Our client is seeking a hands-on Staff Accountant who wants to gain manufacturing costing experience to join a growing manufacturing operation in the West Michigan area. This role is ideal for an accounting professional who thrives in a heavy manufacturing environment and enjoys partnering closely with operations, engineering, and supply chain teams to drive accurate costing, reporting, and continuous improvement initiatives. The Staff Accountant will play a critical role in maintaining standard costs, analyzing manufacturing performance, supporting month-end close activities, and improving financial visibility across plant operations.
This opportunity offers strong exposure to plant leadership, operational strategy, ERP systems, and process improvement initiatives in a dynamic production environment. Candidates with a strong foundation in standard costing, manufacturing variance analysis, and ERP-driven cost accounting processes will be especially successful in this role.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the Staff Accounting subject matter expert (SME) for the manufacturing facility
- Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering teams to develop, review, and maintain standard direct material costs
- Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering to establish and maintain standard labor costs and routing accuracy within the ERP system
- Analyze and maintain overhead allocations by product line and production category
- Validate supplier quotes, prepare cost rollups, update cost records, and maintain costing data within the ERP system
- Review production output and evaluate actual versus expected product costs
- Support Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and final product costing approvals
- Assist with month-end close activities, financial reporting, management reporting, and ad hoc analysis requests
- Lead or support standard cost updates and periodic cost rolls
- Analyze manufacturing variances, including material, labor, overhead, purchase price variance (PPV), and manufacturing absorption
- Communicate cost drivers, operational impacts, and corrective action recommendations to leadership and cross-functional teams
- Identify opportunities to improve costing processes, reporting accuracy, internal controls, and operational efficiencies
- Support inventory counts and production floor observations as needed
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Minimum 2+ years of accounting experience within inventory or manufacturing environments
- Strong understanding of standard costing methodologies and manufacturing variance analysis
- Experience supporting month-end close and financial reporting activities
- ERP system experience required, including Oracle EBS, SAP, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar platforms
- Ability to communicate financial insights effectively with both finance and operations teams
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
- Comfortable working in both office and plant floor environments
- Ability to wear required PPE and follow all safety procedures and environmental policies
Preferred Experience
- 2+ years of cost accounting experience within heavy manufacturing environments such as metal fabrication, machining, foundry, stamping, paper, or chemical manufacturing
- Oracle EBS experience
- Experience supporting lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, scrap reduction, or yield improvement initiatives
- CMA certification or active progress toward certification
- Experience supporting BOM maintenance, routing structures, and manufacturing process optimization
Titles Encouraged to Apply
- Staff Accountant
- Manufacturing Accountant
- Plant Accountant
- Inventory Accountant
- Operations Accountant
- Cost Analyst
If you're looking for an opportunity to make a measurable impact within a manufacturing organization while partnering directly with operations leadership, we encourage you to apply.