Senior Project Cost Accountant

The Senior Project Cost Accountant will manage and control project financials fire protection projects, ensuring accurate job costing, timely billing, robust forecasting, and compliance with contractual and company accounting policies. The role partners with project managers, procurement, contracts, and finance teams to drive cost transparency, improve margin performance, and support commercial decision-making throughout the project lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate project cost ledgers, record labour, materials, subcontractor costs, plant, and overhead allocations in accordance with company accounting policies and applicable accounting standards.

• Prepare and review monthly project cost reports, cost-to-complete analyses, forecasts, variance explanations, and margin reconciliations for senior stakeholders.

• Support preparation and submission of monthly progress claims, interim valuations and final account reconciliation; ensure supporting documentation is complete and compliant with contract requirements.

• Monitor subcontractor invoicing and retention, validate payment applications against Contracts and BOQs, and coordinate approvals with Project and Procurement teams.

• Reconcile project WIP, revenue recognition, deferred revenue and retention balances monthly, ensuring accurate postings and timely closing of projects.

• Analyse cost drivers and build variance reports highlighting root causes and proposed corrective actions to improve project performance.

• Prepare accruals, provisions and month-end journal entries related to projects; ensure timely submission and clear documentation for audit purposes.

• Collaborate with Project Managers to review BOQs, change orders, claims, and variations; assess commercial impact and ensure correct contractual treatment in the accounts.

• Support budgeting and tender costing activities by providing historical cost data, rates analysis and risk cost estimates to Commercial and Estimating teams.

• Maintain strong internal controls over project expenses, purchasing, and payroll allocations; identify control weaknesses and drive implementation of improvements.

• Respond to internal and external audit requests and support statutory and management audits with clear working papers and explanations.

• Develop and maintain standard templates, dashboards and reporting tools to improve reporting accuracy and timeliness.

• Coach and mentor junior cost accounting staff where applicable, promoting best practice in project accounting.

Technical Requirements

• Qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA, ACA or equivalent) with strong commercial project accounting experience in construction, fit-out or mechanical/electrical contracting.

• Minimum 10 years' experience in project cost accounting, preferably within fit-out, fire protection or building services projects.

• Solid understanding of contract types, BOQs, variation orders, claims, retention, and revenue recognition principles under relevant accounting standards.

• Proven experience with project cost control systems, ERP financial modules and advanced Excel; experience with Oracle is desirable.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret project data, prepare actionable reports and present findings to non-financial stakeholders.

• Excellent organisational skills, attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines concurrently.

• Effective verbal and written communication skills with the ability to liaise with Project, Procurement, Commercial and Finance departments.

• Familiarity with local authority billing practices, tax and statutory requirements in the region is an advantage.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Accuracy of project cost reporting | Timeliness of month-end closure for projects | Forecast accuracy (variance between forecast and actual) | Percentage of aged subcontractor and retention balances | Time to resolve cost variances and claims | Number of audit findings related to project accounting | Improvement in project margin delivery

Working Relationships

• Internal: Project Managers, Commercial, Procurement, Contracts, Site Teams, Payroll and Corporate Finance.

• External: Clients, Consultants, Subcontractors, Auditors and Suppliers.