Cost Accountant

COST ACCOUNTANT

Location: Boksburg / East Rand, Gauteng
Employment Type: Permanent

Take ownership of costing, inventory accuracy and manufacturing profitability.

An established manufacturing business operating within heavy manufactuing is looking for an experienced Cost Accountant to join its finance team.
This is a hands-on role for a costing professional who understands the relationship between production performance, inventory management and financial results. You will play a key role in ensuring that product costs are accurate, margins are protected, and management has the financial insight needed to make informed operational decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain standard costing structures, including raw materials, labour, bought-in components and manufacturing overheads.
• Review Bills of Materials (BOMs), production routings and costing master data to ensure accuracy within the ERP system.
• Prepare monthly cost reports, including cost variances, gross margin analysis and inventory reconciliations.
• Investigate material usage variances, labour recovery, overhead absorption, scrap, rework and production inefficiencies.
• Oversee inventory valuation, work-in-progress reporting, stock counts and the review of obsolete or slow-moving stock.
• Support month-end reporting, manufacturing journals, accruals, provisions and related reconciliations.
• Work closely with Production, Procurement, Engineering and Finance on product costing, supplier pricing, landed costs and make-versus-buy decisions.
• Contribute to budgeting and forecasting through detailed analysis of production costs, inventory and key cost drivers.
• Identify opportunities to reduce waste, improve cost efficiencies and address margin leakage.
• Maintain strong financial controls and provide supporting schedules and documentation for internal and external audits.

Minimum Requirements

• CIMA qualification.
• At least 5 years' cost accounting experience within a manufacturing environment.
• A BCom in Accounting, Cost and Management Accounting or Finance would be advantageous.
• Strong working knowledge of standard costing, BOMs, inventory valuation and manufacturing cost variances.
• Experience working with ERP systems and advanced Microsoft Excel.
• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail and the ability to investigate and resolve costing discrepancies.
• The ability to engage effectively with both finance and operational teams.

The Ideal Candidate

You are commercially minded, analytical and comfortable working close to the production environment. You can interpret costing data, identify the reasons behind variances and translate your findings into practical recommendations.
You take ownership of accuracy, understand the importance of robust financial controls and are motivated by finding ways to improve manufacturing performance and profitability.

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