Cost Accountant Manager Jobs in Indiana (NOW HIRING)

We are seeking a Cost Accountant to support the accurate capture, analysis, and reporting of manufacturing costs across the business. This role will be responsible for maintaining the integrity of costing processes, analyzing manufacturing and inventory variances, supporting project accounting and forecasting, and providing financial insight to operational leadership.

The Cost Accountant will work closely with production, supply chain, procurement, engineering, and commercial teams to understand cost drivers, evaluate profitability, identify opportunities for improvement, and support informed business decisions.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience in a manufacturing environment, with a strong understanding of standard costing, inventory accounting, variance analysis, bills of materials, production orders, and manufacturing processes. Experience with percentage-of-completion / over-time accounting and revenue recognition is highly valued.

Key Responsibilities

Product Costing & Project Accounting

• Support the development of project budgets, cost estimates, and financial forecasts.
• Coordinate with operational and business leadership on project accounting and estimate-to-complete activities.
• Monitor actual project costs, including labor, materials, and overhead, and compare performance against established budgets.
• Ensure bills of materials, routings, and other costing data are accurately maintained within the ERP system.
• Support new product introductions by developing detailed cost estimates and profitability analyses.
• Identify and communicate key cost drivers that may impact project or product profitability.

Variance Analysis & Financial Reporting

• Prepare and analyze manufacturing variances on a weekly and monthly basis, including purchase price, material usage, labor efficiency, and overhead variances.
• Investigate significant variances and work cross-functionally to understand root causes and identify corrective actions.
• Prepare monthly manufacturing cost reporting for finance and operational leadership.
• Monitor consumables usage, scrap, yield losses, warranty, and rework costs.
• Identify trends in manufacturing performance and communicate opportunities for improvement.
• Provide clear and actionable variance commentary to management.

Inventory Accounting & Control

• Maintain accurate inventory valuations across raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods.
• Support periodic and annual physical inventory counts and reconcile physical inventory to ERP records.
• Investigate and resolve inventory discrepancies.
• Ensure appropriate inventory adjustments and write-offs are properly documented.
• Monitor slow-moving, obsolete, and excess inventory and make appropriate provisioning recommendations.
• Partner with operations and supply chain to improve inventory accuracy and controls.

Budgeting & Forecasting

• Support the annual budgeting process for COGS, manufacturing overhead, and operating expenses.
• Prepare monthly cost forecasts and rolling estimates.
• Develop bridge analyses explaining variances between budget, forecast, and actual results.
• Support monthly close and management reporting activities.
• Assist with preparation of financial reporting and presentations for senior leadership.

Cost Improvement & Business Partnership

• Partner with operations, engineering, procurement, and supply chain teams to identify cost reduction and efficiency opportunities.
• Quantify the financial impact of operational improvement initiatives.
• Support business cases, operational restructuring analyses, and other strategic initiatives with relevant financial data and modeling.
• Assist in developing and improving operational KPIs and performance metrics.
• Provide ad hoc financial analysis and decision support to operational leadership.
• Act as a finance business partner by translating financial results into actionable operational insights.

Compliance, Controls & Systems

• Ensure cost accounting activities comply with applicable accounting policies, US GAAP, and internal control requirements.
• Support internal and external audits by providing accurate financial information and supporting documentation.
• Maintain accurate cost and master data within the ERP system.
• Identify opportunities to improve ERP data quality, costing processes, and reporting efficiency.
• Maintain documentation of costing methodologies, processes, and controls.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives within the finance and accounting function.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 3–5+ years of experience in cost accounting, plant accounting, management accounting, or a similar role within a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Strong experience with standard costing, variance analysis, and inventory accounting.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes, including bills of materials, routings, production orders, labor, material, and overhead costs.
• Experience working with ERP systems and strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, lookups, and financial modeling.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a high degree of attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate financial information effectively to non-finance stakeholders.

Preferred

• CPA, CMA, CIMA, ACCA, or other relevant accounting qualification/certification.
• Experience with percentage-of-completion or over-time accounting.
• Familiarity with ASC 606 / revenue recognition principles.
• Experience with lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, or Six Sigma initiatives.
• Experience supporting a multinational or multi-site organization.
• Familiarity with business intelligence and reporting tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar platforms.
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics or another modern ERP platform.

Key Competencies

• Analytical: Able to identify trends, investigate variances, and understand the operational drivers behind financial results.
• Detail-Oriented: Maintains a high level of accuracy across costing, inventory, reporting, and financial analysis.
• Business-Minded: Looks beyond the numbers to understand how operational decisions impact financial performance.
• Communicative: Can clearly explain financial concepts and results to plant and operational leaders.
• Proactive: Identifies issues and opportunities rather than simply reporting historical results.
• Collaborative: Builds effective relationships across finance, operations, procurement, supply chain, and engineering.
• Organized: Able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Continuous Improvement Mindset: Comfortable challenging existing processes and identifying ways to improve efficiency, accuracy, and controls.