A Cost Accountant analyses the costs involved in a business, for example the cost of providing products or services to a client. The Cost Accountant ensures that these costs are properly documented and reported and enhances the businesses reporting capabilities, decision-making and business planning.
Cost Accountants specialise in identifying, recording and reviewing costs within their company or organisation. In a manufacturing firm, for example, a Cost Accountant may be responsible for reporting upon the costs of manufacturing, selling and distributing products.
Cost Accountants play an important role in helping a company understand the costs of doing business in order to aid decision making and formulating strategy.
Cost Accountants must be able to understand in detail how a company functions and what costs are involved in trading.
Typical duties include:
Drawing up and maintaining budgets for the cost of operations.
Establishing the fixed costs of operations/production.
Recording and analysing variances.
Identifying areas where variable costs can be cut.
Working closely with non financial managers to foster understanding and control of costs.
Designing and implementing cost control programmes.
Cost reporting and analysis for senior managers.
Qualifications
Most Cost Accountants are part or fully qualified (management) accountants.
Salary Snapshot
Recent salaries advertised on TopFinancialJobs (November 2009) include:
£55-65,000 per annum for a qualified (ACA, CIMA) Senior Infrastructure Cost Analyst working for a banking institution in the City of London.
£60-90,000 per annum for a Cost Control and Productivity Manager working in the finance division of a Lloyd's managing agency in London.
£275-285 per day for a qualified Financial Cost Analyst working for multi billion pound transport company in Central London.
Are you a Cost Accountant? Would you like to contribute to our "Day in the Life of..." series? Email us at info@topfinancialjobs.co.uk for more details.
