Project Accounting Specialist

The Project Accounting Specialist partners closely with Project Managers and operations teams to ensure project costs, purchase orders, invoices, and other financial activity are accurately captured and assigned to the correct jobs.

This is not a traditional accounting role and does not require a heavy accounting background. The ideal candidate is organized, detail-oriented, comfortable working with numbers and systems, and able to proactively work with Project Managers to identify and resolve job-costing issues.

The primary goal of this role is simple:
make sure we know what each project is actually costing us and that project financial information is complete and accurate.

• Partner directly with Project Managers to maintain accurate and complete project cost information throughout the life of a job.
• Review project costs regularly to ensure labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, and other expenses are charged to the correct project.
• Identify costs that are missing from a project, assigned to the wrong project, or otherwise appear unusual and work with the appropriate teams to correct them.
• Review vendor invoices and purchase orders for appropriate job assignment and coding.
• Monitor open purchase orders and outstanding commitments to ensure expected project costs are appropriately reflected.
• Work with Project Managers to understand expected project costs and investigate differences between expected and actual spending.
• Help ensure project-related invoices and costs are processed timely so Project Managers have an accurate view of project performance.
• Review jobs approaching completion to identify missing invoices, open commitments, incorrect charges, or other items that need to be resolved before the project is closed.
• Assist Project Managers with understanding project financial information and identifying potential cost or margin issues.
• Research job-cost questions and coordinate with Accounts Payable, Billing, Finance, and Operations to resolve issues.
• Maintain organized documentation supporting project costs and financial activity.
• Help improve job-costing processes and reinforce consistent project financial practices across the organization.

• Project Managers have confidence that the costs showing on their projects are accurate.
• Costs are assigned to the correct project and identified quickly when they are not.
• Missing vendor invoices and project costs are identified before projects are closed.
• Open purchase orders and commitments are regularly reviewed and cleaned up.
• Project Managers understand where their projects stand financially and have a partner who can help them investigate issues.
• Finance receives cleaner, more complete project information without having to research basic job-costing issues after the fact.

• 2+ years of experience in project coordination, construction administration, project accounting, job costing, accounts payable, billing, or a similar operational role preferred.
• Experience in construction, paving, contracting, field services, or another project-based business is strongly preferred.
• A formal accounting background or accounting degree is nice to have but not required
• Strong attention to detail and ability to identify inconsistencies in financial or project information.
• Comfortable working with spreadsheets, project management systems, ERP systems, and financial data.
• Strong organizational and follow-up skills.
• Able to communicate effectively with Project Managers and operational teams.
• Comfortable asking questions, researching issues, and following problems through to resolution.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.