Platforms
Standard cost accounting, inventory valuation, WIP, variance analysis, multi-warehouse operations. NetSuite, Fishbowl, Katana, SAP Business One, Sage X3 – delivered by accountants who understand bills of materials and absorption accounting.
Manufacturing scope
Platforms
Most small-to-mid manufacturers we meet have the same symptom: the P&L says the company is profitable, but the owner can't tell you which product lines actually make money, which customers subsidize which, or whether pricing on a specific SKU is sustainable. The reason is almost always cost accounting – not the concept of it, but the actual monthly execution. Labor isn't fully loaded (employer taxes and benefits missing from standard costs). Overhead absorption rates haven't been refreshed in 18 months. Landed cost lives in a spreadsheet that isn't reconciled to the books.
Manufacturers run on standard costs because actual costs are impossibly volatile at the production level. The discipline is the monthly reconciliation between standard and actual – variance analysis that tells you whether your material pricing, labor efficiency, and overhead absorption are on track. Offshore accountants trained on manufacturing handle this monthly, document material price vs usage variances separately from labor rate vs efficiency variances, and flag variances above thresholds for operational follow-up.
A bill of materials that was accurate in 2021 isn't accurate now. Component prices change, substitutions happen, engineering change orders adjust specifications. If BOMs don't get reviewed quarterly, standard costs drift from reality and variance analysis becomes noise. This is unsexy work that generic bookkeepers don't do; manufacturing accountants build it into the close cycle.
Manufacturers with import supply chains deal with freight, duty, customs broker fees, and currency hedging. All of this should capitalize into inventory, not expense on a timing basis. Offshore accountants trained on manufacturing capitalize landed cost properly and track it at the SKU/location level so COGS is accurate when the units sell.
Manufacturing engagements typically run on NetSuite with a senior accountant handling cost complexity. Pair with offshore AP for vendor bills and offshore controller for senior oversight. Broader offshore accounting context on the homepage.
FAQ
Yes. Initial standard cost setup for new implementations, annual cost rolls, and mid-year cost adjustments when material pricing shifts meaningfully. Process-costing and job-costing both supported.
Process costing and discrete costing are both supported. Process manufacturers require different techniques (equivalent units, stage-based cost capture) that we match to accountant background.
We don't manage MES directly but we reconcile shop floor output data to the ERP and the GL. Production postings from MES to NetSuite or Fishbowl flow through our review.
Cycle count reconciliation is monthly scope. We post adjustments, categorize variances (count error, shrinkage, damage), and escalate repeat-offender SKUs for operational review.
Yes. Customer-owned (consignment) inventory tracked separately, bailment accounting, manufacturing-services revenue recognition distinct from product sales.
Yes. Qualified research expense tracking, engineering wage allocation, supply and contract R&D documentation for Form 6765. The actual credit computation and study is typically done by a specialized R&D tax firm; we provide the underlying data.
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