About the role
Third State Management is recruiting a Cost Accountant on behalf of a confidential manufacturing client. The company name is withheld at this stage. Reporting to the Controller in the Accounting department, this exempt position supports accurate financial statements, production and inventory reporting, cost allocations, and fixed-asset accounting across manufacturing operations and business units. The role has no direct supervisory responsibilities. The Cost Accountant works with accounting, human resources, manufacturing leadership, other business leaders, external accountants, and software support providers. Work is performed in accordance with company policies, accounting principles, and environmental and quality management requirements. Location: Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Schedule: Full-time, on-site. Salary: $80,000–$90,000 annually.
Responsibilities
Inventory and cost accounting • Reconcile and analyze raw-material and finished-goods inventory by division, prepare supporting workpapers, and reconcile balances to the general ledger. • Review manufacturing expenses, inventory movements, batch closings, intercompany transfers, and warehouse inventory levels for accuracy. • Prepare monthly production reports, including wage and production-volume allocations. • Calculate and maintain manufacturing and business-unit cost allocations, labor rates, and manufacturing rates in financial and payroll systems. • Record inventory adjustments for laboratory usage. • Coordinate physical inventories with production supervisors and plant management; oversee counts and ERP entries, analyze discrepancies, and help identify causes. • Prepare inventory comparisons, trends, quarantine, offsite inventory, manufacturing-overhead, usage, and open-purchase reports. Financial reporting and sales • Generate consignment and laboratory-usage invoices and assist with credit memo entries. • Prepare manufacturing-unit income statements, monthly margin reports, and month-over-month financial statements. • Analyze gross-profit percentages and report significant monthly variances. • Prepare sales-commission accrual workpapers and journal entries; review commissions and rebates for payment. • Reconcile monthly sales and cost of goods sold, post sales reclassifications and customer rebates, and prepare business-unit sales reports. Fixed assets and payroll • Assign asset numbers to capital projects and track costs by asset and category. • Determine depreciation methods and in-service dates, maintain fixed-asset records, reconcile to the general ledger, and post monthly depreciation entries. • Coordinate Section 179 and bonus depreciation treatment with the Accounting Manager under applicable IRS guidelines. • Post general-ledger entries for biweekly payroll, bonuses, and gifts; maintain employee and payroll allocation changes. • Complete special projects as assigned.
Qualifications
• College degree in Accounting, Business Management, or a related field. • Five or more years of cost accounting experience. • Working knowledge of accounting principles and computerized spreadsheets. • Minimum typing speed of 45 corrected words per minute. • Good interpersonal and communication skills. • Ability to use standard office equipment, including a calculator, computer, typewriter, printer, fax, and copier. Physical requirements The role involves prolonged sitting; brief periods of walking, including stairs; bending and reaching to file paperwork; written and in-person communication; and entering information in manual records and computerized systems.