Cost Accountant and Commodity Hedging Analyst

Summary

The Cost Accountant & Commodity Hedging Analyst is a dual-role position responsible for ensuring the accuracy and integrity of manufacturing cost data while overseeing the company’s commodity risk management activities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintain and analyze production costs by product, production run, and customer.
• Track material, labor, and overhead costs at the batch or order level to support accurate margin analysis and operational decision-making.
• Identify cost trends, inefficiencies, and anomalies by reviewing variances between expected and actual production results.
• Partner with operations and production teams to improve cost visibility and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support month-end close processes including inventory valuation, cost allocations, and reconciliation of WIP and finished goods.
• Partner with information systems to develop and maintain reporting tools to provide insights into yield losses, downtime, material usage, and customer profitability.
• Assist in refining cost tracking processes and integrating them into ERP systems for improved real-time decision support.
• Coordinate the purchase, sale, and management of futures contracts to hedge against copper price fluctuations.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders to understand hedging needs and develop effective hedging strategies.
• Monitor market conditions and trends to identify opportunities and risks related to futures contracts.
• Oversee the hedging operations, ensuring compliance with established policies and procedures.
• Analyze hedge effectiveness and make recommendations for adjustments as needed.
• Reconcile hedge positions and transactions to broker statements on a regular basis, ensuring accuracy and completeness.
• Reconcile physical inventories and sales order book to open hedge position on a weekly basis.
• Collaborate with accounting team to ensure proper recording and reporting of hedge transactions.
• Stay up-to-date on regulatory requirements and industry best practices related to futures trading and hedging activities.
• Assist in physical inventory used for hedging and monthly valuation.
• Serve as backup resource for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general accounting functions.
• Participate in year-end reporting and annual audits.
• Research and incorporate improvements and advancements in technology.
• Other projects as they arise.

Qualifications

• Safety Policies and Practices: Employee must be knowledgeable of and follow the company's safety policies and procedures.
• Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance is required (CPA or CMA is a plus). Two or more years of experience in cost accounting with a manufacturing environment is preferred. Two or more years exposure to futures trading, hedging operations, or risk management, preferably in a manufacturing or commodity trading environment is also preferred.
• Mathematical Skills: Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, and volume.
• Computer Application Skills: Windows Operating System; Microsoft Office Suite of products which include Excel, Access, Outlook, Word; Crystal Reports, Great Plains Modules and Microsoft Dynamics GP.
• Reasoning Abilities: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to fumes and/or airborne particles of copper or zinc dust, outside weather conditions, and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.