Senior Project Accountant, Generation Development

LS Power Development, LLC•East Brunswick Township, NJ

3d•$82,000 - $100,000

About The Position

LS Power is seeking a Senior Project Accountant to join its growing Generation Development Accounting team. As the generation development portfolio expands, so does the volume, complexity, and financial risk of capital project activity. This role maintains the financial visibility and control senior management requires as projects move from early-stage development through construction and into service. The Senior Project Accountant is the primary financial partner to project management and development teams, ensuring every dollar of capital spend is accurately tracked, properly coded, and clearly reported across the project lifecycle. The role goes beyond recording transactions. It means flagging budget variances before they escalate, challenging cost classifications before they hit the ledger, and delivering the financial discipline that supports confident decision-making at the executive level. Deep proficiency in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Management module and a demonstrated ability to leverage AI-powered tools to streamline reporting and surface insights faster are essential.

Requirements

Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP and accounting practices as applied to capital project and construction accounting, including cost capitalization, CWIP, and asset classification.
Proficient in Microsoft Dynamics 365, with the ability to navigate the Project Management module and extract, analyze, and report on project cost data with minimal support.
Familiar with procurement and payment management software, preferably D365 Procurement & Sourcing and IBM Maximo (others considered), including a solid understanding of requisition and purchase order approval workflows and how POs and invoices flow into the project ledger.
Comfortable using AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Power BI to build spending reports, automate variance analysis, and present financial data to technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including modeling, pivot tables, and large data set management; Power Query and Fabric experience is a plus.
Ability to manage multiple active projects simultaneously, meeting recurring deadlines while maintaining the attention to detail accurate reporting requires.
Exceptional analytical and reasoning ability, with strong quantitative skills and the instinct to dig into variances and understand the “why” behind the numbers.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the presence to present project financial status in management meetings, investor calls, and audit settings.
Collaborative approach that builds strong relationships with project managers, AP, treasury, tax, and senior leadership, translating complex financial data into clear, actionable insight.
Strong sense of ownership, surfacing issues before they escalate and operating with the integrity and professionalism LS Power's investors and partners expect.
Bachelor's degree in Accounting; a master's degree or CPA designation is a plus.
Minimum of four years of accounting experience, with meaningful exposure to capital project or construction accounting in an energy, power generation, or capital-intensive industry.
Experience managing project accounting in a multi-entity environment with active capital development programs.
Hands-on experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Project Management module) or a comparable ERP/project accounting system; configuring or maintaining project cost structures is a plus.
Demonstrated experience with budget preparation, variance analysis, and cash flow forecasting for capital projects, and preparing financial reports for lenders and senior management.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or CPA designation
Power Query and Fabric experience
Configuring or maintaining project cost structures in D365

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end project accounting for active generation development projects, serving as the primary contact for project cost information for internal and external stakeholders.
Maintain project cost structures in the D365 Project Management module so that work orders, purchase orders, and contract commitments are reflected accurately and in real time.
Coordinate with AP, procurement, and project development teams on accurate capital coding and timely cost capture in the general ledger, and resolve coding disputes to prevent month-end backlogs.
Review requisitions and purchase orders through the approval workflow, confirming project coding and budget alignment before commitments are released.
Review construction contract invoices against approved budgets, support the project team in maintaining change order logs, and track retainage balances across all active generation development projects.
Proactively identify budget variances at the contract and work order level and communicate findings to project managers and senior management before variances compound.
Manage month-end close, including recording actuals, determining accruals, posting audit-ready journal entries, and reconciling construction-in-progress (CWIP), AP accrual, and retainage balances.
Monitor CWIP balances with project managers and fixed asset accounting to ensure timely plant-in-service transfers, on-schedule asset transfer packages, and proper cost componentization and classification at project completion.
Support the broader accounting team with audit requests, special projects, and process improvement initiatives as they arise.
Assist with monthly cash forecasting, maintaining a rolling 12-month forecast reflecting current project schedules, contract commitments, and funding requirements.
Coordinate with project managers, treasury, and senior management to align cash forecasts with milestones and capital call schedules so funding precedes major expenditures.
Monitor cash positions across project entities, prepare monthly cash summaries with variance explanations, and flag cash flow risk such as overruns, accelerated spend, or delayed recoveries well before liquidity is impacted.
Build and maintain the monthly project spend report for leadership and investors using D365 data and AI-powered reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Copilot), with templates that pull cost data automatically and reduce manual preparation time.
Tailor report formats and narratives to the audience, from executive dashboards to investor reporting packages that meet contractual requirements.
Support budget preparation and monthly variance analysis, developing bottom-up capital budgets with project managers and preparing explanations that distinguish timing differences from scope changes and true overruns.
Complete monthly and quarterly reporting required by individual project agreements, including investor reports, lender compliance packages, and project-level financial statements.
Assist with quarterly and annual financial statement preparation and the annual audit, including audit schedules, auditor inquiries, and audit-ready project files maintained year-round.
Support the annual capital budget process, coordinating with project managers to compile and review capital project budgets.
Act as the primary point of accountability for the accuracy of project cost data in D365, ensuring management reporting, investor reporting, and financial statements all draw from a single, reliable source of truth.
Maintain and enforce project cost coding standards in D365 to prevent misclassification of operating costs as capital expenditures (or vice versa), and maintain a self-serve coding reference guide for project managers and AP staff.
Conduct periodic audits of project cost transactions to identify miscoded items, duplicate charges, or unapproved commitments, and work with the relevant teams to resolve and prevent recurrence.
Establish month-end review checklists and project close-out procedures that confirm all costs are captured, coded, and reconciled before reports are issued.
Escalate control issues such as budget overruns, unauthorized commitments, or unusual cost patterns, and prepare a monthly project controls summary of open issues, corrective actions, and emerging risks.
Support the tax teams and external tax advisors with project cost schedules, asset classification detail, and cost basis documentation segregated by asset type, jurisdiction, and tax treatment.
Contribute to process improvement, documenting current-state processes and developing D365 workflows, automated controls, and reporting enhancements that increase efficiency and reduce error risk.