Senior Project Accountant Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Job Title: Senior Project Accountant Gregg

Job Summary:
The Senior Project Accountant is responsible for the financial administration, reporting, and compliance of multiple construction/drilling projects from project setup through closeout. This position serves as a critical business partner to Project Managers by ensuring project accounting activities are completed accurately, timely, and in accordance with contract requirements, company policies, and accounting standards.
The Senior Project Accountant must possess a thorough understanding of construction accounting, job costing, owner contracts, billing requirements, subcontract administration, certified payroll compliance, and project financial reporting. This role also provides leadership, training, and support to Project Accountants while promoting consistency and continuous improvement across project accounting functions.

This role can hybrid or remote, depending on location. 

Duties/Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Development
•    Train, mentor, and support Project Accountants to promote high-quality work and professional growth.
•    Serve as a subject matter expert for construction accounting processes and procedures.
•    Review work for accuracy and provide coaching and corrective guidance as needed.
•    Promote standardization, process improvement, and best practices across the accounting team.
•    Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing between Accounting, Operations, and Project Management.
•    Other duties as assigned

Contract Administration & Compliance
•    Maintain a working knowledge of owner contracts and independently identify accounting, billing, retention, reporting, labor compliance, and certified payroll requirements.
•    Ensure accounting activities are performed in accordance with contract terms and project-specific requirements.
•    Track and ensure receipt of fully executed owner contracts, subcontracts, purchase agreements, and change orders.
•    Review contract documents to identify project-specific billing requirements and compliance obligations.
•    Support setup and maintenance of subcontracts, purchase agreements, and professional service agreements.
•    Verify compliance with California lien laws, contractual notice requirements, insurance, bonding, and documentation requirements.
•    Ensure Exhibit A and other contract exhibits align with project scope, contract values, taxes, bonds, and insurance requirements.

Project Setup & Job Cost Administration
•    Perform project setup within Sage 300 CRE, including Job Cost, Contracts, and Accounts Receivable modules.
•    Generate and/or enter original project estimates and budgets to align with executed contracts.
•    Enter estimate transfers and maintain project budgets throughout the project lifecycle.
•    Set up and maintain subcontract commitments within Sage.
•    Review and maintain committed costs to ensure accuracy and completeness.
•    Process owner and subcontract change orders and ensure reconciliation to modified contract values.
•    Verify all project financial data ties accurately to contract values and approved changes.
•    Maintain an in-depth understanding of project costs, cost coding structures, and job cost reporting.

Job Cost Reporting & Financial Analysis
•    Perform monthly job cost analysis and reconciliation in collaboration with Project Managers.
•    Review project cost reports and identify inaccuracies, omissions, or unusual cost trends.
•    Prepare and process job cost reclassification entries as needed.
•    Update and maintain missing cost reports to support month-end close activities.
•    Monitor project financial performance, committed costs, cost-to-complete estimates, and budget variances.
•    Provide financial insights and recommendations to Project Managers and Operations leadership.
•    Participate in monthly Work-in-Progress (WIP) meetings and weekly project review meetings.
•    Maintain a working knowledge of WIP reporting and project profitability analysis.

Owner Billing & Accounts Receivable
•    Partner with Project Managers to ensure billings are prepared accurately and submitted timely in accordance with contract requirements.
•    Maintain a working knowledge of AIA billing formats, unit-price contracts, lump-sum contracts, and project-specific billing requirements.
•    Understand and support field billing processes and related documentation requirements.
•    Prepare, review, and submit owner billings through Sage and external customer platforms as required.
•    Verify supporting documentation required for billing submissions is complete and compliant.
•    Monitor accounts receivable aging and coordinate collection efforts on assigned projects.
•    Follow up with customers regarding outstanding invoices and payment delays.
•    Document collection activities and escalate unresolved issues to management when appropriate.
•    Coordinate with Project Managers and customers to resolve billing disputes.

Accounts Payable & Project Accruals
•    Review, approve, and enter project-related vendor invoices through established workflows.
•    Investigate and resolve invoice discrepancies with vendors and project teams.
•    Ensure compliance with contractual pricing, payment terms, and project requirements.
•    Prepare and support project-related accounts payable accruals during month-end close.
•    Assist the Accounts Payable team with project-specific questions and reconciliations.
•    Research and respond to vendor inquiries regarding project-related invoices and payments.

Subcontract Administration
•    Review subcontractor invoices/pay applications for accuracy and completeness.
•    Verify receipt of all required subcontractor documentation, including: 
•    Executed contracts
•    Insurance certificates
•    Bonds
•    Conditional and unconditional lien waivers
•    Certified payroll documentation
•    Approved change of orders
•    Process approved subcontractor invoices and pay applications in Sage.
•    Assist with subcontractor administration and payment processing as needed.
•    Release subcontractor payments in accordance with contract terms and management approval.
•    Maintain accurate subcontract commitment records and documentation.

Labor Compliance & Certified Payroll
•    Maintain a working knowledge of prevailing wage and labor compliance requirements.
•    Interpret certified payroll obligations contained within owner contract documents.
•    Ensure project accounting activities comply with Davis-Bacon, prevailing wage, and other applicable labor regulations.
•    Assist CPR Specialist as required.
•    Verify subcontractor compliance with certified payroll requirements prior to payment processing.

Project Closeout
•    Support timely and accurate project closeout activities.
•    Ensure project files are complete, organized, and maintained in digital format.
•    Confirm final project costs align with contractual and accounting requirements.
•    Complete final reconciliations, cost adjustments, and closeout reporting.
•    Assist in resolving outstanding billing, retention, subcontract, and documentation issues prior to project closure.

Preconstruction & Operational Support
•    Assist estimating teams during bid preparation as requested.
•    As requested, research project specifications and general requirements for bid submissions.
•    As requested, assist with subcontractor outreach and bid solicitation efforts.
•    Support project startup and closeout logistics as requested, including coordination of temporary project services and site requirements.

Required Skills/Abilities: 
•    Strong understanding of construction accounting and project lifecycle accounting.
•    Thorough knowledge of job costing principles and project financial reporting.
•    Advanced proficiency with construction ERP systems and Microsoft Excel.
•    Ability to analyze complex financial data and resolve accounting discrepancies independently.
•    Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
•    Excellent communication skills with project teams, field personnel, subcontractors, customers, and management.
•    Demonstrated ability to train, mentor, and support accounting staff.
Working knowledge of: 
•    AIA Pay applications
•    Unit-price billing
•    Certified Payroll Reporting (CPR)
•    California lien laws
•    Prevailing wage requirements
•    Davis-Bacon requirements
•    Bonding and insurance requirements
•    CSI cost coding structures
•    Work-in-Progress (WIP) reporting
•    Position is subject to satisfactory completion of a background check and reference check.

Education and Experience:
•    Associate degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field required.
•    Bachelor's degree preferred.
•    Minimum 5 years of progressive project accounting experience in the construction industry.
•    Experience with commercial, public works, and prevailing wage projects preferred.
•    Experience interpreting owner contracts and extracting accounting, billing, and compliance requirements.
•    Sage 300 CRE experience strongly preferred.

Working Conditions:
The physical and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Demands: 
•    While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to walk, use hands to finger, handle objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop; bending or crouching; talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. 
•    Some lifting of files, opening cabinets. 
•    Bending or standing as necessary.

Work Environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to weather conditions and other elements prevalent at the time. 

This description is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, skills or working conditions associated with the position. It is intended to accurately reflect the activities and requirements of the position, but duties may be added, deleted, or modified, as necessary. This description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.