Cost and Accounting Analyst

Duties & Responsibilities

• Maintain and monitor inventory valuation under FIFO methodology, ensuring accurate cost layering and cost of goods sold
• Reconcile inventory subledger to general ledger on a monthly basis
• Analyze and validate purchase costs, landed costs, and freight-in allocations
• Review and investigate inventory adjustments, write-offs, and obsolescence reserves
• Support periodic cycle counts and physical inventory counts, including variance analysis
• Prepare and analyze gross margin reporting by product, customer, and channel
• Identify drivers of margin variance including: Purchase price changes, Freight and logistics costs, Vendor rebates and incentives
• Perform variance analysis between actual and expected cost trends
• Provide actionable insights on: Pricing decisions, Inventory mix and turns
• Support month-end close with: Inventory journal entries, COGS adjustments and accruals, Inventory reserve analysis
• Prepare monthly cost and inventory reporting packages for management
• Aid in financial statement flux explanations related to inventory and margin
• Maintain and improve cost accounting processes, data integrity, and internal controls
• Ensure proper classification of: Inventory vs. expense, Freight and handling costs
• Partner with IT/ERP teams to support inventory and costing system configuration
• Assist with audit support (inventory, COGS, and controls)
• Work with supply chain and operations to: Validate inventory movements and costing accuracy, Improve three-way match and purchasing data quality
• Partner with FP&A to support: Forecasting of gross margin and inventory levels
• Support initiatives to improve: Inventory turns, Working capital management

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• Or an additional 4 years of relevant work experience in lieu of a degree
• 3-5 years of experience in: Cost accounting, inventory accounting, or distribution finance
• Strong understanding of: FIFO inventory accounting, GAAP inventory valuation
• Experience with ERP systems (NetSuite, Infor M3, or similar preferred)
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, modeling, data analysis)

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• High attention to detail and data integrity
• Ability to explain cost drivers to non-finance partners
• Process-oriented with a focus on controls and scalability
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, operationally driven environment