Overview 

Baker Tilly’s Industrial Advisory team partners with manufacturing and distribution clients to solve complex operational and financial challenges through data-driven insights and strategic advisory services. Our professionals help clients improve operational performance, evaluate capital investments, optimize profitability, and leverage technology to drive better business decisions. 

As a Senior Manager, you’ll collaborate with teams across Baker Tilly to solve complex operational challenges and deliver high impact solutions. This role will involve heavy collaboration with clients, often working alongside them to help build value.  

We are seeking a candidate who has hands-on experience developing and executing manufacturing cost accounting, inventory costing, and related systems and processes. The ideal candidate will have experience designing, implementing, managing, or advising on cost-accounting processes within manufacturing organizations and will be comfortable working with detailed product, manufacturing, purchasing, and inventory data. 

Our clients require subject matter expertise from professionals who understand how products are manufactured, how manufacturing costs flow through an organization, and how accounting processes, ERP systems, operational data, and management reporting work together. 

This individual will also provide senior leadership for the cost-accounting and data-analysis components of Baker Tilly’s domestic content consulting services. 

Successful candidates will be expected to take ownership of assigned engagements, exercise sound professional judgment, and move work forward with limited day-to-day oversight. The successful candidate will be proactive, resourceful, and able to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution. 

As one of the fastest growing firms in the nation, Baker Tilly has the ability to offer you upward career trajectory, flexibility in how and where you get your work done and meaningful relationships with clients, teammates and leadership who truly care about you and your development.   

Key Responsibilities: 

Inventory and Manufacturing Cost Advisory 

• Lead consulting engagements involving inventory costing, product costing, manufacturing cost analysis, and related financial and operational processes. 

• Assess client cost-accounting methodologies, systems, processes, controls, and data and identify opportunities to improve accuracy, efficiency, transparency, and management decision-making. 

• Provide subject matter expertise in areas including: 

• Standard and actual costing 

• Inventory valuation 

• Bills of material and manufacturing routings 

• Direct material and direct labor costs 

• Manufacturing overhead and cost allocations 

• Purchase price, material, labor, and manufacturing variances 

• Inventory controls and cycle-counting programs 

• Product and component cost structures 

• ERP costing and material-flow processes 

• Cost and profitability reporting 

• Work with clients and ERP or technology teams to evaluate and improve cost-accounting processes and system configurations, including material-flow logic and product-costing methodologies. 

• Design and oversee analyses of manufacturing costs, purchasing activity, inventory, variances, product profitability, and other financial and operational information. 

• Develop practical methodologies for complex costing situations where client systems or available data do not readily provide the information required. 

• Document and analyze client processes, internal controls, data flows, and workflows and recommend improvements. 

Domestic Content Cost Consulting 

• Provide senior leadership for the cost-accounting and financial-data components of domestic content consulting engagements. 

• Work directly with manufacturers, suppliers, and client teams to obtain the detailed product, cost, and sourcing information necessary to perform domestic content analyses. 

• Evaluate and analyze bills of material, supplier information, purchasing records, labor and routing data, manufacturing overhead, inventory records, product costs, and other manufacturing information. 

• Develop methodologies for identifying, categorizing, and calculating domestic and non-domestic manufacturing costs or content in accordance with the requirements applicable to each engagement. 

• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and limitations in manufacturer or supplier data and develop reasonable and supportable approaches to address those issues. 

• Assist clients in developing repeatable processes, controls, and documentation for collecting and maintaining information needed to support domestic content requirements. 

• Coordinate with Baker Tilly professionals in tax, incentives, government contracting, engineering, supply chain, legal, technology, and other specialties as appropriate. 

• Review analyses and supporting documentation to ensure conclusions are accurate, consistent, and defensible to client management and other stakeholders. 

Engagement and Client Leadership 

• Develop engagement approaches, work plans, staffing models, budgets, milestones, data requests, and deliverables. 

• Manage multiple concurrent engagements while maintaining quality, timeliness, and engagement economics. 

• Serve as a senior client contact and build trusted relationships with finance, accounting, operations, procurement, supply-chain, engineering, and executive leadership. 

• Lead client interviews, working sessions, data discussions, executive presentations, and findings meetings. 

• Translate complex manufacturing, accounting, and data issues into clear business implications and actionable recommendations. 

• Exercise professional judgment when client data is incomplete, inconsistent, or unavailable and guide teams in developing appropriate analytical approaches. 

• Review team analyses and deliverables for technical accuracy, quality, clarity, and completeness. 

Team Leadership and Practice Development 

• Provide on-the-job coaching and technical guidance in manufacturing cost accounting, inventory costing, data analysis, and domestic content methodologies. 

• Identify opportunities to expand services and deliver additional value to manufacturing and distribution clients. 

• Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset by identifying emerging client needs and developing new service offerings and solutions. 

• Participate in business-development activities, including prospect discussions, development of scopes of work, proposals, presentations, and fee estimates. 

• Build relationships across Baker Tilly to bring the appropriate combination of technical and industry expertise to client engagements. 

• Contribute to thought leadership, articles, presentations, and other market-development activities. 

• Travel as needed to client offices and manufacturing facilities. 

Minimum Qualifications:  

• 4-year degree  

• 8 years professional experience  

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Bachelor’s degree or above in accounting or finance 

• 10+ years of experience in the accounting or finance department of manufacturing companies or consulting firms supporting inventory cost projects 

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and/or Certified Management Accountant certifications 

• Deep understanding of manufacturing cost-accounting concepts, including standard and actual costing, inventory valuation, bills of material, routings, material and labor costs, manufacturing overhead, allocations, and manufacturing variances. 

• Experience obtaining, validating, and analyzing detailed cost and operational data from manufacturing facilities, suppliers, or other third parties. 

• Experience designing, implementing, or improving cost-accounting processes and methodologies within manufacturing organizations. 

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to develop practical solutions when available data is incomplete or inconsistent. 

• Experience building pro forma financial models incorporating income statements and cash flows to support business decisions 

• Demonstrates an entrepreneurial mindset to identify client needs and build, plan, and manage services to support those needs 

• Experience building processes within SAP or Oracle Finance and Inventory Management Platforms 

• Prior experience with domestic content, manufacturing incentives, government contracting, tax incentives, country-of-origin analysis, or similar product-level cost and sourcing requirements is beneficial but not required. 

The US National pay rate range for this job position is $179,850-$340,970. Actual compensation is influenced by a variety of relevant factors including but not limited to applicant’s skills, prior experience, qualifications, degrees, professional certifications, work arrangements and geographic location. Baker Tilly offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package to eligible employees.

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