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Finance & cost control

Management accountant (operations)

You translate operations into money: the cost of downtime, scrap and energy, the value of improvement projects, and the break-even of a line or product.

Routine

Daily

  • Attend the daily performance meeting when cost actions are discussed

Weekly

  • Check savings claims against actual cost data

Monthly+

  • Monthly business review cost pages
  • Break-even and contribution review by product
  • Validate improvement savings
  • Cost of poor quality review with quality

Your kit, task by task

  • Break-even and margin of safetyMonthly · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Cost of poor qualityMonthly · Calculator · Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
    LiveOpen
  • Savings validationMonthly · Document generator
    LiveOpen
  • Monthly business reviewMonthly · Document generator
    LiveOpen
  • Standard cost per unitQuarterly · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Make-or-buyWhen it happens · Calculator
    LiveOpen
  • Capital project ROI (NPV, IRR, payback)When it happens · Calculator · Capital Project ROI & Payback (NPV/IRR)
    LiveOpen
  • Solar paybackWhen it happens · Calculator · Solar Payback & ROI Calculator
    LiveOpen

KPIs you are measured on

Top pains and how to handle them

Improvement savings never show in the P&L

Agree the baseline and the measurement with finance before the project starts, then validate after three months.

Decisions are made on full cost with fixed overhead

For short-term decisions use contribution: price minus variable cost; fixed costs that do not change are not relevant.