Real Estate Accountant

Reports to: Controller  |  Department: Accounting  |  FLSA Status: Exempt  |  Location: Corporate Office

Position Summary

The Real Estate Accountant owns lease administration and lease accounting for Obsession Holdings across a portfolio of approximately 270 retail locations operating under The Fragrance Outlet and Perfumania banners, together with corporate office, equipment, and vehicle leases. The role is the system owner for Tango (lease administration software) and is responsible for lease data integrity, monthly rent processing, percentage rent, landlord reconciliations and billing disputes, lease compliance obligations, and the preparation, submission, and collection of tenant allowances.

This position consolidates lease administration and lease accounting responsibilities that are currently distributed across Accounting, Real Estate, Construction, Accounts Payable, and Facilities, and expands the role in two directions: ownership of lease accounting under ASC 842 (95% of time) with outside technical help form the company’s financial auditor, and day-to-day administration of the Company's insurance program (5% of time). The Chief Financial Officer sets insurance strategy and remains the decision maker on coverage, limits, retentions, carrier selection, and claim resolution; this role administers COI requests and ordinary course property claims, and brings the CFO complete information and a recommendation when a decision is required.

This is a detail-intensive, deadline-driven role with real financial exposure attached to it. Unclaimed tenant allowances, unchallenged landlord overbillings, missed sales reporting deadlines, and lapsed insurance certificates each carry direct cost, and this position exists to make sure none of them go unnoticed. The Company also expects this role to reduce manual effort by moving work out of spreadsheets and into Tango over time. The position works closely with Accounting, Real Estate, Store Development and Construction, Accounts Payable, Legal, and the Company's insurance brokers.

Key Responsibilities

Lease Administration & System of Record

• Enter and maintain all new leases, amendments, modifications, renewals, and terminations in Tango, serving as system owner and being accountable for lease data accuracy and completeness
• Maintain the executed document repository, including creation of PDF files for all new leases and modifications on the Real Estate share drive, and ongoing filing and organization of real estate records
• Set up new store records and provide ACH and remittance instructions to Accounts Payable for new stores and new landlords, keeping payee data current as ownership and management change
• Track lease-required obligations, obtain the required item from the responsible internal party, and deliver it to the landlord within the timeframe the lease specifies
• Prepare estoppel certificates and respond to landlord, lender, and purchaser documentation requests
• Maintain the critical date calendar - renewal options, kick-out rights, termination windows, and notice deadlines - and distribute advance alerts to Real Estate and Legal
• Serve as day-to-day contact for landlord account inquiries, including payment status and remittance questions processed through bill.com

Rent Processing, Percentage Rent & Landlord Billings

• Process monthly rent for all stores and prepare the recurring payment file for Accounts Payable, reconciling the rent roll to executed lease terms and to the general ledger
• Record monthly sales by location, calculate percentage rent against natural and artificial breakpoints, and process percentage rent invoices
• Report sales to landlords by the 10th of each month, without exception
• Produce monthly percentage rent reporting for the CFO and Accounting leadership
• Process all store reconciliations, including CAM, operating expense, real estate tax, and insurance escalations, auditing landlord statements against lease-permitted charges, caps, exclusions, and pro rata share
• Identify and pursue overbillings, duplicate charges, and refunds, documenting disputes and driving them to resolution rather than paying and moving on
• Reconcile prepaid rent, accrued occupancy, deferred rent, and security deposit accounts monthly
• Provide occupancy cost detail and forecast inputs to FP&A for budgeting and four-wall store analysis

Tenant Allowances

• Prepare and process tenant allowance requests and maintain the allowance tracker and corresponding records in Tango, capturing amount, conditions precedent, submission deadline, and status through collection
• Assemble submission packages, including contractor invoices, lien waivers, certificate of occupancy, architect or general contractor sign-offs, as-built documentation, and W-9s
• Monitor submission deadlines closely - allowance rights are most often forfeited by a missed window rather than a landlord dispute, and preventing that is a primary function of this role
• Track landlord review status, respond to deficiency requests, and escalate aged or disputed allowances to Accounting and Legal
• Partner with Store Development and Construction so documentation is captured at project close rather than reconstructed months later

Lease Accounting (ASC 842)

• Determine lease classification, lease term including reasonably certain renewal options, and the appropriate incremental borrowing rate for each lease
• Maintain right-of-use assets, lease liabilities, and amortization schedules, including roll-forwards supporting the balance sheet
• Prepare monthly lease journal entries, including straight-line rent expense, ROU asset amortization, liability accretion, deferred rent, and tenant allowance amortization as a lease incentive
• Perform remeasurement accounting for modifications, extensions, early terminations, and changes in lease payments
• Apply the Company's lease accounting policies and practical expedients consistently, including short-term lease and non-lease component elections
• Support ROU asset impairment and cease-use analysis for underperforming or closing stores
• Prepare, with the company financial auditors, ASC 842 footnote disclosure support, including the maturity analysis, weighted average remaining lease term and discount rate, and supplemental cash flow disclosures

Insurance Administration

• Manage the day-to-day administration of the Company's insurance program in support of the Chief Financial Officer, who retains decision-making authority; scope covers all lines other than workers compensation and employee benefits
• Request, issue, and track certificates of insurance for landlords, vendors, and licensing authorities, ensuring additional insured, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory endorsements conform to each lease's requirements
• Review lease insurance provisions at signing and renewal, confirm the Company's coverage satisfies them, and escalate gaps to the CFO
• Collect, review, and track vendor and contractor certificates, maintaining an expiration calendar and following up on lapses
• Assist in the annual renewal process, owned by the CFO
• Assist in compiling renewal exposure data, including statements of values, sales, payroll, headcount, location schedules, and vehicle schedules
• Serve as first point of intake for claims, reporting to carriers, maintaining the claims log
• Act as day-to-day liaison to the Company's brokers, carriers, and adjusters, and maintain the master policy file, coverage summary, and renewal calendar

Process Improvement, Close & Audit Support

• Migrate recurring manual work into Tango, beginning with the percentage rent and sales tracking workbooks, and expand system use to reduce spreadsheet dependency and single points of failure
• Complete assigned month-end close entries, account reconciliations, and flux analysis for occupancy and insurance accounts
• Prepare audit support schedules and respond to external auditor requests related to leases, occupancy, and insurance
• Maintain written procedures sufficient for another preparer to reproduce the work, eliminating undocumented institutional knowledge

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• 4 years of lease administration, lease accounting, or general accounting experience, including hands-on ASC 842 exposure
• Demonstrated experience with commercial real estate leases in a multi-unit environment; retail, restaurant, or hospitality preferred
• Hands-on experience with a lease administration and accounting platform; Tango preferred, Visual Lease, FinQuery/LeaseQuery, CoStar Real Estate Manager, Lucernex, Nakisa, or MRI also considered
• Experience with CAM and operating expense reconciliation, percentage rent, and landlord billing disputes
• Experience with certificate of insurance administration or commercial insurance program support preferred; willingness to grow into this scope is required
• Familiarity with AP and payment platforms such as bill.com and with ERP or general ledger systems

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Ability to read commercial lease documents and translate lease language into accounting outcomes, payment obligations, and compliance deadlines
• Working knowledge of US GAAP, particularly ASC 842 and related lease guidance
• Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables and lookups, paired with the judgment to know when a spreadsheet should be replaced by the system
• Exceptional organization and follow-through - a large share of this role is deadline tracking and persistent pursuit of amounts owed to the Company
• Strong documentation discipline and the ability to produce clean, self-explanatory support
• Effective communication with landlords, brokers, carriers, contractors, and internal partners, including comfort escalating and pushing back where the Company is owed
• Discretion and confidentiality, particularly with claims, loss data, and other sensitive Company information
• Ability to manage high transaction volume across many locations without loss of accuracy, and to protect recurring deadlines from being crowded out by ad hoc requests