Cost Accountant | West Kent | £35k - £40k DOE

We are currently working with a growing family business within the manufacturing industry to recruit for a Cost Accountant based at their office in West Kent. The company operate on a 37.5 hour week, ideally fully office based but can consider agile working with up to 2 days from home at the managers discretion.

You must have recent experience working within a manufacturing business as an accountant with excellent costing and margin experience. Working with the Financial Controller you will be a go to member of the Finance team for gross margin and product costing analyses, whilst also adding value to the business by delivering insightful and informative reports.

Key Responsibilities
• Prepare regular management reporting in support of the monthly accounts pack or as required to inform managers of performance vs. agreed targets, measure the rate of continuous improvement, and improve efficiencies and eliminate waste.
• Responsible for the definition and implementation of improvements to cost accounting methods to provide meaningful management information on manufacturing operations.
• Identify relevant non-financial Key Performance Indicators to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of business activities and establish a regular reporting process.
• Take ownership of the Bill of Materials for manufactured products and maintain the underlying inventory information, to ensure the accuracy of stock and gross margin analyses. Manage and review inventory reporting processes to enhance the usefulness of reports and assist with the highlighting of working capital reduction opportunities.
• Support product cost and pricing calculations for existing and future new Product Developments. Work closely with the Group R&D function to provide accurate and timely cost projections for novel product business case reviews.
• Support the Financial Controller with the preparation of annual operating and capital budgets and contribute to the reforecasting of said budgets.
• Provide support to the Senior Management Team with business case preparation and investment decisions relating to new plant and equipment.
• Take ownership as required by the Financial Controller or other Senior Management Team members of system and process improvement projects for any area of the business.
• Be the conduit between the Finance function and the Operations team to ensure an exchange of business information and the alignment of strategies.

What you need
• AAT qualified, Part qualified CIMA/ACCA or QBE.
• Experience working within the manufacturing sector
• Ability to produce detailed and accurate product costings, using various methodologies.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite, including an aptitude for Excel.
• Ability to work well within a team and communicate financial information to finance and non-finance colleagues alike.
• Demonstrate a commercial mindset and be able to understand the wider implications of financial decisions on the business.