Cost Accountant

At Oxford Instruments, we enable the world’s leading industrial companies and scientific research communities to image, analyse and manipulate materials down to the atomic and molecular level. With a sixty-year history, and fourteen Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, our world-class products and technologies are helping our customers to address the greatest challenges of the 21st century.

We are looking for a Cost Accountant to join the Finance Team in High Wycombe, this person will be responsible for the valuation of inventory, revenue and cost of goods sold for the EM & NMR product lines. Be responsible for the P&L reporting to Gross Margin and Inventory and Warranty provisions.  They will provide meaningful financial information which will be used for decision making and be a key finance partner for the Operations team.

Location:

This is a hybrid role, with 3 days in the office. The working week is 37 hours and has the flexibility to start between 07:30-09:30. We are based in High Wycombe, on the Cressex Business Park.

What is in it for you?

At Oxford Instruments, we put our people at the heart of all we do. We embody our values of: We are Inclusive, we are Innovative, we are Trusted, and we are Purposeful. As an employee of Oxford Instruments, you will be given the development and mentorship to succeed, an environment that breeds authenticity and curiosity. We are committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive working environment, all of our people bring with them, unique perspectives and skills, varying levels of experience and a shared commitment to excellence providing an environment in which others can learn from each other, innovation is forefront of mind and collaboration flourishes. In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package to include: 12:30 Friday finishes, BUPA private health insurance, dental insurance, group pension, cycle to work, tech and car schemes, as well as give as you earn and option to purchase shares, numerous discounts and 25 days holiday.

The role:

• Monthly reconciliation of inventory with a detailed analysis of inventory held by part number ensuring that that we are holding the correct inventory,
• Preparation and review of Labour and Overhead in Inventory, posting as appropriate.
• Monthly review of labour recovery to ensure costs are correctly recovered to Prime Margin.  Provide analysis to the Production Manager for effective management of labour and to ensure Production cells are correctly set up
• Liaise with the regional office to understand the inventory held outside of the factory.  Prepare the month end profit in stock journal.
• Working closely with the Operations team, ensuring they have finance resource when needed
• Prepare the WIP reconciliation and review anomalies.  Review Aging of WIP with the production manager monthly
• Maintain and track all Stock used for demonstration and ensure appropriate carrying value held.
• Review stock held in quarantine on a regular basis with the procurement team
• Monthly balance sheet reconciliations of all stock accounts (including any stock provision accounts)
• Preparation of High Wycombe SMOP with Operations.  Review with the Financial Controller and post as appropriate.
• Work closely with Operations to ensure efficient cycle count process.
• Ensure appropriate levels of inventory are being maintained.
• Annually update base costs for all items held in inventory
• Quarterly review of inventory held in regional offices

Revenue / Margin Analysis

• Prepare monthly revenue analysis
• Prepare and review margin analysis against prior year/budget/forecast.  This analysis will be by product line and region
• Reviewing monthly ledger entries to ensure direct cost of sales and other cost of sales are correctly reported
• Ensure correct classifications of Other COGS: FOC, Warranty & ICO Service.
• Review all work-orders & Purchase Order Variances, liaising with relevant managers to resolve any issues.
• Review all other COGS categories to ensure they are at an appropriate value.

Other Month end Tasks

• Review order income and revenue and upload into Controller.  Work with the Order Entry team or production on resolving any missing information
• Ensure that revenue is recognised in line with the INCO terms of the order
• Preparation of Regional P&Ls to upload into the Group consolidation system monthly
• Monthly reconciliation of orderbook
• Monthly calculation of the warranty provision.

• Preparation of the quality report.
• Produce weekly revenue forecast.
• Ownership of the vendor returns process.  Ensure the movement of stock is correctly accounted for
• Work closely with the external audit team to ensure all information is provide for in a timely manner for the interim and annual audit
• Review of open purchase orders with the procurement team on a regular basis to ensure that the information held in the system is current
• Year end accrual of open purchase orders
• Year end accrual of stock in transit from our suppliers  
• Any ad-hoc tasks as required by the Financial Controller.

The person we are looking for will be ideally:

Qualified or part qualified (ACA, ACCA, CIMA).

• Experience of providing a customer-focused, high-quality service in an accounting environment.
• Competent computer user including MS Excel and other computerised management information systems.
• Demonstrates the ability to manage workload in an organised manner and carry out tasks accurately.
• Evidence of good written and oral communications skills.
• Planning – plans, follows the plan and allows some flexibility so that objectives are met.
• Process Awareness & Improvement – identifies where improvements can be made in day-to-day work and related activities that may deliver business benefits.
• Customer Focus – communicates with customers to understand their detailed requirements.
• Analysing and deciding – describes problems in terms of cause and effect, seeing the connections between various contributory factors.
• Commercial Awareness – has an awareness of the range of projects and current workload in own area.
• Teamwork and Co-operation – active part of a team, understands own role and inputs to the success of the team.

Selection Process:

For any queries on anything mentioned within the description, please contact Abby Gelder (recruiter). The first step in our process, will be to have a screening call with Abby, where you’ll learn more about the business, the role, and have the opportunity to tell Abby more about yourself. Next, successfully shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview, this will include an excel test, and interviewing with the Financial Controller and General Manager.