Cost Control Specialist

Job Title

Cost Control Specialist

(Manufacturing/Industrial Environment)

Reporting Line:

Financial Controller

Role Purpose:

To support commercial and manufacturing decision-making through Sales performance analysis, sales margin analysis, accurate product costing, production variance analysis, inventory analytics. Ensuring integrity of cost of goods sold (COGS), margins, and financial reporting in a multi-plant manufacturing environment.

The role acts as a bridge between Sales, supply chain, production and finance, providing actionable cost and margin insights while maintaining strong control over manufacturing and commercial finance processes.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Finance & Sales Support

• Prepare sales margin analysis by product, customer, and market.
• Support pricing decisions through estimated product cost calculations for new and existing products.
• Assist sales and management teams with Sales performance insights. (Sales Price & volume variances analysis vs Budgets by product, segment and market.
• Support in preparation and compilation of annual Sales budgets by BU.

Manufacturing Costing & Production Accounting

• Perform production order variance analysis and closure for manufacturing orders across plants.
• Analyse material, labour, overhead, and machine hour variances, identifying root causes and corrective actions.
• Review and validate Bills of Materials (BOMs) in coordination with R&D and production teams.
• Calculate and periodically update applied overhead rates by work centre.
• Run monthly standard cost calculations, including:
• Actual cost based on average raw material prices
• Simulated cost scenarios incorporating current RM prices and rebate factors

Inventory Analysis & Control

• Prepare and review inventory ageing reports, highlighting slow-moving and obsolete inventory risks.
• Support inventory valuation accuracy and coordination with stores and supply chain teams.
• Perform periodic physical inventory counts.

Monthly end closing activities.

• Reconcile group wide Sales to General ledger on a monthly basis.
• Reconcile COGS to general ledger on a monthly basis.
• Calculate and post export freight cost & logistics cost accruals, including:
• Differential freight cost vs system freight module
• Periodic review and validation of freight accrual balances
• Calculate and manage accruals for:
• Customer rebates and incentive schemes
• Sales commissions
• Export freight, customs duty, and marine insurance on sales
• Product claims, quality complaints, and customer provisions
• Ensure accurate scheduling, reconciliation, and clearance of accrued balances.
• Contribute to monthly closing activities and adherence to month end targets.
• Ensure compliance with authority matrix and internal control requirements.

Qualifications & Professional Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance
• Professional certification in Cost & Management accounting (ACMA, CMA or equivalent.)
• 5+ years of experience in cost accountant role within a manufacturing industry.

Computing & Technical Skills

• ERP functional experience. (Infor, MS Dynamics, SAP, etc.)

• MS office (Excel, power point, Word) – Expert

• Hands on experience with Charts and Graphs.