Project Accountant

Job Purpose

The Project Accountant (PA) will have the mandate of overseeing end-to-end project finance operations including but not limited to budget preparation, financial planning and analysis, preparation of cost estimates for proposals, reviewing project budget, and preparing timely financial reports to management and clients. To be effective in this role, the PA should possess extensive experience in project finance and the ability to provide accurate financial information.

Core Roles and Responsibilities

Planning and Administration

• Lead project budgeting and forecasting by assigning cost to project work packages and corresponding tasks.

• Work with the wider finance team to design and implement improvement initiatives to drive the overall performance and profitability projects.

• Establish appropriate internal controls and project governance to actively monitor project’s lifecycle and keep it on track.

• Manage all project audits, budgetary control, and accounting in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

• Estimate the time required to complete project activities and collaborate with project managers in setting milestones to adequately deploy project funds.

Financial Analysis and Evaluation

• Consistently analyze project's budget to ensure that project managers use funds according to the approved budget categories for optimal budget allocation and utilization.

• Produce analysis on variances between forecast vs actual cost.

Financial Reporting

• Provides timely project reporting to management and clients relating to cash flow, revenue, and expenses.

• Act as a point of contact for project reporting obligations to clients.

• Collaborate with the operations manager to prepare pre-billing reports and performance certificate to form the basis for raising payment request and project revenue recognition in line with IFRS 15.

Risk Management and Compliance

• Effectively communicate financial requirements and needs of each project to managers and other stakeholders to ensure compliance to approved expenses, procurement processes and other supporting documentation for reporting to clients and regulatory requirements.

• Actively monitors projects to ensure quality work and identify potential risks.

• Ensures that project managers execute projects deliverables within the agreed budget, timeline and standard. • Collaborate with project staff and other stakeholders to ensure that project's deadlines are met, and accurate time management systems are put in place to book time and validate work done

Requirements

• 5 years’ experience as a Project Finance or Accounts Manager or similar in a consulting firm or project-based organisation.
• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, or similar.
• Fully qualified Accountant covering either ICAN, ACA, ACCA or CIMA would be desirable.
• The ability to work well under pressure and use own initiative to solve problem.
• Proficient in applying modern data analytics and visualization tools including but limited to PowerBI, Tableau or advanced Excel skills, particularly in manipulation of big financial data and data analysis.
• The ability to always look to improve current processes.
• Exceptional ability to prepare project budgets, financial forecasts, and tax reports.
• Extensive experience in project billing and invoicing.
• Excellent communication skills toward effective collaboration and engagement