Cost Accountant

SUMMARY:
Where numbers meet flavour and efficiency fuels growth! Are you a cost-savvy finance professional who lives for margins, manufacturing insights, and operational impact? A leading FMCG food processing company is looking for a sharp, commercially minded Cost Accountant who can dissect costs, optimise production spend, and drive profitability across the value chain. If you love being on the factory floor as much as you love your spreadsheets, this opportunity will excite you.

POSITION INFO:
Our client is a major player in the FMCG food manufacturing sector, an industry where quality, speed, and precision defines success. With a rapidly expanding product portfolio and a strong national presence, the business is scaling up its operational excellence, requiring a Cost Accountant who can provide deep financial insights, streamline production economics, and support strategic decision-making.

This role offers the perfect blend of hands-on factory involvement and high-level financial analysis. You’ll collaborate with production, procurement, engineering, logistics, and finance leaders to understand cost drivers, improve efficiencies, and elevate the company’s overall performance. If you want to add real commercial value not just crunch numbers, this role puts you right at the heart of operations

Key Responsibilities:

• Maintain and update standard costing across all product lines
• Analyse production performance, yield variances, material usage, and labour efficiency
• Conduct daily, weekly, and monthly cost reporting with actionable insights
• Partner with production teams to investigate variances and recommend corrective actions
• Prepare product costing, pricing models, and margin analysis
• Perform stock management: BOM validation, stock recons, WIP analysis, and shrinkage reporting
• Monitor CAPEX budgets, cost recovery, and production overhead allocation
• Support budgeting and forecasting cycles with accurate cost projections
• Evaluate supplier costs, raw material movements, and procurement impact
• Drive continuous improvement in costing processes, systems, and internal controls
• Assist with audits, cost simulations, and financial modelling for new products or lines

• BCom Accounting, Cost & Management Accounting, or similar
• 3–5 years’ experience in FMCG, food manufacturing, or processing
• Strong understanding of standard costing, BOMs, stock control, and manufacturing finance
• Advanced Excel (pivot tables, modelling, and data tools)
• Experience with ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Syspro, Sage, Oracle, or similar)
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving ability
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence and collaborate with production
• Hands-on, curious, proactive, and able to thrive in a high-volume factory environment
• Accuracy-driven mindset with a passion for operational detail and commercial outcomes

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