Careers

COST ACCOUNTANT

Operational Finance & Manufacturing Performance

Position Overview

We are seeking an analytical Cost Accountant to strengthen cost visibility, operational planning, and profitability across a process-driven manufacturing environment. This role goes beyond transaction reporting: it connects plant activity, inventory movement, purchasing, and financial results so leaders can make better operating decisions. The ideal candidate brings hands-on SAP experience, sound accounting judgment, advanced Excel capability, and a practical approach to continuous improvement.

What You’ll Own

Collect, validate, and interpret manufacturing, inventory, purchasing, labor, and overhead data used in operational reporting.

Maintain and improve product cost models, allocation methods, standard costs, and supporting master data within SAP.

Investigate differences between actual, standard, forecasted, and budgeted performance; explain the operational drivers behind material variances.

Evaluate profitability by product, customer, channel, or business segment and translate findings into clear recommendations.

Partner with operations, procurement, supply chain, and leadership to assess the financial impact of production and sourcing decisions.

Support annual budgets, periodic forecasts, scenario analysis, capacity planning, and operating-expense projections.

Provide financial input for pricing reviews, productivity initiatives, capital requests, and cost-reduction opportunities.

Reconcile cost and inventory activity, research data issues, and help maintain reliable financial and operational records.

Build useful analyses and reporting views in Excel and available business-intelligence tools to improve decision support.

Strengthen procedures, documentation, controls, and repeatable workflows related to costing and operational finance.

Complete additional accounting and business-analysis assignments as priorities evolve.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a closely related discipline.

At least three years of progressive accounting experience, including meaningful exposure to cost, inventory, manufacturing, or operational finance.

A minimum of two years working directly in SAP; the ability to navigate, extract, reconcile, and interpret SAP data is required.

Working knowledge of product costing, standard-cost methodologies, overhead allocation, inventory accounting, and variance analysis.

Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and strong proficiency with standard Microsoft Office applications.

Strong numerical accuracy, careful attention to detail, and the discipline to protect confidential financial information.

Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to explain financial results to non-finance partners.

A proactive, results-focused work style and a demonstrated commitment to process improvement; able to work in the office each business day in the Galena Park area east of downtown Houston.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience supporting a manufacturing, industrial, chemical, agricultural-products, or similarly asset-intensive operation.

Familiarity with electronic document workflows, EDI/IDoc processing, or related SAP integration concepts.

Working knowledge of Sage or another accounting platform used alongside an enterprise ERP.

Exposure to Power BI, Tableau, or comparable reporting and visualization tools.

Experience contributing to pricing analysis, capital planning, capacity modeling, or cross-functional cost-improvement initiatives.

Success in This Role

Cost and inventory reporting is accurate, timely, well-supported, and trusted by operational leaders.

Variances are identified early, explained in business terms, and connected to practical corrective actions.

Decision-makers gain clearer visibility into product economics, margin drivers, and resource utilization.

Forecasts and operating plans reflect credible assumptions drawn from current plant and supply-chain activity.

Costing processes, SAP data quality, and analytical tools become more consistent, efficient, and scalable over time.

Working Relationship

This individual-contributor role has no direct reports and works closely with accounting, plant operations, procurement, supply chain, commercial teams, and business leadership. Responsibilities may be adjusted as business needs change; the description is intended to summarize the role rather than list every assignment that may be required.