and extraordinary costs (energy, freight, forex, etc.) and ensure timely visibility in product costing and profitability reports.
• Handle fixed asset accounting for the plant including capitalization, depreciation, CWIP tracking, and ensuring compliance with internal and statutory guidelines
• Support and co-own MIS, monthly closing packs, forecasts, annual budgets, and rolling cost plans, ensuring accurate absorption of overheads and COGS reporting.
• Track and report key operational KPIs (OEE, yield, scrap, rework, productivity, machine utilization, etc.) and link them to cost and margin impact.
• Oversee inventory accounting and control for raw materials, WIP, and finished goods, including standard cost setting, variance analysis, and ageing/slow-moving inventory reviews

Education

• Qualified Cost & Management Accountant (CMA) is mandatory

Experience

• Minimum 6 years of experience in product costing and cost accounting in a manufacturing environment
• Exposure to sheet metal / steel / fabrication or discrete manufacturing industry will be strongly preferred due to the complexity of routing, BOMs, and machine-hour based costing.

Competencies and skills

• Strong hands-on expertise in standard costing, BOM and routing review, overhead allocation, variance analysis, and CVP/profitability modeling at product and customer level.
• Good understanding of the time–cost–performance triangle of products:
• Time: cycle time, changeover time, machine utilization, and impact on capacity and throughput.
• Cost: material yield, scrap, rework, conversion cost per unit, and overhead absorption.
• Performance: quality, rejection rates, on-time delivery, and their impact on margins and customer profitability.
• Proficiency in ERP/manufacturing systems (SAP/Oracle or similar) and strong Excel/analytic skills for building cost models and sensitivity/what-if analyses.
• Strong business partnering skills with plant operations, procurement, sales, and supply chain; ability to challenge assumptions and drive cost transparency.
• High attention to detail, ownership mindset, and ability to work under tight monthly closing, budgeting, and review timelines.