Accounting Specialist (Temp) – #21522

Foster McKay; New Jersey; Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Foster McKay is seeking an Accounting Specialist to support the Lease and Fixed Asset Center of Excellence. You will assist with lease accounting schedules, depreciation runs, and asset disposals, and help prepare reconciliations for the shared services center.

You will contribute to SOP development, oversee global controls under COE, and help onboarding of consultants like Costar implementations, collaborating with finance, legal, and IT teams.

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of US GAAP and SOX regulations.
• Experience with end-to-end accounting processes and global teams.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and organizational skills.

Responsibilities

• Assist Lease and Fixed Asset COE with lease accounting schedules, journal entries, depreciation and asset disposals.
• Help prepare reconciliations and support month-end close activities.
• Support creation of SOPs and controls for COE transition and data points in CoStar/Costar systems.
• Provide accounting guidance during the global finance transformation and capital expenditure reviews.

Skills

US GAAP knowledge

SOX compliance

end-to-end accounting

global team collaboration

communication and analytical skills

Tools

SAP S/4

SAC

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

CoStar

Job description

“People don’t choose their careers; they are engulfed by them.”

The Accounting Specialist may be asked to assist with various ad hoc tasks supporting the transition to a global lease and fixed asset center of excellence, including but not limited to the following:

• Assist the Lease and Fixed Asset COE Team in the transition of regional lease and fixed asset transactional responsibilities such as updating lease accounting schedules, processing lease journal entries, depreciation runs, processing fixed asset disposals, and preparing reconciliations to the shared services center.
• Assist with the creation of standard operating procedure manuals or in the execution of global controls that are transferring under the oversight of the Lease and Fixed Asset COE.
• Assist with the onboarding of JLL, who has been engaged in performing lease abstraction work globally, as well as reviewing potential accounting implications from updated data points in Costar that arise as a result of the JLL engagement.

Support Responsibilities of the Manager, Lease and Fixed Asset Center of Excellence

Leases

• Partner with Legal, real estate third-party service provider, and payables teams to ensure, timely, complete, and accurate lease abstraction and maintenance of key data points impacting lease accounting in CoStar.
• Support FP&A with lease-related budget and forecast information and lease analysis as needed. Provide technical accounting guidance for, and analyze the financial impact of, complex lease transactions as they are in negotiation and apprise FP&A and other stakeholders of the expected effects.
• Review analyses to evaluate the accuracy of lease accounting results, including disclosure information for SEC filings.
• Be the CoStar expert in order to optimize use of the system to gain process efficiencies. Stay up to date with product enhancements and capabilities, and incorporate into the COE process as applicable.
• Own CoStar administration for lease accounting, including review of quarterly discount rates provided by Treasury, review of interface of foreign exchange rates, and review of user access.

Fixed Assets, Cloud System Implementation Costs, Capitalized Salaries

• Ensure timely and accurate month-end close activities are performed, including asset creation and placement into service, depreciation, and reconciliations through review of results and analyses.
• Collaborate with facilities management, logistics management, real estate management, and IT operations to periodically review in-service assets for disposal or impairment indicators.
• Provide reporting to global finance teams on project spend, asset roll forwards, and other information as needed.
• Review complex contracts for treatment as capital vs. operating expense in accordance with technical accounting guidance.
• Identify stores to be evaluated for annual store impairment testing (or more often if indicators exist).
• Own administration of capital expenditure request SharePoint site, including changes to approval levels and authorization workflow routing.

Other

• We are in the midst of a major finance transformation which may result in the opportunity to provide accounting guidance and analysis for other related projects or initiatives that may not be specifically outlined above.

What would make me qualified?

Skills

• SAP S/4, SAC, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, CoStar.
• Strong knowledge of US GAAP, SOX regulations, and global finance operating models. IFRS a plus.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end accounting processes and working with global teams in various countries.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and organizational skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities.
• Strong attention to detail and a passion for process improvement and automation.