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Summary
The Cost Accountant is a hybrid accounting and inventory-audit position responsible for supporting the Controller and Senior Auditor with inventory verification, cost validation, margin analysis, month-end closing, and year-end audit activities. This position works closely with store leadership and accounting teams to ensure inventory records, product costs, and margins are accurate across all retail locations.
Key Responsibilities
- Conduct cycle counts and physical inventory counts at retail store locations.
- Verify inventory quantities and research discrepancies between physical inventory and system records.
- Assist with validating product costs, pricing information, and inventory values in the point-of-sale system.
- Reconcile margins across store locations and bridge costs between the general ledger and point-of-sale system, identifying unusual cost, pricing, or profitability variances.
- Investigate inventory shrinkage, negative inventory, transfer discrepancies, and other inventory-control concerns.
- Support the Controller with inventory accounting, account reconciliations, journal entries, and month-end closing activities.
- Support the Senior Auditor with store audits, transaction reviews, documentation, and follow-up activities.
- Review inventory transfers between stores and confirm that transactions are accurately recorded.
- Help establish and improve inventory controls, accounting procedures, and audit processes.
- Prepare schedules, reports, and supporting documentation for the annual financial audit.
- Assist external auditors with inventory-related requests and supporting documentation.
- Communicate audit findings and inventory discrepancies to store management and appropriate leadership.
- Partner with store teams to improve inventory accuracy and compliance with established procedures.
- Maintain organized and accurate records for inventory, costing, and audit activities.
- Perform other accounting and audit-related duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
- Three or more years of experience in cost accounting, inventory accounting, retail accounting, auditing, or a related position.
- Retail or multi-location business experience strongly preferred.
- Experience with inventory valuation, cycle counting, margin analysis, and account reconciliations.
- Working knowledge of month-end closing and year-end audit processes.
- Experience working with point-of-sale and inventory-management systems.
- Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, formulas, and data reconciliation.
- Strong analytical, investigative, and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
- Ability to communicate findings clearly to accounting, operations, and store-management teams.
- Ability to manage priorities and work independently in a fast-paced, growing organization.
Travel and Scheduling Requirements
- Must have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, and the ability to travel regularly throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex.
- Must be available for occasional out-of-state travel based on business and audit needs.
- Must be able to adjust the work schedule when inventory counts, store audits, month-end closing, or year-end audit activities require additional availability.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to move throughout retail and inventory-storage areas.
- Ability to stand, walk, bend, reach, and perform physical inventory counts for extended periods.
- Ability to lift and move boxes or inventory weighing up to 30 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate has retail accounting experience, strong analytical skills, and the ability to work independently while traveling between store locations. Experience supporting multiple retail locations. Familiarity with inventory shrinkage, store transfers, and gross-margin reporting. Experience working in a startup, rapidly growing, or high-volume retail environment. Ability to build processes and recommend improvements to accounting and inventory controls.
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