How to hire a senior cost accountant

How to hire a senior cost accountant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior cost accountant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior cost accountant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior cost accountant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior cost accountant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a senior cost accountant, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect senior cost accountant also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents senior cost accountant salaries for various positions.

   Type of Senior Cost Accountant	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Cost Accountant	Accountants and auditors prepare and examine financial records. They ensure that financial records are accurate and that taxes are paid properly and on time... Show more	$23-42
   Accounting Supervisor	Account supervisors are in charge of the accounting and financial operations within an organization's accounting department. They supervise the account team and provide feedback about their performance and recommend improvements when necessary... Show more	$24-44
   Account Leader	Account leaders are assigned to work on specific client accounts and assist these clients with their needs. They should treat their clients as partners... Show more	$36-75

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Reconciliations
   • Variance Analysis
   • GAAP
   • Account Reconciliations
   • SR
   • SOX
   • Financial Analysis
   • Margin Analysis
   • Internal Controls
   • Financial Reports
   • PPV
   • Inventory Valuation
   • Calculation
   • Gross Margin

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage quarterly inventory reserves in accordance with company policy which follows GAAP guidance.
   • Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
   • Process month end close including journal entries, account reconciliations, variance analysis, financial statement preparation and corporate reporting.
   • Provide user training and technical support for ERP and payroll systems.
   • Implement process improvements for monthly close process and SOX documentation retention.
   • Complete account reconciliations in accordance with maintaining the integrity of assets and liabilities for balance sheet inventory accounts.

   More senior cost accountant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the senior cost accountant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior cost accountant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a senior cost accountant in West Virginia may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior cost accountant. Additionally, a senior cost accountant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average senior cost accountant salary

   $65,824yearly

   $31.65 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior cost accountant salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average senior cost accountant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$77,819	$37
   2	New Jersey	$77,142	$37
   3	Arizona	$67,787	$33
   4	Delaware	$67,303	$32
   5	Texas	$65,787	$32
   6	Pennsylvania	$64,497	$31
   7	Washington	$63,751	$31
   8	Georgia	$63,729	$31
   9	North Carolina	$63,062	$30
   10	Colorado	$61,624	$30
   11	Florida	$60,212	$29
   12	Illinois	$59,783	$29
   13	Minnesota	$59,665	$29
   14	Indiana	$58,835	$28
   15	Ohio	$57,303	$28
   16	Tennessee	$56,772	$27
   17	Nevada	$55,332	$27
   18	Utah	$51,718	$25
   19	Iowa	$51,233	$25
   20	Nebraska	$50,617	$24

   Average senior cost accountant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	OraSure Technologies	$102,909	$49.48
   2	Micron Technology	$99,011	$47.60
   3	Skyworks Solutions	$95,006	$45.68
   4	Fortinet	$93,660	$45.03
   5	NuVasive	$92,795	$44.61
   6	Hologic	$91,276	$43.88
   7	Zebra Technologies	$91,246	$43.87	2
   8	OSI Systems	$91,218	$43.85
   9	Sherpa	$91,104	$43.80	6
   10	Analogic	$90,922	$43.71
   11	Coherent	$89,701	$43.13
   12	Wabtec Corporation	$88,532	$42.56	6
   13	Aventine Hill Partners	$87,062	$41.86
   14	REV Group	$85,696	$41.20	3
   15	ITT	$85,031	$40.88	3
   16	DuPont	$84,672	$40.71
   17	MaxLinear	$84,641	$40.69
   18	Thermo Fisher Scientific	$82,078	$39.46	6
   19	AMETEK	$80,207	$38.56	3
   20	Globus Medical	$79,094	$38.03	1

4. Writing a senior cost accountant job description

   A good senior cost accountant job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a senior cost accountant job description:

   Senior cost accountant job description example

   Job DescriptionThe Cost Accountant will be required to review and maintain the standard costs for the Cincinnati site – this will include, the management of projects to confirm current standards as well as ensuring ERP data and master records are kept up to date. In addition, the Cost Accountant will be an integral part of the wider Finance team, supporting the month end and budgeting process as required and undertaking ad hoc work when needed.What will you do? • Partner with engineering, sourcing and supply chain to develop annual standard costs and Ad Hoc inventory costing requests in SAP. Provide analytics to interpret year over year cost drivers.
   • Strong knowledge of bill of material and routings in a standard cost system.
   • Lead finance oversight of physical inventories. Partner with supply chain to improve cycle count results through root cause analysis. Proactive monitoring of inventory and research of issues.
   • Analyze manufacturing equipment availability and utilization and direct labor productivity to provide meaningful metrics to help drive business results.
   • Proactive investigation of manufacturing variances including earned machine and labor hour absorption, scrap, capitalized variances, PPV and E&O inventory.
   • Perform monthly closing activities including journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations and analysis.
   • Analyze, interpret and communicate the company’s actual performance versus budgets and forecasts to functional leadership.
   • Prepare monthly calculation of absorption and ASC606 revenue recognition
   • Provide support to business management regarding inventory and pricing request for customers
   • Ensure compliance with Corporate Accounting Policies and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements Who we are looking for: experience, skills & abilities • Bachelor’s degree in a related field; MBA and/or CPA preferred
   • Well-developed communication, and social skills
   • Experience with SAP, or similar ERP system
   • Demonstrated ability to partner with functional leaders toward a common goal of achieving business objectives
   • Strong analytical skills and ability to identify key drivers of financial performance, particularly in a manufacturing environment
   • Self-starter and confident ability to influence a continuous improvement culture
   • Excellent computer skills, specifically Microsoft Office

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right senior cost accountant for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior cost accountant job on Zippia to find and recruit senior cost accountant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as efinancialcareers, financialjobsweb.com, careerbank, financial job bank.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting senior cost accountants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior cost accountant

   Once you have selected a candidate for the senior cost accountant position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new senior cost accountant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a senior cost accountant?