Manufacturing Cost Accountant | Cape Town
Express Employment Professionals · Cape Town, Western Cape
Overview
A leading recruitment agency is hiring a Manufacturing Cost Accountant for a permanent role in Cape Town. You will work closely with plant management and production teams to manage product costing, inventory valuation and cost optimisation. This is ideal for a finance professional with 3 to 8 years of experience in manufacturing finance, standard costing and ERP systems like SAP S/4HANA. Earn R500 000 per year in a role that offers real impact on operational performance and profitability.
About the role
Join a dynamic manufacturing finance team in Cape Town as a Manufacturing Cost Accountant. This permanent, full time role is all about using financial insight to drive operational efficiency and cost control across production facilities.
What you will be doing:
- Develop and maintain standard costing models for accurate product costing and financial reporting.
- Analyse raw material, labour, utility and overhead costs to identify key cost drivers.
- Conduct variance analysis on material usage, labour efficiency, yield, waste and downtime.
- Review Bills of Materials, routing structures and production standards to ensure costing accuracy.
- Partner with procurement, production and supply chain teams to implement cost reduction initiatives.
- Assist with budgeting, forecasting and financial planning for manufacturing operations.
- Monitor working capital and support inventory management processes.
- Ensure strong financial controls and governance across all costing and reporting activities.
Application note: This role is advertised by Express Employment Professionals. No specific application instructions were provided. Please apply via the source link or contact the recruiter for more details.
Requirements
- Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Finance, Cost and Management Accounting or related field.
- Professional finance qualification or studying towards CIMA, CA(SA), ACCA or equivalent.
- 5 to 8 years progressive finance experience.
- Minimum 3 years experience in manufacturing finance, cost accounting or operational finance.
- Experience with standard costing, inventory management and manufacturing performance reporting.
- Experience supporting budgeting, forecasting and financial planning processes.
- Experience working in ERP environments (SAP S/4HANA advantageous).
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
- Strong business partnering and communication skills.
- FMCG, Beverage, Manufacturing or Consumer Goods experience is advantageous.
Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain and improve standard costing methodologies across manufacturing operations.
- Monitor raw material, packaging, labour, utility and overhead costs and provide detailed analysis of cost drivers.
- Conduct comprehensive manufacturing variance analysis, including material usage, labour efficiency, yield, waste, downtime and overhead absorption.
- Review and validate Bills of Material (BOMs), routing structures and production standards to ensure costing accuracy.
- Identify cost reduction opportunities and partner with operational leadership to implement sustainable cost improvement initiatives.
- Monitor manufacturing conversion costs and benchmark plant performance against budget, forecast and operational targets.
- Support operational decision making through detailed financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting and governance activities.
- Drive financial discipline, manufacturing efficiency and cost control across production facilities.
- Collaborate with Plant Management, Engineering, Production, Procurement and Supply Chain teams.
- Assist with working capital management and inventory valuation.
Job details
- Organisation
- Express Employment Professionals
- Location
- Cape Town, Western Cape
- Job type
- Full time
- Experience level
- Mid (3+ years)
- Education
- Bachelor
- Salary
- R41,667 per month (R500,000 per year) / monthly
- Category
- Accounting & Finance
- Application Method
- Apply manually
Success Guide
Hi there! If you are a finance professional with a passion for manufacturing, this role could be a great step in your career. The key to standing out is showing how your cost accounting skills directly impact operational efficiency and profitability. Brush up on variance analysis, standard costing and ERP systems, especially SAP S/4HANA. In the interview, be ready to discuss real examples of cost saving initiatives you have driven and how you collaborated with production teams. Do not forget to highlight your ability to work with cross functional teams. Also, make sure your CV clearly shows your experience in manufacturing finance and your progress toward CIMA or CA(SA). Express Employment Professionals is the recruiter, so a clean, professional CV and a tailored cover letter will go a long way. Good luck!
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