Careers

Reporting to the Controller, Development Finance, and indirectly to the Senior Vice President, Development Finance, the Senior Accountant is responsible for overseeing the development finances for the UK properties, inclusive of development and forward purchases, budget management, cash flow preparation, construction draws and payments, reviewing purchase orders, invoicing and project reporting. The list of responsibilities is not exhaustive, and the candidate will be required to perform different tasks as required.

Vendor Management (Onboarding)

• Act as the reviewer of all new UK-based vendors to ensure consistency with Canadian processes and records verifying all required documents are obtained:
• Business details
• Certificate of incorporation
• Signed Starlight Vendor policy
• Health & Safety policy, if applicable
• Insurance certificates (Public Liability, Professional Indemnity, Employers Liability)
• Reference checks
• Assist the UK Administrator, as required, for questions regarding processes and controls

UK Yardi System Oversight

• Review the following items in UK Construction Manager and Procure to Pay systems including:
• New property set-up
• Creation of new budgets verifying they are in line with underwriting and additional investment committee approvals
• Budget reallocations – verifying cost to complete remains appropriate (in conjunction with UK Operations Team)
• Creation and issuance of purchase orders and change orders in line with consultant quotes and team requests
• Invoice submission in line with principal consultant payment recommendations
• Review invoices selected for payment to verify in accordance with payment terms 
• Coordinate payment instructions with Treasury department

Reporting Requirements

• Coordinate monthly construction draws for UK projects
• Track sources and uses for all UK projects
• Coordinate communication between Canadian teams and UK teams regarding UK projects and status
• Create budget vs. actual summaries inclusive of pending commitments for all UK projects on a monthly and as requested basis
• Create summaries of all executed agreements to highlight relevant requirements and accounting implications
• Request, consolidate and circulate UK monthly reporting deck
• Prepare quarterly accruals for development projects

Project Level Forecasts

• Work with the UK team to develop and maintain project level cash flow forecasts 
• Take meeting minutes and keep track of outstanding action items
• Collate information for internal reports and presentations

Other

• Assist the Canadian Residential Development Finance team on ad hoc requests 
• Assist the UK Starlight Corporate team on ad hoc requests

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, or similar.
• 5+ years’ experience as a Project Accountant, or similar.
• A thorough knowledge of standard contract terms, including hourly, lump sum, not-to-exceed and how they are applied in the billing process.
• Proficiency in electronic accounting systems, such as Yardi.
• Proficiency in managing general ledgers, journal entries, and account reconciliations.
• Thorough understanding of project budgets and financial forecasts.
• High proficiency in Microsoft excel
• Experience in project invoicing and billing.
• Excellent communication skills toward effective collaboration and client services.
• Ability to work well with others under deadline situations and respond to changes in priorities.
• Ability to work independently, take initiative, set priorities and see projects through to completion.
• Employ problem-solving skills and analysis, and report problems to the Development Finance Manager, as necessary.
• Good written and verbal communication skills and strong organizational skills.
• In-depth knowledge of best practices in accounting.