Manager, Accounting, Fixed Assets

Shenandoah Telecommunications•Winchester, VA

11d

About The Position

The Manager, Fixed Assets leads accounting for the company’s capital program, including capital projects, property, plant and equipment, capitalized labor, and grant-funded network construction. The role owns the Oracle Projects and Fixed Assets close, establishes and applies capital accounting policies, and maintains effective SOX controls over the capital cycle. The Manager works closely with Engineering, Operations, IT, Capital Governance, Financial Reporting, Tax, and external auditors to resolve complex accounting matters, provide decision-useful reporting, develop the fixed asset team, and drive automation and continuous improvement across project and asset accounting. The role also oversees federal and state broadband grant accounting, supports grant eligibility and regulatory reporting, leads asset existence reviews, and serves as the primary contact for external auditors and SOX testers on fixed asset, project, and grant matters. The Manager acts as a subject matter expert for Oracle Cloud Projects and Fixed Assets, partnering with Enterprise Applications on system configuration, reporting, issue resolution, release testing, and process improvements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting.
5–6+ years of progressive accounting experience in public accounting or a corporate environment.
Thorough knowledge of U.S. GAAP for property, plant and equipment, internal-use software, capitalized interest, impairment, and government grants.
Practical understanding of SOX controls, audit support, and management review documentation.
Experience with Oracle Cloud ERP or another large ERP, including subledger-to-general-ledger relationships.
Advanced Excel and Microsoft Office skills, including Power Pivot.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with sound judgment on complex and estimate-driven matters.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain accounting requirements to non-accounting partners and senior leadership.
Strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple close-critical deadlines while maintaining quality.
Proactive and accountable approach, with the ability to work independently and in a team-based, cross-functional environment.
Continuous-improvement mindset and interest in leveraging technology and AI to improve processes.

Nice To Haves

CPA certification.
Experience with fixed assets, capital projects, or project accounting.
Prior experience supervising or developing accounting staff.
Experience in telecommunications, utilities, infrastructure, or another capital-intensive industry.
Experience with SEC registrants and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
Experience with Oracle Cloud Projects and Fixed Assets.
Experience with Workiva, ARCS, Oracle reporting tools, or automation.

Responsibilities

Lead the fixed asset and project accounting team by setting priorities, assigning work, reviewing deliverables, and providing coaching, feedback, and development.
Maintain desk procedures, close checklists, process flows, and cross-training to ensure continuity during absences, peak periods, and staffing changes.
Own the monthly close for Oracle Projects and Fixed Assets, including project accruals, cost transfers, module closes, asset additions and adjustments, depreciation, and post-close entries.
Oversee asset transfers between affiliated legal entities and related intercompany accounting, ensuring cutoff and close dependencies are met.
Prepare or review capital accruals, including make-ready and third-party installation accruals, and evaluate operational estimates and accrual methodologies.
Review journal entries and account reconciliations for fixed assets, intangibles, plant under construction, grant-related accounts, retainage, assets held for sale, and related reserves.
Prepare and review the monthly PPE roll forward, depreciation analytics, quarterly variance explanations, and capital budget-versus-actual reporting.
Serve as the company’s primary resource on capital-versus-operating expense determinations for network construction, customer installations, and IT, software, and SaaS arrangements.
Review project setup requests, requisitions, and journal entries for appropriate capitalization and project, task, and account coding.
Apply and periodically reassess capital policies, including annual capitalization threshold analysis, asset useful lives, capitalized labor, and capitalized interest.
Drive timely project closeout and asset in-servicing, including year-end in-service cutoff, monitoring on-hold projects, and accounting for abandoned or unbuilt projects.
Evaluate and account for asset retirements, disposals, impairments, and assets held for sale; coordinate with the General Ledger team on lease and IRU matters affecting fixed assets.
Lead monthly financial reviews with Engineering, Operations, Glo Fiber, and IT project owners, addressing project status, accruals, forecasts, holds, in-service dates, and budget variances.
Represent Accounting at capital governance forums, including the Capital Steering Committee and monthly executive financial results reviews, and explain capital labor and spending variances.
Train and advise business partners on capitalization requirements, project types, accrual expectations, and closeout dependencies; support cross-functional work such as vendor invoice dispute resolution.
Oversee accounting for federal and state broadband grant programs, including applying grant proceeds to in-service assets, reimbursement draws, reconciliations, recognition, and program closeout.
Support grant eligibility assessments, regulatory reporting, and grant-specific audits in coordination with Operations and program contacts.
Own or review key SOX controls covering capital labor, capitalized interest, project reviews, accruals, PPE rollforward, depreciation, asset existence, in-service cutoff, project budgets and forecasts, and grant fund application.
Ensure control evidence is complete, timely, and audit-ready; identify control gaps and lead remediation with Internal Controls.
Lead the annual asset existence review and coordinate with Inventory accounting on physical counts and related fixed asset impacts.
Serve as the primary point of contact for external auditors and SOX testers on fixed asset, project, and grant matters.
Act as subject matter expert for Oracle Cloud Projects and Fixed Assets, partnering with Enterprise Applications on configuration, access, scheduled jobs, reporting, issue resolution, and quarterly release testing and sign-off.
Drive efficiency through standardization, exception reporting, workflow automation, and use of internal AI and other technology solutions.
Assist other teams with special projects, acquisitions, and system implementations as needed.
Observe company safety procedures and steward the brand by ensuring appropriate use of the brand within the team and organization.