Canada's engineering services firms earned $46.8 billion in operating revenue in 2024, up 6.5%, with an 11.0% operating margin, the highest since 2014, Statistics Canada reports. Yet a firm can post record billable hours and still lean on its line of credit to make payroll. In a hypothetical 90-person engineering firm, $1.4 million sits in unbilled work because nobody owns the step between the timesheet and the invoice. Closing that gap is the job of a project accountant, the role at the centre of professional services accounting.
Firms that sell time need someone who tracks each project's hours, invoices and margin as closely as project managers (PMs) track deliverables.
What a Project Accountant Does in Professional Services Accounting
A project accountant turns time and expenses into invoices, revenue and project profitability, and tells partners which projects are making money.
You'll hear four terms in this role:
- WIP (unbilled revenue): revenue earned but not yet invoiced. On hourly work, that's timesheet hours not yet billed; on fixed-fee work, it's the share of the fee earned to date, less what's been invoiced.
- Utilization: billable hours as a share of available hours.
- Realization: what you bill and collect, compared with the value of the same hours at standard rates.
- Budget vs. actual and estimate-to-complete (ETC): what a project has used against its budget, and what it still needs to finish.
Time-and-materials work is straightforward, because revenue follows the hours worked at agreed rates, whether or not they've been invoiced yet. Fixed-fee work takes more judgment, since revenue is generally recognized as the work progresses, using the percentage of completion method under ASPE (Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises) Section 3400, or recognized over time under IFRS 15. That means a project that's 60% complete would usually carry about 60% of its fee as revenue, whatever has been invoiced. Your outside CPA signs off on the policy, and the project accountant applies it the same way on every project.
If you run a contracting business rather than a design or advisory firm, our guide to construction company accounting covers job costing and holdbacks.
The Reports Partners Need Each Month
Partners need three reports in the first week of each month: a WIP aging report, project margin by PM, and a utilization and realization dashboard.
Statistics Canada found that compensation made up 47.6% of engineering firms' operating expenses in 2024, and that salaries and benefits were consulting firms' largest cost, at 40.2% of expenses. Payroll is paid whether the hours get billed or not, so a one-point gain in utilization goes almost entirely to profit. Across 90 staff, one point is close to a full person's year of available hours.
The report PMs act on is often the simplest: a short monthly email to each PM listing the firm's top 10 unbilled projects, with dollar amounts and age. PMs start trusting the numbers once the same report lands on the same day every month and ties back to their own timesheets.
Cash Flow, Invoice Timing and Ontario's Prompt Payment Rules
In a project firm, cash depends on invoicing on time, and for architects and engineers on Ontario building projects, the prompt payment rules now set the clock.
The Ontario Association of Architects explains that an owner must pay a proper invoice within 28 days or give notice of non-payment within 14 days, and that sub-consultants must be paid within 7 days of the consultant being paid. The clock only starts with a proper invoice, one that includes the details the Construction Act requires, so your project accountant needs to get every invoice right the first time and track each deadline.
PSA and ERP Systems: What to Look For in a Project Accountant
Look for hands-on experience in a professional services automation (PSA) tool or a project-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. A candidate who can set up projects, rates and billing rules is worth far more than one who only exports reports.
The most common failure starts at setup: phases that don't match the contract, wrong rates, or fixed-fee work coded as hourly. Those errors flow into WIP every month until someone rebuilds the setup. Ask candidates to walk you through how they'd set up a project from a signed proposal.
Where to Find a Project or Engineering Firm Accountant, and How to Screen Them
The best candidates come from other engineering, architecture, consulting or IT services firms, or from cost-control teams at larger consultancies.
The candidate pool is spread thin across many small firms. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) counts 20,037 employer establishments in architectural, engineering and related services in 2025, 6,764 of them in Ontario, most of them micro or small. Ontario also accounted for 50.3% of consulting services revenue in Canada and 51.3% of computer systems design revenue in 2024. Firms in Toronto, Waterloo Region and Ottawa compete for the same people.
For screening, give each candidate a sample project. Take a $90,000 fixed fee with 400 hours logged at a $150 standard rate, $40,000 invoiced and the work 60% complete. Ask for WIP, revenue to date and the margin outlook.
A strong engineering firm accountant gets to $54,000 of revenue and $14,000 of WIP. They also spot a pricing problem: if 400 hours is 60% of the job, the whole job needs about 667 hours, worth about $100,000 at standard rates against a $90,000 fee. For pay ranges, see our salary guide.
Project Accountant, Senior Project Accountant or Controller?
Firms under about 50 staff often need a hands-on senior project accountant, while larger multi-office firms add a controller above that role.
| Role | Typical firm | What they own |
|---|---|---|
| Project accountant | Growing firm with a finance lead in place | Project setup, timesheet-to-invoice billing, WIP schedules |
| Senior project accountant | Under about 50 staff | WIP, billing and monthly project reporting to partners |
| Controller | Larger, multi-office firms | The close, the banking relationship and year-end with the outside CPA |
We compare the two senior seats in controller or senior accountant, and the designation question in CPA vs. accountant.
FAQ
What is the difference between a project accountant and a staff accountant?
A staff accountant works at the company level: the general ledger, reconciliations, payables, receivables and HST. A project accountant works at the project level, turning timesheets and expenses into invoices, WIP and margin for each engagement.
Do engineering firms need a CPA as project accountant?
Not always, because a strong non-CPA handles WIP, billing and project reporting well. Hire a CPA when the role also owns revenue recognition judgment on large fixed-fee contracts, lender reporting or supervising other staff.
How do I reduce unbilled WIP at my consulting firm?
Bill on a fixed calendar cycle, set fixed-fee milestones that trigger invoices as phases finish, and review WIP aging with each PM monthly. A project accountant should own all three.
Can a construction accountant do project accounting at an architecture firm?
Often they can, because they already understand WIP and percentage of completion. The gaps are usually hourly rate structures, utilization and realization reporting, and handling several billing types on one project.
Minted Search Group: Your Ally for Margin That Reaches the Bank
Minted Search Group helps professional services firms hire the project accountant who turns billable hours into cash.
Our accounting and finance team, led by Partner Jack Kalb, CA, CPA, who started his career in audit at EY, puts candidates through WIP, revenue recognition and project setup questions like the ones above before you meet them. We reach project accountants at engineering, architecture, consulting and IT services firms across Toronto, Waterloo Region and Ottawa, including people who never see a job posting, and you'll get a curated shortlist for a permanent hire, not a pile of resumes.
If you're weighing this seat, tell us how much is sitting in unbilled WIP and we'll start there. Talk to Minted Search Group. No Pressure, Just Possibilities.
