Cost Accountant/Financial Analyst - IN OFFICE POSITION

Job Summary

Responsible for job costing, financial analysis, and reporting in a CNC machining and gear cutting job shop environment. This role owns job-level cost tracking from quote to close — analyzing actual vs. estimated costs on machined and gear-cut parts, maintaining machine and labor rates, and partnering with and shop floor leadership to protect margins on every job.

Key Responsibilities

•    Maintain job cost records for each work order, capturing material, direct labor, machine time, tooling, and outside processing (heat treat, plating, grinding, gear inspection)

•    Analyze actual vs. quoted/estimated costs at job close-out; report margin erosion and root causes (setup overruns, cycle time variances, scrap, rework)

•    Develop and maintain machine hour rates by work center (CNC lathes, mills, hobbing, shaping, gear grinding) including depreciation, tooling, and overhead

•    Support estimating/quoting with cost data on setup times, run times, material yield, and outside service costs; perform quote vs. actual analysis to improve future quoting accuracy

•    Track and analyze setup vs. run time by job and machine; identify low-margin part numbers and customers

•    Reconcile WIP by job and perform monthly WIP valuation, including percent-complete assessment on long-running jobs

•    Monitor scrap, rework, and first-pass yield by job, machine, and operator; quantify cost impact

•    Track perishable tooling costs (inserts, hobs, cutters, grinding wheels) and allocate to jobs/work centers

•    Cost and reconcile raw material (bar stock, forgings, castings) 

•    Analyze capital requests for new machines (ROI, payback, capacity impact on machine rates)

•    Support month-end close: WIP-to-finished goods transfers, COGS, inventory reserves (slow-moving, obsolete), and job cost journal entries

•    Assist with physical inventory and cycle counts of raw material, WIP, tooling, and finished goods

•    Partner with operations and purchasing on cost reduction and pricing decisions

•    Provide backup & support to Division Controller on critical job functions (Banking, payroll, financial close, KPI & Scorecard reporting, special projects & initiatives as assigned)

Qualifications

•    Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

•    2–5 years of cost accounting experience in a job shop, machine shop, or manufacturing environment

•    Working knowledge of job costing, machine hour rate development, and WIP accounting

•    Familiarity with routings, work orders, and shop floor data collection (labor/machine time reporting)

•    ERP experience with job shop systems (e.g., JobBOSS, E2/ProShop, Global Shop, Epicor, Infor, or similar)

•    Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, cost models)

•    Solid understanding of GAAP as applied to inventory and cost of sales

•    CPA, CMA, or progress toward certification a plus

•    Ability to walk the shop floor and communicate effectively with machinists and supervisors 

Preferred Experience

•    Exposure to gear manufacturing processes (hobbing, shaping, gear grinding, heat treatment) and their cost drivers

•    Experience supporting quoting/estimating in a make-to-order environment