The cost accountant is responsible for analyzing ongoing process constraints, costing projects, analyzing profit margins, and linking costs to activities. They build and manage data accumulation systems to provide costing information to management. They also plan budgets and prepare reports for the company and its various departments. Asides from this, they prepare periodic cost forecasts for operational schedules. Additionally, they analyze periodic financial reports to identify and recommend cost-effective strategies for improvements.
Generally, cost accountants have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or a related field, with at least two years of related experience. Applicants must be familiar with accounting software, such as FreshBooks and QuickBooks. You must also know about the generally accepted accounting principles. Not just this, but you must possess analytical, time management, collaboration, and computer skills. Cost accountants can either practice independently or work with a firm. The average salary that a cost accountant earns is $60,051. It varies from $54,000 to $81,000.
Cost Accountant Overview
Cost Accountant Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cost accountant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.91 an hour? That's $53,896 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 90,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Cost Accountant Do
There are certain skills that many cost accountants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed organizational skills, analytical skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a cost accountant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.9% of cost accountants included financial statements, while 7.6% of resumes included general ledger accounts, and 7.0% of resumes included variance analysis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the cost accountant job title. But what industry to start with? Most cost accountants actually find jobs in the manufacturing and retail industries.
How To Become a Cost Accountant
If you're interested in becoming a cost accountant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 60.6% of cost accountants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 26.7% of cost accountants have master's degrees. Even though most cost accountants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a cost accountant. When we researched the most common majors for a cost accountant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on cost accountant resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a cost accountant. In fact, many cost accountant jobs require experience in a role such as accountant. Meanwhile, many cost accountants also have previous career experience in roles such as staff accountant or senior accountant.
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Cost Accountant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a cost accountant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior accountant, progress to a title such as accounting manager and then eventually end up with the title regional controller.
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Average Salary for a Cost Accountant
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Employ-Temps Cost Accountant Cost Accountant | Employ-Temps Employ-Temps | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $44,87103/30/2021 $44,871 |
Job Juncture Cost Accountant Cost Accountant | Job Juncture Job Juncture | 03/29/2021 03/29/2021 | $65,00003/29/2021 $65,000 |
Austin Allen Company, LLC 5093 Accountant/Cost Accounting Accountant/Cost Accounting | Austin Allen Company, LLC 5093 Austin Allen Company, LLC 5093 | 03/29/2021 03/29/2021 | $65,00003/29/2021 $65,000 |
Spotnails General & Cost Accountant General & Cost Accountant | Spotnails Spotnails | 03/27/2021 03/27/2021 | $70,00003/27/2021 $70,000 |
Robert Half Cost Accountant Cost Accountant | Robert Half Robert Half | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $75,00003/26/2021 $75,000 |
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Cost Accountant Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Cost Accountant. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Cost Accountant Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Cost Accountant resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Cost Accountants
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
7. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
8. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
9. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
10. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Top Skills For a Cost Accountant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.9% of cost accountants listed financial statements on their resume, but soft skills such as organizational skills and analytical skills are important as well.
- Financial Statements, 10.9%
- General Ledger Accounts, 7.6%
- Variance Analysis, 7.0%
- Raw Materials, 5.5%
- Special Projects, 4.5%
- Other Skills, 64.5% See All Cost Accountant Skills
Best States For a Cost Accountant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a cost accountant. The best states for people in this position are Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Cost accountants make the most in Washington with an average salary of $66,612. Whereas in New York and New Jersey, they would average $65,624 and $65,595, respectively. While cost accountants would only make an average of $64,780 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$70,813
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
$62,769
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$64,780
Avg. Salary
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