Job Description

The SAP S/4HANA Product Costing Consultant designs, configures, implements, and supports product cost planning, cost object controlling, actual costing, and profitability-related processes in SAP S/4HANA. The role ensures accurate product costs, inventory valuation, variance analysis, and financial transparency across manufacturing operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Gather finance and manufacturing costing requirements and translate them into SAP S/4HANA Product Costing solutions.
• Design and configure end-to-end product costing processes, including:
• Configure cost object controlling for:
• Support period-end manufacturing cost processes, including:
• Configure and support Material Ledger and Actual Costing processes, including:
• Define and maintain costing structures, including:
• Support cost analysis for material, labor, machine, overhead, scrap, rework, subcontracting, and external processing costs.
• Analyze planned versus actual costs, production variances, purchase-price variances, usage variances, quantity variances, and activity-price variances.
• Integrate Product Costing with:
• Lead workshops, document fit-gap decisions, and define future-state costing and close processes.
• Produce functional specifications for custom reports, interfaces, forms, data migrations, validations, and enhancements.
• Support master-data migration and validation for materials, BOMs, routings, cost centers, activity types, rates, and cost component structures.
• Execute unit testing, integration testing, UAT, mock closes, cutover, go-live, and hypercare.
• Troubleshoot costing, valuation, settlement, variance, and Material Ledger issues.
• Prepare user procedures, training material, configuration documentation, and period-end close checklists.

Required Skills and Experience

• Strong hands-on SAP S/4HANA Product Costing configuration experience.
• Deep knowledge of SAP CO product costing concepts, including Product Cost Planning, Cost Object Controlling, Material Ledger, Actual Costing, and settlement.
• Experience with standard cost estimates, costing variants, cost component structures, valuation strategies, overhead costing, and cost roll-ups.
• Strong knowledge of production-order or process-order costing, WIP, variance calculation, results analysis, and order settlement.
• Experience with Material Ledger and Actual Costing period-end processes is highly desirable.
• Solid understanding of S/4HANA Universal Journal and integration between FI and CO.
• Good knowledge of manufacturing master data: material masters, BOMs, routings, work centers, activity types, cost centers, and production versions.
• Strong integration knowledge across PP, MM, FI, CO, CO-PA, SD, QM, and PS.
• Experience in at least one full SAP implementation, S/4HANA migration, or finance/manufacturing transformation project.
• Ability to design reconciliation controls between production, inventory, controlling, and financial accounting.
• Ability to create functional specifications and work effectively with ABAP, data migration, integration, reporting, and finance teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Cost Accounting, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Information Technology, or a related field.
• SAP S/4HANA Finance or Controlling certification is preferred.
• Typically 5–10+ years of SAP CO/Product Costing consulting, implementation, or support experience, depending on seniority.
• Experience in discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, consumer products, automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery, or similar industries is beneficial.

Key Competencies

• Strong financial, cost-accounting, and manufacturing-costing knowledge.
• Excellent analytical and reconciliation skills.
• Ability to translate costing policies and operational processes into practical SAP configurations.
• Strong attention to period-end deadlines, data quality, controls, and auditability.
• Effective communication with finance, controlling, supply chain, production, procurement, and IT stakeholders.
• Structured problem-solving skills for complex costing and valuation issues.

Typical Deliverables

• Product Costing process maps and solution-design documents
• Costing configuration workbooks
• Cost component structure and costing-sheet designs
• Standard cost-estimate and cost-roll-up procedures
• Material Ledger and Actual Costing close procedures
• Period-end manufacturing close checklists
• WIP, variance, and settlement design documentation
• Functional specifications for reports, interfaces, forms, and enhancements
• Master-data templates and migration validation reports
• Test plans, test scripts, mock-close results, and test evidence
• Training manuals, work instructions, and hypercare support plans