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Finance & cost control

Cost accountant

You work out what a product or service really costs: standard costs, overhead rates, inventory value and the variances that show where money leaks.

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Finance manager / controllerBudget analystAP / AR clerkManagement accountant (operations)

Routine

Daily

  • Check goods receipts and production postings for errors

Weekly

  • Review purchase price variance on new receipts
  • Follow up scrap and rework postings

Monthly+

  • Standard cost vs actual variance review
  • Cost centre allocation run
  • Inventory valuation check with stores
  • Cost of poor quality update

Your kit, task by task

  • Cost centre allocationMonthly · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Inventory valuation (FIFO, weighted average)Monthly · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Purchase price varianceMonthly · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Cost of poor qualityMonthly · Calculator · Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
    LiveOpen
  • Stock value / carrying costMonthly · Calculator · Inventory Carrying Cost Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Month-end closeMonthly · Checklist
    LiveOpen
  • Standard cost per unitQuarterly · Calculator
    LiveOpen

KPIs you are measured on

Top pains and how to handle them

Standard costs are years old

Review standards yearly and when a major price or process changes; explain the gap with price and usage variances.

Overhead is spread by a rate nobody understands

Choose a driver linked to how the cost is consumed (machine hours, floor area, headcount) and publish it.