Cost Accountant

WHO WE ARE
At Ghirardelli, we honor tradition and drive innovation, aiming to be the top choice for premium chocolate. Our commitment to Making Life A Bite Better inspires both our products and the way we do business. We support personal and professional growth, recognizing that each employee’s contribution directly impacts Ghirardelli’s growth and success. Join our dynamic team and help shape Ghirardelli's future.

Job Summary

The Cost Accountant serves as a business partner to Ghirardelli’s Operations department, with responsibility for balanced financial support and oversight. This role requires fundamental ownership of operations financials with the ability to provide relevant visibility and strategic financial insight. The role requires innovation and the ability to develop new processes and manage change while earning respect as a cross-functional employee.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

• Process (work) order variances
  • Collaborate with Production in collecting accurate data from the production line and support investigation of variances and root cause analysis.
  • Support operations with reconciling and closing process orders weekly and monthly.
  • Prepare and present weekly and monthly operations KPIs for variance tracking and process order status. 
• Drive Loss Eradication and Cost Savings initiatives in Operations.
• Support Operations with analytics on day-to-day data driven business decisions.
• Month end Close and Forecasting:
  • Perform month end close efficiently and effectively with accounting and other cross functions business partners.
  • Reconcile inventory and variance accounts to ensure balances are properly stated.
  • Explain in detail monthly Process Order Variances, Stock Adjustments, and variances to Budget and Forecasts.
  • Maintain monthly KPI Dashboard.
• Support with the Annual Budget for Direct Materials, Consumption Variance and Inventory:
  • Develop accurate spending, trends and variances.
  • Have balanced approach to communicate risks and opportunities.
• Product Costing:
  • Be able to understand all components of supply chain costs including costs to manufacture, co-pack, co- manufacture.
  • Roll up costing in ERP system including standard cost validation and comparison to projected costing from profitability analysis.
  • Manage cost runs in SAP for Budget, forecasts and ad-hoc simulations.
  • Maintain and improve cost component reports for cost analysis versus Budget and prior year.
• Support the FI Pillar in the development of operations financial reporting, improvement projects, material variance analysis and scrap rate development.
• Full knowledge of routings and scrap rates and how they impact gross profit.
• Inventory Management:
  • Understand transactional flow of raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods.
  • Be able to identify gaps in cycle count process, process order consumption, production receipts, and purchase receipts.
  • Understand monthly variances and be able to forecast for future months on expenses and absorption.
• Influence Operations and Supply Chain and Finance leadership in the areas of business case analysis, investment request, waste, and other as necessary.
• Ad-Hoc -- Decision Support work for Operations Team, VP Operations and Finance leadership.

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or related field
• Strong cost accounting background with 2-4 years of relevant work experience
• Exposure within CPG or Retail industry preferred
• Product costing and exposure to process (work) order variance analysis
• Knowledge of SAP S/4HANA related to standard cost, inventory transactions and the General Ledger
• Strong MS Office skills, including financial modeling and utilization of business management tools. Experience with PowerBI and SAP integrated tools preferred.  
• Strong root cause analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to prepare analysis and presentations to present to cross-functional partners and senior management.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills.

Other Job Requirements

• Required to regularly sit at a workstation.
• Must be able to work seated or standing for at least 8 hours in a normal office environment.
• Must be able to concentrate for extended periods of time paying close attention to detail.
• Must be able to work from the office at least three days per week.
• Occasionally required to lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Occasional travel may be required.

Salary: $69,548 to $86,961 / year