Construction Accountant Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides exhaustive information on the construction accountant job description, to help you learn the work they do.

It highlights the key tasks, duties, and responsibilities that commonly make up the construction accountant work description.

It also presents the major requirements individuals seeking the construction accountant job may be expected to meet to be hired.

Please, continue reading to increase your knowledge of the construction accountant career:

What Does a Construction Accountant Do?

A construction accountant can be described as a financial specialist who reviews construction budgets, investigates variances, approves expenses, and ensures that construction billings are issued to clients and payments collected.

He/she is saddled with the responsibility of performing professional-level accounting work in the review and adequate maintenance of fiscal records.

In other words, a construction accountant refers to an individual responsible for the general ledger, bank reconciliations, accounts payable, and job cost.

The construction accountant job description includes maintaining or reviewing accounting files, performing monthly closings, and preparing/organizing various reports, financial forms, and analyses.

He/she works by issuing invoices and purchase orders, as well as paying consultants, vendors, subcontractors, and supplier bills.

Additionally, the construction accountant helps to review and analyze the capitalization of costs and ensures compliance with the policy by managing the process for proper coding of construction invoices/payment applications and lien releases for contractors, subcontractors, and vendor invoices.

He/she also helps to maintain contract documents, including all records of lien releases inappropriate files.

A construction accountant is saddled with the responsibilities of reviewing all construction/project budgets, including work plans, staffing, and fee structures which help to promote the smooth running of the construction.

One of the duties of the construction accountant is also to ensure a steady cash flow by generating, auditing, and sending invoices promptly.

He/she is also saddled with the responsibility of running monthly accounting meetings with their project/construction management team to review and analyze upcoming projections/billings.

He/she is also required to maintain the billing folders for all projects with the appropriate documents, including monthly waivers and invoices.

Additionally, a construction accountant role also includes compiling and gathering information for internal and external auditors, and also creating and submitting government reports and tax returns related to the project following all appropriate guidelines.

Construction accountants must also ensure the approval of the write-off of any project-related billings that cannot be billed to or collected from customers, and also the supervision of two or more staff members to prepare an accurate and well detailed annual review.

They also help to create new operation/accounting procedures to prepare and adequately manage any rapidly growing entity and evolving business structure.

They can also be tasked with communicating routinely with the Construction/Project Managers on a variety of job-related topics, including contract agreements, bonding, and insurance.

To work as a construction accountant, individuals are expected to have leadership skills, time management skills, multitasking skills, problem-solving skills, strong organization skills, excellent business analysis, and cost analysis skills, efficient verbal and written communication skills, and strong accounting skills.

The ideal candidate for the construction accountant job is also required to have sound and effective educational background.

The minimum educational requirement to work as a construction accountant is a Bachelor’s degree after graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a major in the field of accounting or other related fields.

Most employers prefer at least two years of general accounting experience and a background in construction accounting.

Construction Accountant Salary: The average salary of a construction accountant according to Glassdoor is $62,494 annually.

Construction Accountant Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Construction accountants perform the tasks, duties, and responsibilities:

• Managing the preparation of monthly invoice packages for all billable projects, including all applicable backup
• Running monthly accounting meetings with the construction/project management team to review upcoming projections/billings
• Setting up new projects in Job Cost and the necessary spreadsheets daily
• Investigating the project variances and submitting these variance reports to the management
• Creating and submitting government reports and tax returns related to the construction project
• Overseeing and handling the creation and approval of all project-related billings to customers to foster good communication and avoid issues
• Reviewing project budgets, including fee structures, staffing, and work plans
• Ensuring a smooth cash flow by auditing, generating, and sending invoices promptly.

Construction Accountant Job Description for Resume

If you are making a new resume or CV and you have worked before in the role of a construction accountant, or are presently working in that position, you can boost the quality of your resume by highlighting that work experience in it.

You can add the professional or work experience section to your resume/CV to show to the recruiter/employer that you have been successful performing the duties and responsibilities of a construction accountant.

This piece of information can be a great influence on the recruiter/employer to grant you an interview, especially if the job you are applying for requires someone with some construction accountant work experience.

You can use the above construction accountant job description example in making a compelling professional experience section for your resume/CV.

Construction Accountant Requirements – Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking the job of a construction accountant, here are major requirements employers/recruiters may want you to meet:

• Excellent communication skills towards effective & efficient collaboration and clientele services
• In-depth knowledge of the most acclaimed practices in accounting
• Advanced proficiency in managing account reconciliations, general ledgers, and journal entries
• Exceptional ability to prepare construction/project budgets, tax reports, and financial forecasts
• Efficient and extensive experience in project invoicing and billing to ensure adequate payment services
• Proficiency in electronic accounting systems, such as Free Agent and FINSYNC to aid better accountability
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or in any similar field.

Conclusion

This post is useful to individuals interested in the construction accountant career; they will be able to learn all they need to know about the construction accountant job, its duties and responsibilities.

With this information, they will be able to make correct decision about getting into the construction accountant career or not.

This article is also helpful to employers/recruiters needing to find and hire competent individuals for the vacant construction accountant position in their companies.

They can apply the sample construction accountant job description provided on this page in making a detailed description of the vacant construction accountant position in their companies for use in the recruitment process.