Cost Accountant

About the role

Career Directions Limited (CDL) is hiring a Cost Accountant in Nairobi to strengthen project financial control. The role tracks project costs in real time, monitors actual, committed and forecast costs against approved budgets, and identifies cost overruns, budget variances and margin erosion early so that management and project teams can act while a project is still running.

Key responsibilities

• Track project costs in real time and monitor them against the approved budget
• Identify cost overruns, budget variances and margin erosion early, and monitor cost-to-complete
• Provide project managers with timely financial information and give management a consolidated view of the project portfolio
• Maintain and update product/project costing and standard costs, and capture material, labour, installation, procurement and overhead costs
• Lead month-end cost reconciliations, journals, COGS and cost reporting, and prepare monthly cost, profitability and management reports
• Work with Procurement, Operations and Projects to find cost-saving opportunities
• Maintain accurate costing data in the ERP/accounting system and support internal and external audits

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related discipline
• CPA, ACCA, CMA or equivalent professional qualification (or progress towards it) is a must
• At least 2 years of relevant cost accounting or project cost management experience
• Experience in project/product costing, inventory reconciliation, cost allocation, variance analysis and margin monitoring
• Experience working with Finance, Procurement, Operations and Project teams

Required skills

• Proficiency in ERP/accounting systems and advanced Excel; Zoho is an added advantage
• Strong variance analysis, root-cause investigation and numerical accuracy
• Ability to turn financial data into actionable insights, with strong communication and stakeholder-management skills