What Organizations Employ Cost Accountants?

When discussing the career choices for accounting prospects, positions related to financial and cost accounting are often brought up. And rightly so. After all, these are the main two routes that one can choose to pursue after obtaining their degree and a CPA license. The financial accountants will usually start off in the public sector as tax or audit specialists. The cost accountants, on the other hand, will work internally and handle a wide variety of duties. Thus, there is very little doubt about which one of these two areas is more versatile as the cost route wins the battle easily. So, what organizations actually hire CPAs to handle cost-based duties?

Manufacturing Companies

The number one employer of cost accountants is manufacturing companies that operate across a wide range of industries. These include automotive, construction, software, food, and dozens of other markets. The reason why they tend to rely on cost accountants boils down to several job duties that these specialists are trained to perform. Examples include:

Cost-to-Benefit Analyses
Inventory Valuation and Tracking
Designing Cost Accounting Systems
Variance Analysis
Production Cost Minimization

For those unfamiliar, all of the aforementioned will help the business improve their bottom-line returns by either increasing revenues or reducing expenses. In other words, according to Forbes, cost accountants are there to facilitate higher profits by implementing their knowledge and interpreting the numbers in a meaningful way.

Governments

Besides manufacturing firms, most counties, governments, and local decision-making bodies tend to rely on cost accountants. A common misconception here is that the nature of these entities, which is non-profit, means that they do not have to rely on finance and accounting. On the contrary, even non-profits have to report to the federal government and provide a detailed account of all of their projects. This is where a CPA can come in very handy and deal with the financial negotiations that governments often have to endure when passing new laws, engaging in large-scale projects, and more. And it is important to recall that these types of skills are not as closely related to financial experts as they are to cost-oriented, managerial professionals.

Health Clubs

There are some examples of hybrid businesses that are both product and service-based. A great example would be health clubs, like commercial gyms, that are known for offering their facilities in exchange for monthly memberships. Well, these institutions are very active in the product-based sales of their merchandise, trainers’ time, specialized courses, and much more. Due to this, a cost accountant could almost effortlessly find engagements in the health-club sphere. Their job duties there would be extremely versatile and include everything from GAAP compliance to variance analyses that point out the highest profit margins per department.

Although the aforementioned are the most common employers of managerial accountants, the list goes on to include a few service-based companies. The reason why they are not as common, however, is because they seldom have material inventory accounts that any cost accountant could help optimize. Nevertheless, there are opportunities to work with large financial conglomerates and figure out ways to improve their operations even further. In the end, it is fair to say that one’s career in this industry will only be limited by their ambition and persistence.