Project Accountant

James Fisher and Sons plc; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Opportunities for career growth

Inclusive culture

Job summary

James Fisher and Sons plc is seeking a Project Accountant for a permanent position based in Inchinnan, Glasgow. The role involves ensuring accurate financial reporting of long-term projects, implementing cost management practices, and building relationships with various teams.

The successful candidate will possess an ICAS/ACCA/CIMA qualification and have a strong understanding of project accounting within industries such as Oil & Gas. Opportunities for career growth and a supportive culture await you.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in a similar role within the Oil & Gas or engineering industry.
• Experience working with multi‑currency projects.
• Understanding of intercompany accounting.

Responsibilities

• Ensure accurate and timely reporting of long-term projects.
• Implement cost management best practices across all projects.
• Conduct cost variance analysis and identify risks for the Project Manager.

Skills

Financial reporting

Cost management

Project management

Problem solving

Team collaboration

Education

ICAS/ACCA/CIMA qualification

Tools

Microsoft Excel

ERP systems (e.g., Glovia, SAP, Oracle)

Job description

About the Role

Project Accountant – Permanent position – Inchinnan, Glasgow

The Project Accountant will ensure accurate and timely reporting of long‑term projects and services – actual and forecast financial performance, both from a project performance and Financial Accounting perspective in accordance with IFRS15 and other applicable accounting standards. This includes robust challenge of costs to drive continuous cost improvement throughout the project life cycle.

They will implement cost management best practices and apply them consistently across all projects to proactively identify cost variances, risk areas and mitigations, assisting delivery of project and customer requirements in a cost‑effective manner.

To work closely with Project Managers to ensure they understand the financial performance of their respective projects and assist in communicating this to the wider business as required. Projects vary in length from 1 year to 5 years and value from £1m to £30m. The role is expected to build strong relationships across the business with bids, operations, supply chain, procurement, project management, planning, project controls and commercial teams.

You will need a flexible approach to working as the role will be based in Inchinnan, Glasgow, with an expectation to travel as required to support bids and project teams.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Preparation of detailed project baseline cost and revenue budget and regular EAC reforecasts in collaboration with the Project team and presentation to stakeholders as required.
• Perform Value of Work Done (VOWD) assessments throughout the project life, compare to planned progress, identify and mitigate slippage and escalate issues to management.
• Prepare and populate project‑specific forecasting and cost tracker models; highlight performance improvements.
• Provide project monthly revenue and profit margin information, including intercompany information for actuals, forecasts and annual budget process in accordance with IFRS15.
• Prepare and document accounting‑based papers to support the accounting treatment for the project covering appropriate accounting standards and update as required.
• Conduct cost variance analysis and sensitivity analysis and identify opportunities, risks and mitigations for the Project Manager.
• Ensure costs are correctly allocated to cost accounts/work orders, review correct coding of requisitions, purchase orders, contracts, invoices, variations, reconciling costs to the General Ledger and investigating variances.
• Facilitate and participate in lessons‑learned sessions on project delivery and feed feedback to responsible functions to improve future delivery.
• Manage multi‑currency project reporting and FX exposure.
• Manage intercompany recharges, cost allocations and project‑related billing.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong focus on uplifting the quality and standard of output of the finance team while driving deeper financial insight through active business partnering.
• Objective‑oriented with a detailed mindset, delivering results.
• Effective problem solver with excellent people management skills.
• Collaborative with team members, senior management, executives and third parties such as auditors.
• Clear communicator of complex financial information in an understandable manner.
• Excellent analytical review skills and ability to prioritise tasks and manage time.

Key skills, knowledge and experience:

• ICAS/ACCA/CIMA qualification.
• Proven track record in a similar role (e.g., Project Management Accountant, Cost Controller) and industry (e.g., Oil & Gas, engineering, manufacturing).
• Proficient user of Microsoft Excel.
• Experience with ERP systems (e.g., Glovia, SAP, Oracle).
• Experience working with multi‑currency projects.
• Understanding of intercompany accounting and multi‑entity structures.

Why join us:

Competitive benefits tailored to the division.

Opportunities for career growth and visibility across the organisation.

A supportive, inclusive culture that values your ideas and contributions.

Work that truly makes a difference in safety, innovation, and global capability.

About Us:

James Fisher is a global engineering services company with over 50 years of experience delivering complex offshore energy projects in some of the world’s most challenging environments. We operate across Energy, Defence and Maritime Transport, leveraging cutting‑edge technology and deep expertise to support the full lifecycle of our customers’ assets.

JFD is the world leading underwater capability provider, serving the commercial and defence markets with innovative diving, submarine and hyperbaric rescue, technical solutions and services.

Operating worldwide, the company is the leading provider of submarine rescue capability and an established provider of submarine escape training, and a leading supplier of commercial and defence diving equipment and saturation diving systems to the commercial industry.

James Fisher and Sons are committed to taking positive action on diversity and strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and recognise that our success depends on our talented and diverse workforce.