Financial Accountant
Chelmsford, Essex
£65000 - £69000 per annum
- Herman Balbaera
- Lead Consultant
Financial Accountant (Public Sector)
Salary: £65,000 – £69,000
An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Financial Accountant to join a high-performing public sector finance team within a Corporate Finance / Financial Accounting function. This is a broad, technical role with exposure across statutory accounts, treasury, VAT, fixed assets and capital accounting, supporting strong governance and high-quality financial reporting.
Key responsibilities (5 bullets)
- Support and help lead the annual closedown and production of the Statement of Accounts, including liaison with external audit
- Manage fixed asset accounting and maintain the asset register, ensuring accurate valuation and robust controls
- Deliver/support Treasury Management activity (cashflow, borrowing/investments, leasing) and contribute to strategy development
- Provide a high-quality VAT advisory service, including returns, partial exemption calculations and HMRC liaison
- Produce clear financial reports, analysis and briefings for senior stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement to processes/controls
Person Specification
Essential
- Qualified accountant (CIPFA / ACCA / ACA / CIMA or equivalent) or demonstrably equivalent experience in a technical finance role
- Strong knowledge of public sector/local government finance and statutory reporting requirements (or highly transferable experience in a similarly regulated environment)
- Proven experience contributing to year-end accounts/closedown and working with auditors
- Experience in at least two of the following: fixed assets, capital accounting, treasury management, VAT
- Strong analytical capability with excellent Excel/financial systems skills; able to interpret large datasets and explain outputs clearly
- Confident communicator with experience producing written reports for different audiences and advising senior stakeholders
Desirable
- Direct experience preparing/monitoring capital programmes and related accounting entries
- Knowledge of IFRS/CIPFA Code environment and local government returns (where applicable)
- Experience supporting or supervising staff / coordinating workloads in a small finance team
- Evidence of process improvement, control enhancement, or finance transformation activity
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