[Anonymous]

Hi all!

I recently took a position of a Cost Accountant and realized that I have no idea what the career path might look like for me in future. I looked at people with CA titles in my area on LinkedIn, and seems like they don’t have a lot of upward mobility (people don’t get promoted for a number of years). The traditional Staff Accountant role leads to Senior, then Supervisor, Manager and then the Controller.

What’s the deal with Cost Accountants, do they have the same career progression?

Do people working with financial reporting (GAAP) for external users, as opposed to those who figure out costs, have more edge in moving up the career ladder?

As a side note, I worked in Fin. Reporting before, but absolutely love my current job and people I work with. I just became curious.

Any Cost Accountants here ?

[Anonymous]

I spent about three years as a cost accountant. I left that job about a year and a half ago to go back to school for my masters and then took the CPA exams. I am now back in the job market and finding that my cost accounting background is really only good for cost accounting positions. And while cost accountant jobs pay well, they seem to be very few and far between (at least where I live…Phoenix area). I find that my background as a cost accountant fits jobs that are more the “financial analyst” type. Which I'm fine with and have started looking into going that route instead. Although I feel like I would have been better off starting out with a staff accountant position and maybe I'd have more opportunities now. So I'm not really sure that I really answered your question, but I just wanted to chime in with my experiences so far.

[Anonymous]

That's how I feel ASUalum, the Cost Accountant and Financial Analyst are pretty much the same thing. But is there any way you can transition from Financial Analyst to a Manager or Controller type position? Anybody?

[Anonymous]

Apparently, not a lot of cost accountants here 🙁

[Missy]

I've been in industry for over 20 years, five of which were as a cost accountant.

Now I work for a very small manufacturing company as a finance manager, for a variety of reasons couldn't land role at a larger company (my experience is mostly with companies under 20m revenue, was MUCH older when I finished my undergrad, nearly 40, and don't want to commute too far from my home because my priority is my kids) but it was in part my cost accounting experience that got me this job.

Don't be fooled by traditional progressions, they're not as traditional as you'd imagine. My start in accounting was collections, picking up the phone and calling past due debtors. Now a finance manager. Your path is where you direct yourself.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

I spent three years in cost accounting. It can be a niche to a certain degree, but if you work in a midsize company where you can participate in the financial closes each month then I think you can still maintain both sides of your skills. I was lucky enough to get to do both in my ~100 million company.

Cost/management accounting is rewarding in that you put your money where your mouth is. You aren't just rolling numbers up and looking at the past. You get into the nitty gritty and understand how the numbers came to be and what we need them to be (there's your financial analysis aspect). I worked on a lot of new product development so I was able to develop negotiation/soft skills. Trying to explain to sales and R&D people why the numbers don't financially pencil out turns out to be an art. 🙂 Honestly though, you become an extremely detail-oriented person…if you aren't, it can cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Driving profitability is at the heart of almost every business, and I think cost accounting is a great way to prepare/ yourself for a leadership role in the finance/accounting department.

Learn as much as you can…the fact that you have financial reporting experience already is a good thing. Being well-rounded will serve you well as you move up the ladder or look for new jobs down the road. As always, tailor your resume to the next job you want. You can twist and mold a lot of what you will learn in your cost accounting role into viable strengths for many finance and accounting positions.

[Anonymous]

That's the answer I hoped to hear! Thanks!

[waffle_house]

I worked as a cost accountant for a fortune 200 company. It was more of an analyst job than actual accounting (managing cost center expenses, looking at cost variances and ways to improve). I had fun with cost accounting than I do with actual g/l accounting. But I don't see why the progression as a cost accountant would be any different than a regular staff accountant. Also, for bigger companies I know you can go from manager to controller ( they have many different controllers for certain product lines).

[jm962011]

I've worked in manufacturing for a large public company and the cost accountants (who actually worked at the different manufacturing facilities) were some of the first people I would go to when I needed info about costs running through a facility's GL such as allocation calculations for tax audits. I worked in the corporate office but I also worked near some of the financial planning and analysis (ie: budgeting) managers/controllers who seemed to have cost accounting backgrounds. Some of them did the FP&A for the facilities while others worked with the different engineers and would give them the green light on sending their teams to Asia or something.

[VeronicaWright]

Actually, cash accountant's career is not limited by anything, as you can develop yourself limitlessly. You may become working with accounts payable or receivable, or take care of all accounting.

[Author]

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