Senior Cost Accountant
Senior Cost Accountant – LaPorte, IN and Fort Wayne, IN
Full-Time | Exempt | On-Site
The Senior Cost Accountant is responsible for product costing, inventory valuation, and manufacturing variance analysis for the LaPorte and Fort Wayne bakery manufacturing plants. Based in LaPorte, Indiana, this role translates plant activity into accurate, timely financial information that supports operating decisions, cost control, and improved plant performance.
Reporting to the Director of Cost Accounting within Finance / Accounting, the Senior Cost Accountant partners closely with plant leadership and Corporate Accounting to maintain reliable cost data and strengthen work order reconciliation, inventory counting, finished goods reporting, and production metrics. The position has no direct reports but provides guidance and support to bakery personnel responsible for work order reconciliation through a dotted-line relationship.
About Lewis Bakeries
Lewis Bakeries is a family-owned and operated company founded by three brothers in 1925 in Anna, Illinois. Lewis primarily bakes loaf bread, buns, and rolls under trusted brands including Bunny Bread, Lewis Bake Shop, Healthy Life, and other regional favorites.
Today, Lewis Bakeries operates facilities in LaPorte, Fort Wayne, Vincennes, and Evansville, Indiana, as well as Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Our heritage has been built on quality, reliability, and a commitment to our customers since 1925. Every day, the Lewis family and our dedicated associates rise to the challenge of baking the very best bakery products while maintaining a forward-thinking passion for growth and innovation.
What Makes Us Great
At Lewis Bakeries, we believe in rewarding our employees with a comprehensive compensation and benefits package that supports their health, financial well-being, and professional growth.
Exceptional Total Rewards Package
In addition to a competitive salary, employees enjoy a benefits package that provides significant financial value, including:
- Medical coverage with weekly premiums as low as $10 and a low-deductible plan design
- Comprehensive dental coverage, including orthodontic benefits for dependent children
- Company-funded pension plan and a 401(k) with company matching contributions
- Company-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance
- Paid vacation time and paid holidays
- Relocation assistance available for qualified candidates
- Professional development opportunities and long-term career growth
Additional reasons employees choose Lewis Bakeries:
- Family-owned company with over 100 years of baking excellence
- Stable and growing organization with a long history of success
- Collaborative culture that values employee engagement, safety, and continuous improvement
- Opportunity to make a meaningful impact as a key member of the bakery leadership team
- Opportunities for growth, development, and career advancement
Key Responsibilities
Product Costing and Standards
- Build and maintain standard costs for all finished goods and intermediates (doughs, mixes, sponges) at assigned plant(s): materials, packaging, labor and overhead.
- Own bills of material, routings, work centers and labor/overhead rates in the ERP, so that costs roll up correctly.
- Lead the annual standard cost update and any mid-year revaluations for major ingredient, packaging or wage changes.
- Prepare cost estimates for new products and assist with corporate cost analysis / reporting
- Support the daily work order reconciliation process and investigate variances for root cause analysis and corrective actions with appropriate bakery leadership
Month-End Close and Inventory
- Support Corporate Accounting with the post ERP implementation monthly close process
- Oversee physical inventory counts and cycle counts, and investigate and resolve count adjustments.
- Maintain inventory reserves for product discontinuation
Variance Analysis and Reporting
- Analyze and explain usage/yield, labor efficiency, overhead absorption and scrap/waste variances by product
- Track bakery-specific key performance indicators: waste, scale weights against target weights, bakery stales, line downtime, and throughput per hour.
- Publish monthly plant P&L results versus standard with clear commentary for plant and corporate leadership.
Budgeting and Decision Support
- Support the annual plant spending budgets and standard volume, labor and overhead assumptions with plant leadership and corporate accounting.
- Provide cost updates to support margin analysis by product, customer and channel to support pricing and mix decisions.
- Model financial results of continuous improvement activities and track results to expectation
Controls and Systems
- Maintain internal controls over inventory, costing and production reporting.
- Support external audits and tax requests on inventory and cost of sales.
- Improve cost data quality in the ERP and reporting tools, and lead costing parts of system projects.
- Train plant staff on production reporting and inventory practices.