Accounting Director: Construction Project Cost Accounting

Overview

Plante Moran Realpoint is seeking a Director to provide strategic and people leadership for the Project Cost Accounting Team. The Director will set team standards, develop and mentor talent, and drive accountability across the project cost accounting function.

• Set and operationalize program/project controls standards across cost, schedule, change management, forecasting, and reporting cadence to drive consistency and accountability.
• Owning reporting deliverables, including dashboards, executive summaries, cost reports, cash flow, earned value/performance metrics (as applicable), reconciliations, and monthly/quarterly client reporting deliverables ensuring clear, decision-ready insights.
• Leading budget, commitment, and forecast management by establishing control structures, track commitments/expenditures, develop estimates at completion, articulate variances and corrective actions.
• Supporting schedule performance reporting by coordinating with project managers and schedulers to track milestones, critical path impacts, and recovery actions.
• Managing change control analytics: log and track change requests, assessing cost/schedule impacts, supporting client approvals, and reflecting approved changes in baseline and forecast.
• Ensuring data integrity in the PMIS (e.g., e-Builder/other) through governance, reconciliation, and routine, accurate, and timely reviews.
• Partner with project managers to identify trends/risks early and recommending mitigation actions based on cost and schedule indicators.
• Coordinating with client finance/procurement and external vendors to validate pay applications, invoices, contracts, and supporting documentation align with contractual requirements.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/accounting (or other applicable field) is required.
• 7+ years of experience in accounting, project controls and/or serving as a project owner for a substantial capital improvement program.
• 5+ years of experience managing a financial or accounting team.
• Demonstrated ability to manage teams, strong analytical and problem solving abilities.
• Demonstrated understanding of how to develop budgets, forecasts, and cost reports; explain variances; and present findings to non-technical audiences.
• Proficiency in Excel and reporting/analytics; comfort building repeatable templates and improving reporting processes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including client-facing facilitation and presentation.
• Position is “in office” based in Southfield, MI with little/no travel.

• Experience supporting multi-project capital programs (portfolio reporting, governance, and cross-project standardization).
• Experience working in e-Builder or a comparable project management information system.

Plante Moran is an Equal Opportunity Employer.