Cost Accounting Manager at Nordic Naturals

<p><strong>Salary: 131K - 146K</strong></p> <p><strong>Location - Vista, CA</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>POSITION SUMMARY</strong></p> <p>The&nbsp;<strong>Cost Accounting Manager</strong> is an experienced cost accounting leader responsible for building and leading the<br>cost accounting function within Operations Finance, including standard costing, inventory valuation,<br>manufacturing variance analysis, multi-plant inventory reconciliation, and margin reporting in SAP S/4HANA. This<br>role partners closely with Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Warehouse teams across multiple<br>manufacturing plants to ensure product costs are accurately captured and reported, and plays a key role in<br>strengthening cost accounting processes and controls as the Operations Finance function scales.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS</strong></p> <p><strong>Reasonable Accommodations Statement</strong><br>To accomplish this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform, with or without reasonable<br>accommodation, each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to help enable<br>qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.</p> <p><strong>Essential Function Statements</strong></p> <p><strong>Standard Costing and Inventory Valuation</strong></p> <ul> <li>Maintain and update standard costs for raw materials, packaging, and finished goods in SAP S/4HANA,<br>ensuring costs reflect current bills of materials (BOMs) and routings across all manufacturing plants.</li> <li>Oversee annual and periodic standard cost rolls in SAP S/4HANA, including labor and overhead rate<br>development.</li> <li>Ensure inventory is properly valued in SAP S/4HANA and reconciled to the general ledger across all<br>manufacturing plants and distribution locations, including raw materials, WIP, and finished goods.</li> <li>Review and approve journal entries related to inventory, cost of goods sold, and manufacturing overhead<br>absorption.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Variance Analysis and Reporting</strong></p> <ul> <li>Analyze and report monthly manufacturing variances — purchase price variance (PPV), material<br>usage/yield variance, labor efficiency variance, and overhead absorption variance — by plant and product<br>line.</li> <li>Partner with plant and manufacturing leadership to identify root causes of variances and drive corrective<br>action plans.</li> <li>Stand up and own the slow-moving and obsolete (SLOB) inventory reserve process, including monitoring<br>scrap and obsolescence, ensuring reserve calculations are timely and well-supported, and driving timely<br>write-off of inventory no longer usable through the Material Review Board (MRB) process.</li> <li>Prepare product margin and cost analysis to support pricing decisions, new product introductions, and<br>manufacturing/operational decision-making.</li> <li>Develop and maintain variance reporting analyses in SAP S/4HANA and BI tools to give plant and<br>executive leadership visibility into cost performance trends.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Month-End Close and Internal Controls</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead month-end close activities related to inventory and cost accounting across all manufacturing plants,<br>ensuring accuracy and timeliness.</li> <li>Maintain and strengthen internal controls over inventory valuation, cost accounting, and physical inventory<br>processes.</li> <li>Coordinate and support physical inventory counts and cycle counts across all plants, including reconciliation<br>of count results to perpetual inventory and the general ledger.</li> <li>Ensure compliance with GAAP, company policy, and audit requirements related to cost accounting and<br>inventory.</li> <li>Perform multi-plant inventory reconciliation each close cycle, reconciling perpetual inventory, inter-<br>plant/intercompany transfers, and in-transit inventory in SAP S/4HANA to the general ledger.</li> <li>Establish and manage a documented month-end close calendar, ownership matrix, and deliverable-review<br>process for cost accounting.</li> </ul> <p><br><strong>Cross-Functional Partnership and Process Improvement</strong></p> <ul> <li>Serve as the finance partner to Manufacturing, Warehouse, and Supply Chain across all manufacturing plants<br>on cost-related questions and decisions.</li> <li>Identify and lead process improvement initiatives to increase the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of cost<br>accounting processes.</li> <li>Support the build-out of the Operations Finance function, including documentation of policies, procedures,<br>and controls.</li> <li>Establish consistent documentation, file-management, and workpaper standards so analyses and close<br>support are complete, traceable, and readily accessible.</li> <li>Directly supervise, coach, and develop cost accounting staff; set clear priorities, deadlines, and quality<br>expectations for the team.</li> <li>Performs other duties as assigned.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>POSITION QUALIFICATIONS</strong></p> <p><strong>Competency Statements</strong><br>• Analytical - Ability to gather, interpret, and draw sound conclusions from complex cost and financial data.<br>• Detail Oriented - Ability to pay close attention to the accuracy of costs, variances, and financial data.<br>• Problem Solving - Ability to identify root causes of issues and drive them to resolution.<br>• Leadership - Ability to lead, coach, and develop staff, and to influence cross-functional partners without<br>direct authority.<br>• Communication - Ability to clearly communicate financial concepts to non-finance audiences.<br>• Initiative - Ability to make decisions or take action to solve a problem or reach a goal.<br>• Organized - Possessing the trait of being organized or following a systematic method of performing a task.<br>• Reliability - The trait of being dependable and trustworthy.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>SKILLS AND ABILITIES</strong></p> <p><strong>Education</strong></p> <ul> <li>Required: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or a related field.</li> <li>Preferred: CPA, CMA, or MBA.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Experience&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>7-10+ years of progressive cost accounting or manufacturing accounting experience, including standard<br>costing, inventory valuation, variance analysis, and multi-plant inventory reconciliation.</li> <li>3+ years of experience in a supervisory or people-management capacity, leading cost accounting or<br>manufacturing accounting staff.</li> <li>Hands-on experience with SAP S/4HANA strongly preferred, including the Materials Management (MM) and<br>Controlling (CO) modules, standard cost estimates, and month-end close processes.</li> <li>Manufacturing environment experience required, ideally within a multi-plant/multi-site organization; food,<br>supplements, or CPG industry experience strongly preferred.</li> <li>Strong understanding of GAAP as it relates to inventory and cost accounting.</li> <li>Experience supporting or leading physical inventory and cycle count processes across multiple locations.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Computer Skills</strong></p> <ul> <li>Advanced Excel skills, including financial modeling and large data set analysis.</li> <li>Hands-on proficiency with SAP S/4HANA (Controlling and Materials Management modules) and<br>cost/inventory transactions; familiarity with other ERP/MRP systems (Oracle, NetSuite, etc.) a plus.</li> <li>Experience with BI/reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau) a plus.</li> </ul>