Manager & Sr. Manager - Incharge Costing & Billing

Role & responsibilities

The Incharge Costing and Billing at a shipyard plays a crucial role in monitoring project costs, ensuring accurate billing, and optimizing financial performance. The Incharge Costing and Billing is responsible for tracking expenditures, analyzing cost variances, and ensuring that billing aligns with contractual terms and milestones. The Incharge Costing and Billing ensures profitability by preventing cost overruns, streamlining invoicing, and maintaining financial transparency. Directly reporting to the General Manager (Finance), The Incharge Costing and Billing supports efficient cash flow management and strategic decision-making to enhance the shipyards financial health.

The responsibilities of Incharge Costing and Billing span across cost management, financial reporting, budget control, and billing accuracy, ensuring the shipyard remains financially sustainable and profitable.

Cost Estimation & Budgeting

• Prepare detailed cost estimates for new shipbuilding projects, ship repairs, retrofits, and maintenance work.
• Analyze direct and indirect costs, including materials, labor, subcontractors, and overhead expenses.
• Develop and monitor project budgets, ensuring alignment with cost targets and financial constraints.
• Assist in the preparation of tenders and bids, ensuring cost competitiveness while maintaining profitability.
• Allocate costs appropriately to different projects, vessels, or departments to ensure accurate financial reporting.
• Assist in the preparation of annual budgets, forecasts, and financial projections for shipyard operations.
• Ensure that cost estimates align with technical requirements and scope changes.
• Establish effective cost accounting systems to provide timely, accurate and consistent cost inputs.
• Develop annual Revenue budget guidelines, standards, time schedule and assumptions.
• Capture relevant data from SAP for cost sheet preparation of ongoing projects. Analyze project-wise profitability for all shipyard projects.

Cost Monitoring & Control

• Identify and analyze cost variances, investigating the reasons for deviations and recommending corrective actions.
• Implement cost control measures to prevent overruns and ensure optimal resource utilization.
• Ensure correct absorption of overhead costs, including depreciation, utilities, and administrative expenses, into project costing.
• Work closely with project managers, engineers, and production teams to track costs and progress.
• Provide insights on cost-saving opportunities, pricing strategies, and financial impacts of project decisions.
• Work closely with procurement and inventory teams to monitor inventory valuation, pricing fluctuations, and material wastage.
• Prepare and provide monthly, quarterly, and yearly variance reports between actual and budgeted figures, provide necessary explanations on large variances.
• Provide monthly updates to concerned departments regarding variance of actual expenditure from Budget and support in provisioning for rest of financial year to adhere to Budget.
• Provide overhead recovery for computation of estimated price of any query for price bid computation based on data provided by planning department.
• Conduct age-wise analysis of inventory and physically examine proportion of WIP variation.
• Estimate ship-wise cost of completion on quarterly basis. Calculate status of inventory for delivered ships.
• Prepare reports for top management on open purchase orders for delivered ships by reconciling accounting liabilities with SAP MM Module.
• Reconcile purchase orders released/executed for all materials (including imports).

Invoice Preparation & Revenue Recognition

• Prepare accurate and timely invoices for shipbuilding projects, dry docking, repairs, and maintenance services.
• Ensure that invoices reflect contractual terms, agreed-upon milestones, and cost variations.
• Monitor outstanding invoices and accounts receivable, ensuring timely payments from clients.
• Coordinate with the functional stakeholders and clients to follow up on overdue payments and reduce collection delays
• Work closely with project managers and finance teams to ensure revenue is recognized correctly in financial statements.

Financial Reporting & Compliance Support

• Generate detailed financial reports related to project costs, revenue, profit margins, and billing trends.
• Provide cost analysis reports to General manager Finance for decision-making on pricing strategies, contract negotiations, and project feasibility.
• Ensure that all costing and billing processes comply with financial regulations, tax laws, and accounting standards.

Assist in internal and external audits, providing necessary cost records, invoices, and supporting documentation.

Preferred candidate profile

Qualifications: ----

• Masters degree in finance, Business, Commerce, or a related field is preferred.
• Certifications:

Professional certification in accounting and finance such as CA / ICWA are preferred

• Financial Acumen & Cost Control: Proficiency in budgeting, cost control, and financial analysis to achieve procurement efficiency and maintain budget alignment.

• Costing & Budgeting: Experience in job-order costing, cost allocation, variance analysis, and expense control.

• Billing & Invoicing: Knowledge of milestone-based billing, progress invoices, change orders, and final accounts.

• Leadership & Team Management: Effective leadership skills for guiding, mentoring, and developing a team of procurement professionals.

• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to conduct risk assessments and develop strategies for cost control and invoice process improvements.