Cost Accountant

Company Description

Element Six has an exciting opportunity for a Cost Accountant to join our Global Costing Finance Team, reporting to the Cost Accounting Manager. This is a key role providing high-quality cost accounting, inventory and operational finance support across our High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) businesses.

Based at our production site in Shannon, you will play an important part in supporting operational and commercial decision-making. Working closely with colleagues across production, finance and commercial teams, you will ensure that costing information is accurate, timely and well controlled. Your responsibilities will include cost accounting for both HPHT and CVD operations, budgeting and forecasting, costing scenarios, manufacturing variance analysis and operational performance reporting. You will also have the opportunity to use digital tools, including Power BI and AI-enabled solutions, to improve the efficiency, quality and insight of financial analysis and reporting.

Job Description

• Manage and maintain standard costing processes, including product standards, purchased material costs, bills of material, routing times, work centre rates and key costing assumptions.
• Deliver accurate and timely month-end activities, including work order management, closure and reporting of manufacturing variances.
• Maintain accurate costing data within JDE and other ERP systems, including item creation, cost roll-ups, standard cost freezes, inventory records and financial reporting attributes.
• Calculate, monitor and analyse manufacturing recoveries, work order, price and currency variances, inventory revaluations, and under- or over-absorption.
• Reconcile raw materials, work in progress and finished goods inventories to the general ledger, investigating and resolving discrepancies to support accurate financial reporting.
• Review inventory performance, including ageing, excess and obsolete stock, provisions and opportunities to optimise working capital.
• Prepare and post journal entries for inventory balances, recoveries, variances, accruals, deferrals and revaluations.
• Produce clear weekly and monthly management reports, dashboards and variance analysis that provide meaningful insight into manufacturing, inventory and financial performance.
• Develop costing models, financial scenarios and sensitivity analysis to inform pricing, make-or-buy, investment, operational and strategic decisions.
• Support annual budgeting, forecasting and long-range planning by developing robust cost, volume, inventory, resource and manufacturing assumptions.
• Partner with operations, engineering, supply chain and leadership teams to provide financial insight, constructively challenge assumptions and support performance improvement.
• Support product pricing decisions through accurate cost analysis, profitability reviews and clear communication of pricing information.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen costing accuracy, reporting efficiency, inventory control, process effectiveness and financial governance.
• Support audit, compliance and regulatory requirements by maintaining effective financial controls, accurate documentation and adherence to company policies and procedures.

Qualifications

• This role requires someone who is highly motivated, proactive and decisive with the drive to ‘get things done’.
• The typical candidate will be a qualified accountant who has solid post qualification experience in a costing role. Certified Management Accountant is preferred
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint; experience with JD Edwards or similar ERP systems is preferred.
• Strong capability using digital finance tools, including Power BI, Microsoft Copilot, using AI enabled applications, to improve analysis, reporting, dashboarding, process efficiency and decision support, with an understanding of data quality, validation and confidentiality requirements.
• A progressive mind-set, focused on driving business improvement and efficiency.
• Strong understanding of standard costing, weighted average costing, manufacturing variances, recoveries, inventory accounting and cost absorption.
• Experience preparing annual budgets, forecast cycles, financial scenarios and cost models for manufacturing or operational environments.
• Familiarity with collaborating with multiple stakeholders across different cultures, geographies and functions would be advantageous.
• Comfortable applying sound commercial judgment and making recommendations to stakeholders.