Senior Cost Accountant
The Senior Cost Accountant is a high-impact role that serves as a key finance partner to Plant and Operations leadership. This position owns core cost and inventory accounting processes, serves as the primary costing authority for assigned plants, and influences operational and financial decision-marking across PQ’s manufacturing network. The role drives standard costing accuracy, leads cross-functional initiatives to strengthen controls, improve reporting quality, and deliver insights that support informed business decisions.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Cost & Inventory Accounting / Close
- Own core manufacturing cost accounting activities, including monthly close support, review of transactions, and preparation of reconciliations for inventory and related cost accounts.
- Prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations; investigate and resolve reconciling items timely and ensure proper documentation and control compliance.
- Review profit center and/or plant-level results for completeness and accuracy; act as a key reviewer to ensure consistency of reporting standards across plants and stakeholders.
Standard Costing
- Own and govern standard costing processes, including standard setting, periodic updates, and governance to ensure accuracy and completeness.
- Partner with Plant Operations, Engineering, and Supply Chain to ensure costing inputs reflect changes in raw materials, production conditions, yields, and operational practices.
- Maintain and validate cost-related master data, including BOMs, raw material standards, and transfer pricing updates on a routine cadence (monthly as required).
Operational Performance & Variance Analysis
- Lead analysis and interpretation of cost and operational variances (e.g., PPV, usage, yield, absorption, fixed cost spending, planned capacity/production impacts).
- Develop clear variance explanations and actionable recommendations for plant and finance leadership.
- Prepare monthly and ad hoc analyses related to product costs, manufacturing variances, inventory levels, raw material usage, energy consumption, and gross profit performance.
Budgeting / Forecasting Support
- Support the budgeting and forecasting process for manufacturing performance, including cost standards and plant cost center reviews.
- Build and maintain analytical models (Excel) to support cost bridge analysis, actual vs. budget comparisons, and longer-term planning needs.
Inventory & Audit Support
- Coordinate and support quarterly and/or annual physical inventory counts, including planning, execution support, reconciliation, and improvement actions to strengthen inventory accuracy.
- Prepare audit schedules and serve as a key contact for internal/external audit inquiries related to inventory, production reporting, and costing.
- Support maintenance of an effective control environment, including SOX-related compliance where applicable.
Cross-Functional Leadership / Continuous Improvement
- Serve as the costing subject matter expert and primary point of contact for costing and production reporting questions and issue resolution.
- Lead continuous improvement efforts to improve the quality of production reporting and strengthen end-to-end costing processes.
- Partner with IT and stakeholders on system/process enhancements impacting production reporting, costing, capacity planning, and reporting (e.g., SAP/BW changes), including participation in testing and implementation activities.
- Act as a liaison across Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain/Logistics, and Finance to ensure aligned costing practices and timely decision support.
- Perform other duties and special projects as assigned.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting or related field.
- 5–8 years of experience in cost/plant accounting or plant controlling, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
- Standard Costing and inventory accounting
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (models, pivots, lookups, data analysis)
- Month-end close processes and account reconciliations
- Variance analysis and manufacturing performance reporting
- Manufacturing experience in chemical (or similar process manufacturing) environment.
- Experience with SAP
- Experience with OneStream
- Sarbanes Oxley experience
- Professional designations (CMA/CPA)
Additional Information
Special Factors
- In Office 5 days per week
- Customary work hours 8am – 5pm
EHS Responsibilities
- Communicates, promotes and personally demonstrates Safety/Health (including PQP Principles) as #1 priority
- Participation in risk assessment audits as applicable
- Understand PQ Principles (PQP) and how they are implemented in the site organization, rules and procedures
- Completes HSE training requirements identified for the job in a timely manner
PQ is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Click on the link to read Know Your Rights: Workplace discrimination is illegal (eeoc.gov). For more information, please review the link Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (eeoc.gov).