Cost Controller

Role Overview

This role sits at the heart of the hotel’s financial control function, focusing on the accuracy and efficiency of all food, beverage, and general stores cost processes. You will spend your days verifying inventory transactions, auditing recipe costs, and investigating variances between potential and actual performance. Your work directly protects the hotel’s profitability by ensuring that purchasing, receiving, storing, and issuing procedures are disciplined, data-driven, and fully aligned with the property’s cost control objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Audit daily receiving and pricing variances, investigate discrepancies, and recommend adjustments to keep inventory valuations accurate.
• Review and validate recipes, butcher yield tables, standard pricing, and portion controls for all outlets and kitchens to support reliable cost forecasting.
• Prepare and distribute daily and monthly cost summaries, comparison reports, and profit center cost figures for the Accounting and Control Department and department heads.
• Monitor all inventory transactions, including those outside the standard system (banquets, buffets, and cocktails), and reconcile variations through formal adjustment authorizations for Finance Director approval.
• Run market surveys and spot-check purchase orders against retail prices to confirm the hotel’s purchasing remains competitive and within budget limits.
• Assess the quality and specification of delivered food and beverage items, investigate spoilage causes, and audit liquor handling and minibar processes to reduce waste and loss.
• Oversee physical inventories of operating equipment and FF&E, coordinating cyclical counts and maintaining complete auditable records.
• Train and support Materials Management and Finance team members on cost audit procedures while ensuring data entry accuracy and procedural compliance across all assigned areas.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A diploma or degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field, with active progress toward CPA, ACCA, or CIMA certification.
• At least 2–4 years of hands-on cost control or materials management experience within a hotel or similar hospitality environment.
• Advanced Excel skills, including the ability to build and manipulate cost analysis spreadsheets and reconcile large data sets.
• Practical experience with hotel point-of-sale systems, property management systems, and accounting or inventory software.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a keen eye for detail when auditing prices, quantities, and recipe standards.
• Demonstrated capability to train junior staff, communicate cost findings clearly, and work flexibly across different accounting sub-departments as needed.