Cost Accountant - Kenya

Role Objective:

To take ownership of product costing, profitability analysis, business MIS and cost optimization for the Kenya Dairy and CSD business, providing Management with timely and accurate insights on cost, margins, pricing, production efficiency and business performance.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Product Costing

• Product-wise costing for Milk, Dairy Products, CSD & Energy Drinks.
• Standard vs Actual Cost analysis.
• RM, PM, milk, sugar, concentrate, SMP, packaging and conversion cost analysis.
• BOM and routing validation.
• Identify cost movements and abnormal variances.

Milk & Dairy Costing

• Analyse milk procurement cost, SMP usage, milk yield and conversion cost.
• Monitor seasonality impact on milk cost.
• Evaluate fresh milk vs SMP economics.
• Product-wise profitability and contribution analysis.

CSD Costing

• Monitor concentrate, sugar, PET/preform, closure, CO, packaging and other production costs.
• Analyse production yield, wastage and line efficiency.
• Track cost impact of commodity and packaging price movements.

Cost Variance Analysis

• Monthly Standard vs Actual Cost analysis.
• Material Price Variance
• Material Usage/Yield Variance
• Production/Conversion Variance
• Packaging Variance
• Volume & Mix Variance
• Identify root causes and corrective actions.

MIS & Management Reporting

• Prepare monthly business MIS for Kenya Management & HO.
• Sales, volume, revenue and contribution analysis.
• Product/customer/channel profitability.
• Budget vs Actual vs LY analysis.
• EBITDA and margin bridge.
• Plant and business-unit performance dashboards.

Pricing & Profitability

• Product-wise gross margin/contribution analysis.
• Support pricing decisions and customer negotiations.
• Analyse impact of discounts, schemes, freight, commissions and other selling costs.
• Identify low-margin and loss-making SKUs/customers.

Cost Optimization

• Identify opportunities for reduction in:
• RM/PM cost
• Milk procurement cost
• Conversion cost
• Packaging cost
• Energy cost
• Freight/logistics cost
• Wastage and yield losses
• Maintain Cost Saving Tracker and quantify actual savings.

Inventory & Production Analysis

• RM, PM, WIP and FG inventory analysis.
• Slow-moving/non-moving inventory.
• FIFO compliance.
• Production yield and wastage analysis.
• Production plan vs actual.
• Capacity utilization and line efficiency.

Budgeting & Forecasting

• Annual budget and periodic forecasts.
• Product-wise and plant-wise cost assumptions.
• Sensitivity analysis for milk, sugar, resin, packaging and other key commodities.
• Rolling forecast and margin outlook.

SAP & Data Integrity

• Ensure costing master data, BOM, material prices and production data are accurate.
• Review SAP costing and accounting entries.
• Ensure MIS reconciles with SAP financials.
• Identify system/data gaps affecting profitability reporting.

3. Key MIS / Reports

• Product-wise Cost & Margin
• Standard vs Actual Cost
• Material Price/Usage Variance
• Milk Cost & SMP Economics
• CSD Cost Analysis
• RM/PM Price Movement
• Production Yield & Wastage
• SKU-wise Profitability
• Customer/Channel Profitability
• Budget vs Actual
• Volume/Price/Mix Variance
• Plant Cost & Efficiency
• Inventory Analysis
• EBITDA/Margin Bridge
• Cost Saving Tracker

Job Requirements :

• CA / CMA – Mandatory
• 7–10 years of relevant experience
• Preferably from Dairy / Beverages / FMCG / Manufacturing
• Strong experience in Product Costing, Plant Finance, MIS & FP&A
• Strong SAP FI/CO/MM/PP understanding
• Advanced Excel / Power BI skills preferred
• Strong analytical and commercial orientation
• Ability to work closely with Procurement, Production, Sales, Supply Chain and Finance