Cost Accountant

Department: Finance

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Valencia, California

Reporting To: Director of Finance

Compensation: $90,000 - $130,000 / year

Description

The Cost Accountant, with support from management, will be responsible for all activities related to costing including the administration of the Company’s cost accounting system, standard cost development and cost activities including reporting and inventory management. This position will also be responsible for other general staff accounting areas including variance analysis and balance sheet reconciliations. The ideal candidate will have a good solid understanding of how standard costing systems work and a good base on general accepted accounting principles. Knowles Cazenovia, Inc. is a fast-growing manufacturing company. This candidate will have the opportunity to work for a dynamic organization.

This position reports to the Controller and works closely with other accounting professionals in the department. This position manages, facilitates, and acts as primary liaison to other internal functional areas as it relates to standard costs. There are no direct reports for this position.

Key Responsibilities

General

• Support General and Cost Accounting functions for Knowles Valencia

• Helps maintain standard costs/inventory valuation

Task Transactions

• Validate and reconcile month-end inventory balances and prepare monthly closing entries.

• Partner with manufacturing operational and supply chain functions to drive improvement regarding make vs. buy decisions, machine and labor utilization, material cost savings, working capital reductions and other operational improvement initiatives.

• Maintain accuracy and integrity of cost standards by reviewing product standard costs and evaluating routings, costs and assumptions used in product bill of materials.

• Update product standard costs periodically, including the review and processing of standard cost rolls.

• Ensure accuracy of inventory reported through reconciliation of cost activity/transactions and cycle count programs.

• Responsible for supporting cycle count program as well as the coordination of the annual physical inventory.

• Investigate and implement corrective actions regarding operational variances including, but not limited to production order, overhead, purchase price and scrap variances.

• Provide cost estimates for new products.

• Record monthly in-transit inventory from 3rd Party suppliers and to/from intercompany entities.

• Ensure Company policies and procedures are adhered to and comply with US GAAP standards.

Reporting

• Assist in variance explanations for monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements.

• Prepare, research and provide cost center variance reports for review.

• Provide daily and monthly consolidated inventory reports.

• Provide weekly variance and utilization reports to assist in variance explanation and with the development of corrective action plans.

• Provide weekly material pricing reports to assist in variance explanation and correction.

• Communicate variances and significant issues to Management Team and Operations.

• Provide Annual Physical Inventory Report comparing physical inventory to perpetual.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Finance is required

• Self-directed, highly professional and collaborative

• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• Strong critical thinking skills

• Comfortable working through conflict to resolution

• Experience with Oracle and experience in a cross-functional environment are a plus

• 2+ years’ accounting experience in a manufacturing environment preferred

• Experience in standard costing is preferred

• Sarbanes Oxley experience is preferred

Benefits

What's in it for you on Day 1:

• Medical, dental and vision insurance plans

• Prescription Drug Plans

• Basic Life Insurance

• 401k plan with company match

• Tuition Reimbursement Program

• Employee Referral Program

• PTO (10 days) and Sick and Safe Leave

• Paid Holidays

• Employee Appreciation Events

Knowles is committed to providing a competitive and fair total compensation package for all employees.

One element in our total compensation package is base pay. The starting base pay for this role is targeted to be between $90,000 to $130,000 per year.

Individual compensation decisions are based on a number of factors, including but not limited to previous experience and skills acquired prior to joining Knowles, cost of living in the assigned work location, assigned schedule, and salaries of similarly situated peers at the company. It is to be expected that candidates will come to us with different sets of skills and experiences and therefore will be paid at different points in the stated range. We recognize that the person(s) we select for hire may be less experienced or more experienced than the role as posted; if this is the case, any updates to available salary ranges will be communicated with candidates during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Statement: We prohibit pay discrimination and discrimination of any kind based on race, color, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or other legally protected status.

Notice to Staffing Agencies, Search Firms and Recruitment Agencies: The recruitment process at Knowles is managed through the Human Resources department. Knowles does not accept resumes submitted from 3rd party agencies outside of our system. To submit resumes, 3rd party agencies will need to be a pre-approved vendor with a valid contract in place, be actively engaged by Knowles to recruit for a specific position and have agency log in credentials to submit candidates to our careers portal. Please do not submit resumes via e-mail, through our external website or directly to our employees. Any resumes submitted in this way become the property of Knowles and will not be eligible for any placement fee.