Cost Accountant

Smith Group of Americas; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Smith Group of Americas is seeking a Cost Accountant to strengthen project-level financial accuracy and visibility for construction projects. This onsite role will partner with project managers and finance leadership to maintain job costs, WIP, forecasts, commitments, billing support, and timely reporting from their Dallas, TX office.

The successful candidate will have a bachelor's degree in accounting/finance and at least 3 years in cost or construction accounting, with strong Excel and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 3+ years of cost accounting, project accounting, or construction accounting experience.
• Working knowledge of WIP, job costing, committed costs, pay applications, retainage, change orders, and project forecasting.
• Strong Excel skills and experience with accounting and construction platforms; QuickBooks and Procore experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate job-cost records by project, cost code, phase, contract, subcontract, purchase order, and change order.
• Partner with project managers to review budgets, committed costs, actual costs, cost-to-complete estimates, and projected margins.
• Prepare and update WIP schedules, percent-complete calculations, revenue recognition support, backlog, and variance analysis.
• Reconcile project costs between accounting records and construction systems; investigate miscoding, missing commitments, duplicate charges, and timing differences.
• Support owner billing and pay applications, including schedule-of-values tracking, retainage, approved changes, billing status, and documentation.
• Review subcontractor and vendor invoices for proper project coding, approvals, contract alignment, lien-waiver requirements, and payment readiness.
• Monitor project receivables, unbilled costs, underbillings, overbillings, aging, and cash-flow impacts; elevate risks promptly.
• Prepare project financial reports and clear explanations for project managers, CFO, and fractional finance partners.
• Assist with month-end close, accruals, reconciliations, journal-entry support, audit schedules, and balance-sheet substantiation related to projects.
• Help develop standardized job-cost controls, reporting templates, close procedures, and finance processes as the internal team grows.

Skills

Excel

Attention to detail

Collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting/Finance

Tools

QuickBooks

Procore

Job description

The Cost Accountant will strengthen project-level financial accuracy and visibility across Smith Group of Americas. This onsite role will partner with project managers and finance leadership to maintain job costs, WIP schedules, forecasts, commitments, billing support, and timely reporting for construction projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Maintain accurate job-cost records by project, cost code, phase, contract, subcontract, purchase order, and change order.
• Partner with project managers to review budgets, committed costs, actual costs, cost-to-complete estimates, and projected margins.
• Prepare and update WIP schedules, percent-complete calculations, revenue recognition support, backlog, and variance analysis.
• Reconcile project costs between accounting records and construction systems; investigate miscoding, missing commitments, duplicate charges, and timing differences.
• Support owner billing and pay applications, including schedule-of-values tracking, retainage, approved changes, billing status, and documentation.
• Review subcontractor and vendor invoices for proper project coding, approvals, contract alignment, lien-waiver requirements, and payment readiness.
• Monitor project receivables, unbilled costs, underbillings, overbillings, aging, and cash-flow impacts; elevate risks promptly.
• Prepare project financial reports and clear explanations for project managers, CFO, and fractional finance partners.
• Assist with month-end close, accruals, reconciliations, journal-entry support, audit schedules, and balance-sheet substantiation related to projects.
• Help develop standardized job-cost controls, reporting templates, close procedures, and finance processes as the internal team grows.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 3+ years of cost accounting, project accounting, or construction accounting experience.
• Working knowledge of WIP, job costing, committed costs, pay applications, retainage, change orders, and project forecasting.
• Strong Excel skills and experience with accounting and construction platforms; QuickBooks and Procore experience preferred.
• High attention to detail with the ability to identify discrepancies, explain project variances, and meet close deadlines.
• Confident communicator who can collaborate with project managers, vendors, external accounting partners, and senior finance leadership.
• Ability to work onsite in the Dallas, Texas office.

SUCCESS IN THE ROLE

Success means project costs are complete and correctly coded, WIP and forecasts are dependable, billing and cost issues are resolved quickly, and project managers and finance leadership have timely information to protect cash flow and margins.