Our client is hiring a Senior Plant Cost Accountant to join its finance team in Lake Forest, IL. This direct-hire opportunity is ideal for a mid-to-senior level cost accountant who enjoys partnering with plant leadership, digging into inventory and manufacturing variances, and improving profitability through actionable insights. The Senior Plant Cost Accountant will play a key role in month-end close, standard costing, and reporting, with exposure to ERP enhancements and cross-functional collaboration across Operations, Supply Chain, and Engineering. This is an exciting chance to step into a growth-oriented environment with meaningful impact.
What’s the job?
- Oversee day-to-day inventory transaction activity and collaborate with Operations/Materials to troubleshoot and correct issues
- Own inventory- and cost-related general ledger reconciliations, researching variances and driving items to resolution
- Support month-end and year-end close by preparing journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations, and related variance analysis
- Evaluate manufacturing variances (purchase price, material usage, labor, scrap) and surface drivers, trends, and recommendations
- Build and maintain inventory reporting and cost dashboards, using financial models to support decision-making
- Partner with cross-functional teams on new product introductions and engineering changes, validating product costs, BOMs, and routings
- Maintain standard costs for purchased and manufactured items, including support for annual standard cost updates and revaluations
- Coordinate and support physical inventory processes to ensure accurate inventory valuation and audit readiness
- Assist with internal and external audit requests tied to inventory and cost accounting, ensuring documentation and support are complete
- Review CAPEX requests and provide financial justification support (ROI, depreciation impact, capitalization policy alignment)
- Track CIP activity and help facilitate timely capitalization of completed projects, including fixed asset tagging coordination
- Deliver product-level profitability and margin insights (revenue, material/labor, overhead absorption) to help improve performance
- Monitor slow-moving and obsolete inventory reporting and partner with Operations/Supply Chain on action plans and disposition strategy
- Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and longer-range planning by providing cost, inventory, and operational inputs
- Participate in continuous improvement efforts and ad hoc projects as assigned
What’s needed?
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field
- 5+ years of manufacturing accounting, cost accounting, or financial analysis experience, including at least 3 years supporting manufacturing operations
- Experience with standard costing, inventory accounting, manufacturing variances, and month-end close
- ERP experience required; Microsoft Dynamics 365 experience preferred
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query, financial modeling, and dashboard development
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and business partnering skills, with the ability to collaborate across Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, and leadership teams
- CPA, CMA, or progress toward certification is a plus
- Ability to work additional hours as needed during month-end close, physical inventories, annual planning, forecasting, and audit activities
Key Details
- Compensation: $90,000–$100,000 base salary
- Location: Lake Forest, IL
- Work Model: Onsite
- Benefits: Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance
- Employment Type: Direct Hire
Ready to take the next step in your career? Apply today. We’re actively interviewing and excited to meet you.
Allee Struve
Lead Recruiter
#LI-AS6
LaSalle Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer m/f/d/v.
LaSalle Network is the leading provider of direct hire and temporary staffing services. For over two decades, LaSalle has helped organizations hire faster and connect top talent with opportunities, from entry-level positions to the C-suite. With units specializing in Accounting and Finance, Administrative, Engineering, Marketing, Technology, Supply Chain, Revenue Cycle, Call Center, Human Resources and Executive Search, LaSalle offers staffing and recruiting solutions to companies of all sizes and across all industries.