Project Accountant - Property Development (Part-time/Remote)
Secure IQ Services · Remote
Who Are We?
At SecureIQ, we connect exceptional professionals with high-growth businesses across Australia, New Zealand, the US, and the UK.
We partner with ambitious companies that invest in their people and provide opportunities for long-term career growth. Our goal is to match top talent with businesses where they can make a genuine impact while receiving ongoing support throughout the hiring process.
About the Role
We’re looking for an experienced Project Accountant – Property Development to manage the financial position of an active construction project.
This is not a general bookkeeping role. You’ll be responsible for tracking the complete financial position of approximately 40 consultants, contractors, and suppliers—from their original agreed fees and approved variations through to invoicing, payments, and remaining commitments.
You’ll maintain the project’s commitment register, manage builder progress claims, prepare monthly cost reports, support construction loan drawdowns, and ensure all financial records remain accurate, current, and ready for review.
Working directly with the Development Manager, you’ll play an important role in identifying cost overruns and invoice discrepancies before they become problems. You’ll also ensure the company can report accurately to its lender, quantity surveyor, and external accountant throughout the construction period.
This is a part-time, remote contractor position requiring availability during agreed Australian business hours.
What success looks like: Maintaining a live and accurate view of the project’s financial position, identifying anomalies before payments are processed, delivering reliable cost reports on time, and ensuring drawdowns and compliance obligations are completed without delays or material queries.
Key Responsibilities
- Maintain a complete and accurate commitment register for all consultants, contractors, and suppliers.
- Track original contract values, approved variations, revised contract sums, invoices, payments, outstanding amounts, and remaining commitments.
- Review and reconcile the commitment register weekly against the accounting records.
- Flag invoices that exceed agreed fees or approved contract values before payment is processed.
- Process monthly builder progress claims within three business days of certification.
- Track certified amounts, payments, retention balances, release dates, and provisional sums.
- Prepare a full monthly project cost report by the fifth business day of each month.
- Report original budgets, approved variations, revised budgets, committed costs, forecast final costs, and projected variances by cost code.
- Identify and communicate potential cost overruns before they occur.
- Prepare construction loan drawdown schedules and supporting documentation.
- Reconcile drawdowns against certified progress claims and track capitalised interest against the loan facility.
- Prepare and submit BAS obligations for the landowning entity and development management company.
- Ensure GST input tax credits on construction and consultant costs are correctly claimed.
- Process and correctly allocate invoices to the relevant commitment and cost code.
- Complete weekly bank reconciliations and monitor accounts receivable.
- Maintain clear, consistent, and auditable financial records in Google Drive.
- Support the external accountant by keeping year-end records complete and ready for review.
Requirements
- Excellent spoken and written English.
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in property development, construction, or project-based accounting.
- Demonstrated experience maintaining commitment registers or committed-cost reports.
- Strong understanding of development accounting and the relationship between contracts, variations, invoices, payments, and remaining commitments.
- Experience processing builder progress claims and tracking retention and provisional sums.
- Experience preparing monthly project cost reports and forecasting final costs.
- Practical knowledge of Australian GST and BAS requirements.
- Strong Excel skills, including multi-tab workbooks, formulas, lookups, conditional formatting, and reconciliation logic.
- Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail.
- Ability to identify invoice discrepancies, unapproved variations, and potential budget overruns.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple fixed reporting and compliance deadlines.
- Proactive communication and confidence escalating financial risks or inconsistencies.
- Ability to work independently without daily supervision.
- Availability to work part-time during agreed Australian business hours.
Nice to Have
- Direct accounting experience within an Australian property development business.
- Experience supporting construction loan drawdowns.
- Experience preparing documentation for lenders and quantity surveyors.
- Familiarity with the GST margin scheme as it applies to new residential premises.
- Experience working across landowning and development management entities.
- Experience supporting mixed-use or residential construction projects.
Benefits
- Part-time remote contractor position.
- Work directly with an experienced Australian property developer.
- Take ownership of the financial reporting
- Flexible part-time structure, working approximately 20 hours per week.
- Long-term opportunity for a reliable accountant with genuine development accounting experience.
- Build direct experience across project cost control, construction finance, loan drawdowns, and development reporting.
- Structured 30-day onboarding period before assuming full responsibility for the role’s performance outcomes.