Senior Manager - Audits (Costing)

We are looking for an experienced Senior Manager – Costing & Pricing to lead product costing, pricing, profitability management and commercial decision support for a manufacturing business.

The role will be responsible for ensuring accurate product costing, analysing manufacturing costs and margins, developing pricing models, identifying cost-reduction opportunities and providing actionable insights to senior management for strategic business decisions.

The ideal candidate should have strong hands-on exposure to manufacturing costing, BOM & routing, standard costing, variance analysis, pricing strategy, product/customer profitability and ERP costing systems.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product Costing & Standard Costing

• Develop and maintain product-wise, SKU-wise, plant-wise and customer-wise costing.
• Prepare detailed product costs covering:
  • Raw Materials
  • Direct Labour
  • Power & Utilities
  • Manufacturing Overheads
  • Packaging
  • Freight & Logistics
  • Subcontracting / Conversion Costs
  • Depreciation and other applicable costs.
• Review and validate BOM, routing, process costs, activity rates and standard costs.
• Establish and maintain standard costing methodology across manufacturing units.
• Analyse Standard vs. Actual Cost Variances and identify key cost drivers.
• Support costing for new products, new plants, new processes and product modifications.
• Ensure timely revision of costs based on changes in raw materials, labour, utilities and other input costs.

2. Pricing Management

• Develop cost-plus, market-based and value-based pricing models.
• Recommend selling prices based on product cost, target margin, market conditions and competition.
• Prepare pricing proposals for:
  • New Products
  • Existing Products
  • Large Customers
  • Institutional / Business Contracts
  • Export Orders
  • Special Projects.
• Conduct Price-Volume-Mix (PVM) analysis.
• Evaluate customer-wise and product-wise profitability.
• Identify margin leakage and recommend corrective actions.
• Support Sales and Business Development teams during commercial negotiations.

3. Cost Reduction & Margin Improvement

• Identify and drive cost optimisation and margin improvement opportunities.
• Work with Procurement on raw-material price movements, alternate sourcing and cost benchmarking.
• Partner with Production and Engineering teams to identify process-cost reduction opportunities.
• Analyse:
  • Material Consumption
  • Yield
  • Scrap / Rejection
  • Machine Utilisation
  • Labour Productivity
  • Energy Consumption
  • Conversion Costs.
• Conduct Should-Cost Analysis and manufacturing cost benchmarking.
• Track cost-saving initiatives and quantify their financial impact.

4. Cost Variance Analysis

• Prepare monthly Standard vs. Actual Cost Variance Reports.
• Analyse:
  • Material Price Variance
  • Material Usage Variance
  • Labour Variance
  • Overhead Variance
  • Production Efficiency Variance.
• Identify root causes of significant cost deviations.
• Work with Plant, Purchase, Production and Finance teams on corrective actions.
• Prepare management dashboards highlighting key cost and profitability movements.

5. Profitability & Commercial Analytics

• Prepare product contribution margin and EBITDA-level profitability analysis.
• Analyse profitability by:
  • Product / SKU
  • Customer
  • Business Segment
  • Plant
  • Geography
  • Sales Channel.
• Support decisions related to:
  • Price Revision
  • Product Discontinuation
  • Outsourcing
  • Make-or-Buy
  • Capacity Utilisation.
• Develop pricing sensitivity and scenario models.

6. Budgeting & Forecasting

• Support annual budgeting and periodic forecasting for manufacturing costs.
• Develop cost assumptions for:
  • Raw Materials
  • Labour
  • Utilities
  • Production Volumes
  • Overheads
  • Inflation.
• Conduct Budget vs. Actual Analysis.
• Support business planning with cost and margin projections.

7. ERP, MIS & Analytics

• Ensure accuracy of costing data in ERP systems.
• Review and maintain BOM, Material Master, Cost Centres, Activity Rates and Costing Parameters.
• Participate in ERP implementation/upgradation related to costing and pricing.
• Develop automated MIS dashboards using Advanced Excel, Power BI and/or ERP reporting tools.
• Ensure data integrity and strong costing controls.

8. Cross-Functional Business Partnering

Work closely with:

Finance & Accounts | Procurement | Production | Supply Chain | Sales & Marketing | R&D | Quality | Engineering | Plant Operations

Provide costing, pricing and profitability insights to support commercial and strategic business decisions.

📊 Key KPIs / Deliverables

• Accuracy and timeliness of product costing.
• Improvement in product and customer profitability.
• Reduction in manufacturing costs.
• Reduction in cost variances.
• Accuracy of standard costs.
• Pricing turnaround time.
• Improvement in gross and contribution margins.
• Identification and realisation of cost-saving opportunities.
• Accuracy of costing MIS and management reports.
• Timely completion of budgets and forecasts.
• Accuracy of ERP costing data.

🎓 Qualification

Preferred:

• CA
• CMA / ICWA

Can also be considered:

• MBA – Finance / Costing
• B.Com / M.Com with strong manufacturing costing experience.

💼 Experience

• 15–20 years of relevant experience in Costing, Pricing, Commercial Finance, Management Accounting or Plant Finance.
• Strong hands-on experience in a manufacturing environment is mandatory.
• Multi-plant manufacturing exposure will be an advantage.