Project Cost Accountant - Team Lead

Plante Moran•Southfield, MI

23d•$75,000 - $90,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Plante Moran Realpoint team is seeking a supervisor to lead a team of Project Cost Accountants in the day-to-day delivery of cost, schedule, and performance monitoring and reporting for client capital construction programs. This role supervises a small team of approximately 5 Accountants that closely partner with Plante Moran Realpoint project managers, client stakeholders, outside project team members, and firm leadership to establish project governance, track project costs against established budgets, monitor the project for key aspects of contract compliance, maintain project data, and provide clear, decision-ready insights across a portfolio of assigned client projects. Your role combines hands-on project controls execution with team leadership and client-facing communication.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration/accounting (or other applicable field).
7+ years of experience in accounting, project controls and/or serving as a project owner for a substantial capital improvement program.
Demonstrated experience in developing, mentoring, supervising, and leading project controls/reporting/accounting staff.
Demonstrated ability to develop budgets, forecasts, and cost reports; explain variances; and present findings to non-technical audiences.
Proficiency in Excel and reporting/analytics; comfort building repeatable templates and improving reporting processes.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including client-facing facilitation and presentation.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting multi-project capital programs (portfolio reporting, governance, and cross-project standardization).
Experience with change management, cost-control, and invoice/pay application review (e.g., AIA/G702/G703 style applications) and contract and other commercial documentation.
Experience working in e-Builder or a comparable project management information system.

Responsibilities

Supervise and develop the Project Cost Accounting team (work planning, mentoring/coaching, QA/QC review, and performance management for assigned staff).
Drive process standardization and reporting by documenting procedures, refining templates, and improving automation/visualization.
Establish, implement, and maintain program/project controls standards across cost, schedule, change management, forecasting, and reporting cadence.
Own reporting deliverables, including dashboards, executive summaries, cost reports, cash flow, earned value/performance metrics (as applicable), reconciliations, and monthly/quarterly client reporting deliverables.
Lead budget, commitment, and forecast management: set up control structures, track commitments/expenditures, develop estimates at completion, and explain variances.
Support schedule performance reporting by coordinating with project managers and schedulers to track milestones, critical path impacts, and recovery actions.
Manage change control analytics: log and track change requests, assessing cost/schedule impacts, support client approvals, and reflect approved changes in baseline and forecast.
Ensure data integrity in the PMIS (e.g., e-Builder/other) through governance, reconciliation, and routine, accurate, and timely reviews.
Partner with project managers to identify trends/risks early and recommend mitigation actions based on cost and schedule indicators.
Ensure coordination with client finance/procurement and external vendors to validate pay applications, invoices, contracts, and supporting documentation align with contractual requirements.