Cost Accountant - hybrid remote

Are you an accounting professional who enjoys digging into the numbers to uncover opportunities for improved efficiency and profitability? Our client, a growing manufacturer based in South Jersey, is looking for a Cost Accountant to join its finance team and play a key role in driving operational and financial performance.

This position offers significant cross-functional exposure, partnering with operations, engineering, procurement, supply chain, and leadership to ensure accurate product costing, strengthen inventory controls, and support strategic business decisions.

• Maintain and update standard costs for raw materials, labor, and overhead within the ERP system.
• Analyze manufacturing variances, including material usage, labor, overhead, production, and purchase price fluctuations.
• Provide meaningful reporting and recommendations to management regarding cost trends and operational performance.
• Assist with month-end and year-end close activities related to inventory, cost of goods sold, and manufacturing accounts.
• Ensure accurate valuation of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods inventory.
• Monitor inventory reserves and support compliance with GAAP and internal control requirements.

• Collaborate with plant leadership, engineering, procurement, and supply chain teams to improve costing accuracy and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Participate in new product costing, bill of materials development, and manufacturing process improvements.
• Help design and enhance production workflows while partnering with IT to optimize ERP functionality.

• Support physical inventory counts and cycle count programs, including reconciliations and reporting.
• Develop reporting that measures margins, production costs, and plant performance.
• Recommend improvements that strengthen inventory controls, reporting accuracy, and operational efficiency.

• Assist with annual budgeting and forecasting for manufacturing expenses, labor, overhead, and inventory.
• Provide financial analysis for freight, warehousing, tariffs, and other operational cost areas.
• Serve as a trusted business partner by translating financial data into actionable insights.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting
• 2+ years of cost accounting experience within a manufacturing or industrial environment
• Strong understanding of standard costing, inventory accounting, work-in-process (WIP), bills of materials (BOMs), overhead allocations, production reporting, cycle counts and physical inventories.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience working with ERP systems
• Solid understanding of GAAP and internal controls
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate across departments