Cost Accountant

Description

Cost Accountant

Location: City of Industry, CA (HQ)

Work Model: Onsite 

Reports To: ES Controller / Senior Finance Leader

Overview

Since 1904, Nelson Miller Group (NMG) has been a leading global provider of custom engineering and manufacturing solutions across industrial, IoT, lighting, medical, telecommunications, consumer, and aerospace & defense sectors. 

We bring ideas to life through global Joint Design Manufacturing—helping customers innovate, grow, and deliver products the world can depend on.

At the heart of our culture is The Nelson Miller Group Way: Unleash the Power of One — One Global Team / One Vision / One Commitment.

Our century-long legacy is built on a deep commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and unwavering customer satisfaction—principles strengthened by our TEAM core values: Take Ownership, Exceed Expectations, Act with Integrity, and Make an Impact.

Job Summary: 

The Cost Accountant supports the Engineering Solutions (ES) business by maintaining accurate product and job costs, strengthening inventory controls, and translating operating activity into clear financial insight. This role partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, and Finance to improve cost visibility, protect margins, and support timely decision-making across ES locations.

The successful candidate will combine strong accounting discipline with a practical understanding of manufacturing. The role requires regular engagement with plant and commercial teams, thoughtful analysis of cost and margin variances, and ownership of key close, costing, and inventory processes within Epicor Kinetic.

Responsibilities:

Product, Job and Standard Costing

• Maintain and validate standard costs, cost rolls, bills of material, routings, labor rates, burden rates, and overhead assumptions in Epicor Kinetic.

• Analyze actual versus standard material, labor, burden, subcontract, freight, tariff, and other landed-cost variances; identify root causes and recommend corrective actions.

• Review job performance, estimated-at-completion costs, job close activity, and cost exceptions to ensure timely and accurate financial recognition.

• Partner with Engineering and Operations to validate manufacturing assumptions, labor standards, scrap factors, yields, cycle times, and routing accuracy.

• Support cost estimates and financial review of new products, engineering changes, sourcing decisions, make-versus-buy analyses, and customer quotations.

Inventory and Manufacturing Accounting

• Reconcile inventory, work-in-process, accrued receipts, subcontract activity, purchase price variance, and related manufacturing accounts to the general ledger.

• Monitor inventory valuation, negative inventory, unissued material, backflush exceptions, obsolete and excess inventory, scrap, rework, and cycle-count adjustments.

• Participate in physical inventories and cycle-count programs, including planning, control testing, variance investigation, and reporting.

• Ensure transactions are recorded in accordance with U.S. GAAP and company policy, including appropriate capitalization of direct labor and manufacturing overhead into inventory.

• Strengthen controls over item setup, cost changes, inventory adjustments, job completion, job closing, and manufacturing-related journal entries.

Month-End Close and Financial Analysis

• Own assigned month-end close activities, including journal entries, account reconciliations, accruals, variance analysis, and management reporting.

• Prepare monthly material margin, gross margin, purchase price variance, labor efficiency, overhead absorption, inventory, and job profitability analyses.

• Explain material financial variances versus budget, forecast, prior year, and standard using clear operational drivers.

• Support forecasts, annual budgets, cost-center planning, and development of manufacturing and gross-margin assumptions.

• Provide timely analysis of low-margin or loss-making orders, unusual transactions, and emerging cost trends.

Business Partnership and Continuous Improvement

• Serve as a trusted finance partner to ES plant leadership, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, and Customer Service.

• Translate cost data into actionable recommendations related to pricing, sourcing, productivity, scrap, freight, tariffs, and manufacturing efficiency.

• Develop and improve dashboards, recurring reports, and key performance indicators that increase visibility into product, customer, and site profitability.

• Help standardize costing and inventory processes across ES locations and support ERP, master-data, and process-improvement initiatives.

• Assist with internal and external audit requests and maintain clear supporting documentation for key controls and accounting conclusions.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

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

• Three or more years of accounting experience, including meaningful exposure to cost accounting in a manufacturing environment.

• Working knowledge of standard costing, job costing, inventory accounting, overhead absorption, variance analysis, and month-end close.

• Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, data analysis, and reconciliation of large data sets.

• Ability to investigate transactions from source document through ERP subledger and general ledger.

• Strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to manage priorities and meet close deadlines.

• Clear written and verbal communication skills and the confidence to work cross-functionally with both financial and operational teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Epicor Kinetic or another manufacturing ERP system.

• Experience in engineered products, electronics, nameplates, membrane switches, human-machine interfaces, contract manufacturing, or a related industrial environment.

• Experience supporting multiple plants, product lines, or legal entities.

• Familiarity with Power BI, SQL, business-intelligence tools, or automated reporting.

• CPA, CMA, or progress toward a professional accounting certification.

Success Measures

• Accurate and timely close, reconciliations, and manufacturing journal entries.

• Reliable product, job, and inventory costs in Epicor.

• Faster identification and resolution of margin, inventory, and cost variances.

• Improved visibility into material margin, labor performance, overhead absorption, and job profitability.

• Stronger inventory controls, cleaner manufacturing accounts, and fewer recurring exceptions.

• Credible, responsive partnership with ES operating and commercial leaders.

Work Environment and Other Requirements

· This position operates in both office and manufacturing environments and may require periodic presence on the production floor, participation in physical inventory activities, and travel to other ES locations. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals to perform the essential functions of the role.

· ITAR/CUI compliance requires U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident, or Protected Individual.

· Pre-employment background check required.

Compensation and Benefits:

Pay Range: $92k - $100k plus a target bonus potential based on company performance (Pay to be determined by the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the candidate, and alignment with market data) 

Benefits Offered: Comprehensive benefit package including medical, dental and vision coverage; company-paid basic life/AD&D insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance; voluntary supplemental insurances, flexible spending accounts and employee assistance program (EAP). Sick Leave, Vacation Time, and company-paid Holidays are also provided as paid time off. 

Nelson Miller Group also provides a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan option with a safe harbor non-elective company contribution.

Nelson Miller Group is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex including sexual orientation and gender identity, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.