Job description

Job Purpose  

The Cost Accounts Lead is responsible for leading and overseeing end-to-end cost accounting activities across Farm, CPP, and Sales operations, ensuring accurate product costing, inventory valuation, margin analysis, and cost control.
The role provides strategic cost insights and financial analysis to support pricing, product mix, budgeting, forecasting, and operational decision-making across the business.

This position ensures the integrity of cost models, standard costing systems, and management reports, and acts as a key business partner to operations, sales, and finance leadership by delivering timely cost analysis, margin improvement recommendations, and variance explanations.
The role carries accountability for maintaining cost predictability, strengthening cost governance, and enhancing profitability across all cost centers and product lines.

Main Tasks & Accountabilities

Product & Standard Costing

• Lead the preparation, maintenance, and review of standard costs for all product lines across Farm, CPP, and Sales.

• Establish and update standard labor, overhead, and material rates, ensuring alignment with operational realities.

• Oversee standard cost roll-ups, revaluations, and periodic updates in coordination with operations.

• Ensure accurate cost inputs to pricing, product mix, and margin analysis.

Inventory & Cost Control

• Oversee inventory costing and valuation for raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, and farm inventory.

• Ensure inventory balances are accurately reconciled to the general ledger and comply with accounting standards and company policies.

• Monitor inventory movements and cost components to identify valuation risks, obsolescence, or inefficiencies.

• Strengthen cost control processes and internal controls related to inventory and production costs.

Cost Analysis & Performance Monitoring

• Lead variance analysis covering material usage, labor efficiency, overhead absorption, yield, and sales margins.

• Monitor and analyze monthly operating results against budget, forecast, and prior periods.

• Identify cost drivers, trends, and gaps, and provide actionable insights to management.

• Drive cost reduction tracking, validation, and performance reporting.

Management Reporting & Decision Support

• Prepare and maintain cost MIS, dashboards, and management reports for Farm, CPP, and Sales.

• Provide cost and margin analysis to support pricing decisions, promotions, and product profitability reviews.

• Partner with the decision support and budgeting teams to ensure accuracy of cost assumptions in budgets and forecasts.

• Support business cases related to new products, product investments, and process improvements.

Compliance 

• Ensure that prescribed accounting standards and established rules and regulations are followed while estimating standard costs for products and inventory value
• Validate integrity of financial modeling utilized
• Comply with IFRS requirements
• Comply with local, state, and federal government reporting requirements and tax filings
• Coordinate for providing information to external auditors for the annual audit

Team Building – Planning, acquisition and mentoring

• Forecast staff requirements for the department, plan budget and get requisite approval
• Define knowledge/skillsets required
• Effective communication within and outside the team
• Create a supportive environment for the team members
• Contribute to the team, letting others know information that may be useful or important
• Help to create a fun, supportive work environment

People management and reporting responsibilities

• Participate in management and supervisory meetings as and when required to provide financial overview
• Ensure accurate and up to date, daily, weekly, monthly records as required by the management.
• Ensure tasks are understood by the team members, and performed responsibly and diligently
• Help others in the team if needed; Support relief staff in their duties

Main Contacts and Working Relationships

• Internal     All Department Heads and Line Managers.
  External    Stakeholders, customers, agencies etc.

Person Specification  (Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience)  
Education Level –    Minimum Requirement  

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, logistics or business administration

Professional    Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Cost Accounting, or a related field.
• Certificate course in supply chain preferred
• have a valid driver’s license

Work Experience    

• Minimum 8 years of progressive cost accounting and analysis experience with a manufacturing organization preferably in the dairy sector; strong emphasis put on knowledge of management accounting, cost and inventory accounting
• Experience in Dairy and/or Food manufacturing environment a plus
• Strong understanding of the Middle East markets

Job Specific Skills    

• Ability to see the big picture while focusing on the process and procedures necessary to produce deliverables
• Ability to establish and meet deadlines
• Through knowledge of IFRS, GAAP, accounting standards and established rules and regulations
• Knowledge of the financial systems and procedures required in a FMCG/manufacturing company
• Expert knowledge of accounting packages like SAP, Oracle or equivalent
• Working knowledge of MAPICS or similar ERP system and HFM Consolidation
• Proficient on Microsoft packages with advanced spreadsheet skills (report formatting with automation/macros, data mining, functions)
• Experience of planning, budgeting and forecasting
• Strong analytical skills enabling quick grasping of critical issues impacting plant's financial results.
• Familiarity with month end close processes
• Keen focus on continuous improvement; identification and elimination of non-value-added activities (NVAs).
• Ability to manage projects, work independently yet display good team-player skills
• Financial acumen to understand and interpret numbers
• Excellent written & verbal communication / presentation skills
• Team player with excellent motivational skills

Generic Skills

• Must be alert, strive for accuracy, and have ability to exercise independent thinking and judgment, be a self- motivator, and attention to detail
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Integrity, discretion and loyalty

 Position Location  

To be based in Muscat