Cost Accounting Manager
Description
Founded in 1961, we are a growing manufacturing company. IMMI® is the trusted, global leader of safety solutions, helping to protect millions of lives every day. For over sixty-five years, IMMI has led the way in developing, designing, testing, and manufacturing innovative safety restraints and systems. IMMI’s safety products are found worldwide on car seats, heavy trucks, school buses, recreational/off road, military, fire/EMS, motor coach, and construction vehicles. IMMI recently became an ESOP giving team members the opportunity to become owners and share in the company’s future success. IMMI is a dynamic organization serving more than eleven markets and hundreds of customers across multiple countries. IMMI is also home to IMMI VIP steering wheels and CAPE®, the world’s leading state-of-the-art testing facility.
IMMI, a growing global, employee-owned manufacturing company, is seeking a Cost Accounting Manager to join our corporate headquarters in Westfield, Indiana. This highly visible role combines technical cost accounting leadership with the opportunity to influence business decisions across IMMI’s global operations.
The Cost Accounting Manager will lead the development and execution of costing strategies, strengthen global standard costing methodologies, and ensure the accuracy and integrity of product costs, inventory, and manufacturing variances. This position is highly collaborative and offers significant exposure to senior leaders and cross-functional teams across operations, engineering, supply chain, sales, and finance.
In addition to leading and developing the cost accounting team, this individual will drive root-cause analysis, process improvement, and corrective action. As IMMI continues to invest in technology, operational improvement, and global growth, the Cost Accounting Manager will help streamline processes, lead change, and shape the future state of the costing organization. The ideal candidate is a curious, hands-on leader who values integrity, collaboration, ownership and innovation.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities/ Essential Functions:
Costing Governance & Accountability
- Build and maintain “Costing Super User” expertise in item costing, transfer pricing, work-in-process (WIP), and inventory transactions.
- Ensure accurate Oracle costing and inventory accounting setups, with a strong focus on correct debit/credit impacts and end-to-end transaction flow integrity.
- Maintain and approve documentation for material movement and manufacturing accounting (DR/CR logic), ensuring shared understanding across the cost team.
- Develop and advance global costing strategies and governance standards that support accurate product costs, consistent decision-making, and the company’s evolving business needs.
- Translate complex costing information into clear recommendations for senior leaders across operations, engineering, supply chain, sales, and finance.
- Provide costing leadership for acquisitions, new entities, greenfield operations, and other global growth initiatives.
- Help define the future-state costing organization, including systems, processes, controls, reporting, and team capabilities.
- Lead continuous improvement of IMMI’s global costing systems, processes, controls, and reporting capabilities, including opportunities to simplify work, improve visibility, leverage technology, and support evolving business needs.
Cost Execution & Maintenance
- Develop and maintain expertise in product costing across all IMMI organizations, supporting Finance, Operations, and Sales.
- Manage the global standard cost update process, including review and approval of intercompany and intracompany budgets.
- Lead the calculation and maintenance of standard labor and overhead rates.
- Review and approve standard material costs and the material budget.
Variance Analysis & Root-Cause Leadership
- Lead and participate in job-close variance analysis, material mix analysis, labor variances, manufacturing overhead variances, and production efficiency analysis.
- Drive the development, tracking, and follow-through of corrective actions for production variances, ensuring measurable improvement.
- Support plant-level and consolidated variance explanations with clear, actionable insights tailored to the audience.
- Partner with senior leaders to translate cost and variance insights into operational priorities and business decisions.
Inventory Integrity & Financial Controls
- Lead the financial review of inventory, including obsolete inventory, physical inventory counts, capitalization of variances, inventory adjustments, scrap, and cycle count programs.
- Own assigned month-end close responsibilities, including approving journal entries and reviewing/summarizing cost of production variances and consolidated eliminations.
- Review and approve balance sheet account reconciliations related to standard cost, inventory, and WIP.
- Participate in Maquiladora Annex 24/31 compliance monitoring.
- Coordinate and respond to external audit requests related to inventory, standards, and cost of goods sold (COGS).
Team Leadership
- Develop technical depth across the team so multiple team members understand key costing flows and system setups.
- Balance delegation with hands-on leadership—stepping into complex or high-risk areas such as new entity setups, intercompany costing, and significant variances when needed.
- Coach, review, and elevate analytical work produced by the team, ensuring conclusions are accurate, data-supported, and clearly communicated.
- Lead from the details without losing the strategic perspective—connecting day-to-day outcomes to broader business goals.
- Create development opportunities that expand team members’ technical knowledge, business understanding, and readiness for broader responsibilities.
- Build a culture of integrity, collaboration, ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Skills & Qualifications:
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance.
- 10+ years of manufacturing cost accounting experience, including hands-on variance analysis.
- Advanced Excel skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a root-cause mindset.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across functions and communicate with varied stakeholders.
- Strong knowledge of standard costing, inventory accounting, WIP, intercompany, and U.S. GAAP.
- Comfort operating in a dynamic environment prioritizing multiple projects, learning quickly, and continuously improving how work gets done.
Preferred:
The following would be considered a competitive advantage:
- Experience with Oracle E-Business Suite.
- Experience with Insight (formerly GL Wand).
- CMA certification preferred but not required.
Benefits:
- Team Member Ownership/ESOP
- Healthcare, vision, dental options
- Company paid Short- and Long-Term Disability
- Ten (10) paid holidays.
- Four (4) IMMI Serves volunteer days per year.
- Onsite Health and Wellness Center
- Generous Paid Time Off
- Bonus Opportunities
- 401k
- Tuition Assistance