Project Accountant

Cubic Corporation; England; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Cubic Corporation is seeking a skilled Project Accountant to support financial elements of UK/Europe Contracts. You will work across Commercial, Engineering, Project Management, Bids & Proposals and Finance to provide timely financial insights under senior guidance.

The role requires 3–6 years in project accounting, with strong Excel, ERP experience (SAP/Oracle/Costpoint) and a focus on accurate reporting, budgeting and SOX controls.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Business discipline; 3–6 years in project accounting or management accounting in a project/services environment
• Experience in project or services-based environments with ability to work under deadlines
• Strong written and verbal communication, organizational skills, and attention to detail
• Ability to present financial information clearly to project managers and finance leadership
• Self-motivated with ability to work with limited supervision and handle multiple priorities
• Solid understanding of accounting principles including revenue recognition, accruals, cost allocations and balance sheet reconciliations
• Experience with month-end close, journal entries and financial reporting

Responsibilities

• Support business partnering with Program Management or Services teams
• Prepare project financials for approval and monthly reports
• Communicate contract documents, change orders, and billing-related updates with stakeholders
• Identify opportunities to improve project financial performance and escalate as needed
• Monitor project risks and maintain the financial risk register monthly
• Assist in internal/external audit requirements and ad-hoc analyses
• Maintain project numbers, budgets, ETCs in the ERP system
• Assist with cost control, intercompany transactions, and forecasts
• Prepare claims and variations including cost models and pricing schedules
• Support monthly/quarterly/annual budgeting and SOX compliance

Skills

Financial analysis

ERP systems

Project accounting

Intercompany transactions

SOX compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting or business

Tools

SAP

Oracle

Costpoint

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Outlook

Primavera P6

Hyperion/OneStream

Job description

This position is responsible for supporting the financial elements of delegated UK/Europe Projects/Services Contracts. Incumbents of this role will work across the Commercial, Engineering, Project Management, Bids & Proposals and Finance functions, providing financial-based support under the guidance of senior project accounting staff. The role will contribute to improving both the quality and depth of the financial/non-financial information made available to the senior management team, enabling informed decision making. This position typically works under general supervision, with more complex matters escalated to senior team members. Incumbents will exercise appropriate decision-making authority within defined parameters.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Support business partnering activities with Program Management or Services teams
• Assist in the preparation of project financials for approval
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders including program management/services, contracts managers and engineering regarding contract documents, change orders and other contract modifications, approvals, and any additional services-related to billing
• Identify opportunities for improving project financial performance and escalated to senior staff for review
• Investigate financial discrepancies arising from variance analysis, with support from senior team members where required
• Liaise with Project Managers and relevant program CAMs to help monitor program risks and opportunities, including assisting with the maintenance of the financial risk register on a monthly basis
• Assist in internal and external audit requirements; this may include ad-hoc analysis
• Perform additional assignments, as directed
• Maintain project numbers, budgets, ETC's and other project information in the ERP System
• Liaise with project and production managers to ensure that all project costs are controlled in a timely manner
• Liaise with intercompany contacts to ensure accurate and timely financial information is included in the project forecasts
• Prepare monthly project reports and analysis in accordance with the timetable
• Prepare billings related to the assigned portfolio of projects in conjunction with the contracts and projects teams
• Keep the projects team informed and advise on billings, retentions, debtors and cash flow relating to individual projects
• Liaise with financial accounting where required and ensure that queries are followed up
• Assist in the preparation of claims and variations including cost models and pricing schedules
• Assist in reviewing and generating bid summaries for accuracy and compliance with company rates and mark-ups
• Meet with Project Managers prior to the monthly review meetings to agree project status including contract values and estimates to completion
• Prepare reports for, and attend, weekly and monthly project review meetings
• Assist FP&A with the co-ordination and preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual budgets for Cubic
• Assist in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements
• Escalate appropriately any known variances or problems of significance that may affect the outcome of a project
• Liaise with Project Planners, ensuring the reported financial status of the project is in line with the planned operational view

General Duties and Responsibilities

• Comply with Cubic's Quality Management System
• Comply with Cubic Occupational Health, Safety and Environment policies and procedures
• Comply with security in accordance with established policies and procedures of the organization
• Comply with Cubic Human Resources Procedures
• Other duties as requested

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Business discipline from a tertiary institution, 3-6 years of project accounting or management accounting experience (post-degree) in a project or services environment

• Working knowledge of a project or services-based environment
• Ability to work well with others under deadline situations and respond to changes in priorities
• Good written and verbal communication skills and strong organizational skills
• Ability to present financial information clearly to project managers and finance leadership
• Ability to work with limited supervision, take initiative, set priorities and see tasks through to completion
• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with a high level of attention to detail and accuracy
• Solid understanding of accounting principles, including revenue recognition, accruals, cost allocation and balance sheet reconciliations
• Experience with month-end close-up processes, journal entries and financial reporting

Technical and Systems Skills (Essential)

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel - Basic to Intermediate level, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, SUMIFS, conditional formatting, data validation etc.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word - formatting reports, working with templates, styles, tables and track changes
• Proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint - preparing clear, presentation-ready slides for project and management reviews
• Proficient in Microsoft Outlook - managing email, calendar and meeting coordination
• Working knowledge of an ERP system (e.g. SAP, Oracle, Costpoint or similar) for entering and extracting project data
• Comfortable working with large data sets and consolidating information from multiple sources

Technical and Systems Skills (Desirable)

• Experience with SAP (FI/CO and PS modules) and Primavera P6
• Familiarity with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint for collaboration and document management
• Exposure to Hyperion, OneStream or similar financial consolidation/planning tools

Other Desirable Experience

• Experience in the technology, defence, engineering or government-contracting industry
• Awareness of or exposure to Earned Value Reporting (EVM)
• Exposure to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls and a controlled financial environment
• Experience working with multi-currency and intercompany transactions

Personal Qualities

• Good communication skills and the ability to interface effectively with employees at various levels
• Be ambitious and eager to develop within the role
• Be enthusiastic
• Be self-motivated
• Have strong attention to detail
• Have the ability to prioritise their workload

Company Culture

When you join Cubic, you become part of a company that creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation to make people's lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities to help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global issues through innovation and service to our customers and partners.

We have a top-tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Explore more on Cubic.com.