Staff Accountant - Real Estate

Staff Accountant - Real Estate

Elia Group LLC, Birmingham, Michigan, United States – Full-Time Accounting/Finance position.

Position

Description:

COMPANY SUMMARY ELIA Group is a multi‑faceted, fully integrated real estate and hospitality company that acquires, develops, and manages commercial properties in landmark locations throughout the United States. In Real Estate & Development and Hospitality, we don't sit back and let things happen, we make things happen! Whether we're crafting deals or cocktails, our unparalleled attention to detail leads to award‑winning real estate development and hospitality projects.

POSITION SUMMARY ELIA Group is seeking a highly organized, detail‑driven Staff Accountant with commercial real estate and hospitality experience to join our corporate accounting team. This is an office‑based role supporting a multi‑entity portfolio of commercial real estate properties (office and retail), as well as fine dining and high‑volume entertainment concepts. This position plays a critical role in ensuring financial accuracy, GAAP compliance, and timely reporting across the organization.

This role reports to senior accounting leadership and works cross‑functionally with asset management, property management, and hospitality operations teams.

• Commercial Real Estate Accounting (Primary Function):
  Maintain and reconcile general ledgers for a portfolio of office and retail properties.
• Prepare and review monthly property financial statements, including variance analysis.
• Manage and reconcile tenant ledgers, including billing, collections, and adjustments.
• Prepare and analyze Common Area Maintenance (CAM) reconciliations, operating expense recoveries, and lease‑based billings.
• Review and interpret lease agreements to ensure proper revenue recognition, escalations, and expense allocations.
• Track and report capital expenditures (Cap Ex) and property‑level budgets versus actuals.
• Maintain security deposit accounting and compliance with lease provisions.
• Partner with property management and asset management teams to ensure accurate coding, budgeting, and financial performance tracking.
• Assist with acquisition and disposition accounting, including setup of new properties and financial integration.
• Corporate & Financial Reporting:
  Prepare journal entries, accruals, and account reconciliations across multiple entities.
• Assist with month‑end, quarter‑end, and year‑end close processes.
• Support preparation of consolidated financial statements and ownership reporting packages.
• Perform variance analysis and provide insights into portfolio performance.
• Assist in budgeting and forecasting processes at both property and portfolio levels.
• Support audit requests and maintain organized financial documentation.
• Hospitality Accounting Support (Secondary Function):
  Assist with accounts payable, cash reconciliations, and sales reporting for hospitality venues as needed.
• Support reconciliation of daily revenue reporting.
• Provide ad‑hoc financial support to restaurant and venue leadership.
• Help ensure consistency between hospitality reporting and corporate accounting standards.
• Systems, Controls & Process Improvement:
  Utilize Yardi (or similar property accounting software) for financial reporting, tenant accounting, and reconciliations.
• Maintain and improve internal controls and accounting SOPs, particularly around property accounting and lease administration.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting accuracy, efficiency, and scalability across the portfolio.
• Support implementation and optimization of accounting systems and workflows.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 3+ years of commercial real estate accounting experience (office/retail strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated experience with CAM reconciliations, lease accounting, and property financial reporting.
• Experience with Yardi or similar real estate accounting systems.
• Familiarity with multi‑entity structures and consolidated reporting.
• Hospitality accounting experience is a plus but not required.
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, financial modeling).
• Strong…