The posting
The Plant Controller is responsible for the financial leadership, accounting integrity, cost controls, budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis of a 24/7 manufacturing facility.
This position serves as a key business partner to Plant Management and Corporate Finance, providing accurate and timely financial information while developing a strong understanding of plant operations. The Controller is expected to go beyond traditional accounting responsibilities and actively evaluate the financial impact of production performance, material usage, labor, inventory, scrap, downtime, capital investment, and continuous improvement activities.
The successful candidate will be comfortable working with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Human Resources, and Corporate Finance and will maintain strong financial controls while helping plant leadership identify opportunities to improve cost, productivity, and profitability.
Because the facility operates continuously, the Controller must understand that significant production activity occurs outside normal office hours and periodically work with or support personnel across all shifts.
Financial Management & Reporting
- Lead the plant's accounting and financial reporting activities.
- Ensure accurate and timely completion of monthly, quarterly, and annual financial close activities.
- Prepare, review, and analyze plant financial statements and operating results.
- Maintain appropriate accounting records, reconciliations, accruals, and supporting documentation.
- Investigate unusual financial results, transactions, or variances and ensure appropriate corrective action.
- Provide plant leadership with meaningful financial analysis rather than simply reporting financial results.
- Support Corporate Finance requirements, audits, reporting, and financial initiatives.
- Maintain strong internal financial controls and segregation of duties.
- Ensure accounting activities comply with company policies and applicable accounting requirements.
Manufacturing Cost Accounting
Maintain and continuously improve the facility's manufacturing cost-accounting processes, including:
- Standard costing
- Actual manufacturing costs
- Raw material consumption
- Direct and indirect labor
- Manufacturing overhead
- Work-in-process inventory
- Finished goods inventory
- Inventory valuation
- Scrap and material losses
- Production and purchase price variances
- Labor and overhead variances
- Inventory adjustments
- Cost-of-goods-sold analysis
Work closely with Operations and Engineering to understand the operational causes behind significant manufacturing variances.
Plant-Floor Financial Analysis
The Controller is expected to develop a working knowledge of the manufacturing processes and regularly engage with Operations rather than manage plant finances exclusively from the accounting office.
Analyze the financial effects of:
- Scrap and yield loss
- Machine and process downtime
- Production efficiency
- Overtime
- Staffing changes
- Production scheduling
- Material consumption
- Equipment reliability
- Maintenance spending
- Inventory levels
- Process improvements
- Operational disruptions
Translate plant performance into financial terms that managers can use to make business decisions.
Budgeting & Forecasting
- Lead development of the annual plant operating budget.
- Prepare periodic financial forecasts.
- Develop departmental spending expectations with functional managers.
- Monitor actual results against budget and forecast.
- Identify unfavorable trends early and communicate them to leadership.
- Prepare financial scenarios to support operational decisions.
- Assist management in establishing realistic cost-reduction and productivity targets.
Inventory Control
- Maintain financial integrity of raw-material, WIP, and finished-goods inventory.
- Reconcile inventory records to the general ledger.
- Support cycle-count and physical-inventory processes.
- Investigate significant inventory discrepancies.
- Review obsolete, excess, slow-moving, or questionable inventory.
- Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to strengthen inventory controls.
- Evaluate inventory adjustments and ensure appropriate authorization and documentation.
Capital Expenditures
- Support development of capital expenditure requests and financial justification.
- Evaluate payback, savings assumptions, and expected financial returns.
- Maintain appropriate accounting for approved capital projects.
- Monitor spending against authorized capital budgets.
- Ensure completed projects are appropriately capitalized and placed into service.
- Support post-project reviews when appropriate to determine whether anticipated financial benefits were achieved.
Internal Controls & Compliance
- Maintain effective plant-level financial controls.
- Identify financial-control weaknesses and recommend improvements.
- Maintain appropriate documentation supporting financial transactions.
- Support internal and external financial audits.
- Monitor spending authority and approval processes.
- Ensure transactions are properly recorded, supported, and authorized.
- Assist management in reducing financial, inventory, and asset-control risk.
Operational Business Partnership
Develop strong working relationships with:
- Plant Manager
- Operations leadership
- Shift Managers
- Maintenance
- Engineering
- Quality
- Supply Chain/Purchasing
- Human Resources
- Corporate Finance
Provide financial guidance that helps these groups understand the economic consequences of operational decisions.
Your existing internal role documentation specifically describes the facility as a four-shift, 24/7 manufacturing operation involving Furnace/Casting, Press, and Packing, making cross-shift operational understanding particularly important for this Controller position. [Job Posting | Word]
Key Performance Areas
Success in the position should include demonstrated control and understanding of:
- Financial reporting accuracy
- Month-end close
- Manufacturing cost accuracy
- Inventory accuracy
- Scrap and yield cost
- Material-cost variances
- Labor-cost variances
- Manufacturing overhead
- Budget performance
- Forecast accuracy
- Working capital
- Capital expenditure control
- Internal controls
- Audit compliance
Education and Experience
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a closely related discipline.
- Approximately 5+ years of progressively responsible accounting or finance experience, preferably including manufacturing.
- Strong understanding of general accounting and financial controls.
- Demonstrated knowledge of manufacturing cost accounting.
- Experience with budgeting, forecasting, inventory accounting, and variance analysis.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel.
- Experience working with ERP/accounting systems.
- Ability to analyze financial and operational data and clearly explain conclusions to non-financial managers.
Preferred
- Previous Plant Controller, Assistant Controller, Cost Accounting Manager, or Senior Cost Accountant experience in a manufacturing environment.
- CPA and/or CMA certification.
- Experience in metals, automotive, high-volume, process, or other capital-intensive manufacturing.
- Experience supporting a multi-shift or 24/7 manufacturing operation.
- Experience with ERP-based standard costing and inventory-control systems.
- Experience with Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, or cost-reduction initiatives.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Strong understanding of manufacturing accounting and standard costing.
- Strong financial analytical ability.
- High attention to detail without losing sight of overall business performance.
- Ability to identify the operational causes behind financial variances.
- Strong problem-solving and root-cause-analysis skills.
- Ability to challenge assumptions professionally and constructively.
- Ability to communicate financial concepts to operational employees and managers.
- Strong organizational and time-management skills.
- Ability to prioritize responsibilities during month-end close and other high-demand periods.
- Sound judgment and high ethical standards.
- Ability to maintain confidential business, financial, and employee information.
- Willingness to spend time on the manufacturing floor learning processes and understanding operating conditions.
24/7 Manufacturing Expectations
Although this position normally operates during standard business hours, the Plant Controller supports a facility that operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
The Controller must therefore be willing to:
- Adjust work hours periodically to understand or address issues occurring on other shifts.
- Work with managers and supervisors representing all operating shifts.
- Respond appropriately to significant financial, inventory, or operational issues occurring outside normal business hours.
- Participate in physical inventories or other activities that may occasionally require evening, weekend, or off-shift support.
- Maintain financial processes that function effectively regardless of the shift on which production activity occurs.
This does not mean the Controller should function as a 24/7 on-call position. Rather, the expectation is that the Controller understands and supports the entire operation, not simply first-shift activity.
Leadership Expectations
The Plant Controller should be:
A financial steward Protecting company assets and ensuring financial information is accurate.
An operational business partner Helping plant leadership understand the financial consequences of manufacturing decisions.
A constructive challenger Questioning unexplained variances, excessive spending, inventory discrepancies, and unsupported assumptions.
A problem solver Working with Operations to identify the underlying causes of unfavorable financial results.
A forward-looking analyst Identifying unfavorable trends before they become significant financial problems.
