Head Office Accountant

About the Role

The Head Office Accountant sits at the heart of the Group’s finance engine room. You will own the day-to-day bookkeeping, accounting and cash reporting for the Stack holding companies (Chillaton Topco, Midco, Bidco, Mecsia Group, Mecsia Midco and Mecsia Limited), working closely with the Group Accountant who will review and provide technical support rather than provide day-to-day guidance.

 Success in this role means operating independently and consistently, staying organised and detail-oriented in everything you produce, delivering to deadlines without prompting, and proactively communicating issues before they become problems.

Key Responsibilities

Stack Entity Accounting (Month-End Close)

• Full ownership of the month-end close process across all Stack companies (6), including:

• Bank reconciliation and intercompany posting for all Stack

• Accruals and prepayments: tax, stats, audit fees, share valuations, insurance and bonus accruals, largely automated in Xero

• Fixed asset register maintenance: additions, disposals, monthly depreciation journals, reconciliation to TB

• MSA recharges to subsidiaries via automated recurring invoices (set up and maintained in Xero)

• Full set of balance sheet reconciliations for all Stack entities, every month-end

• Central costs preparation and review with the GA

• Review of Subsidiary balance sheet reconciliation

Cash Management and Reporting

• Prepare the 18-week cashflow forecast for stack companies

• Prepare the 18-week consolidated Group cashflow forecast; collate subsidiary inputs, update dates, analyse and report on updates

• Manage cash balances across all Stack entities; track intercompany upstream and downstream movements

• Prepare Monthly Debtors reporting including Debtors days analysis across the Group

Supplier Payments and AP

The role owns the full AP cycle for Head Office entities:

• Prepare and Process Weekly supplier payment run using Xero and Santander

• Process supplier invoices into Xero

• Payhawk: weekly review and repayment of employee expenses

VAT

The Group operates a VAT group structure across 7 entities (including 1 trading entity). Responsibilities include:

• Prepare Quarterly VAT returns for all Stack entities out of Xero (quarters end Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)

• Consolidate into Group VAT return including 1 trading company

• Submit Group VAT return and process of payment including journal postings

Intercompany and Group Reporting

• Maintain the intercompany matrix and reconcile balances with counterpart entities at month-end

• Coordinate with Heads of Finance across the subsidiary group to chase deadlines, check submissions and resolve intercompany differences

• Prepare and submit the Group’s month-end reporting pack: TBs, balance sheet recs and central costs variance analysis

• Upload data submissions of stack companies to Konsolidator (Group consolidation tool) with data submissions

Payroll (Mecsia Limited)

The role owns the full Payroll cycle for one Head Office company:

• Monthly payroll review calculated and produced by HR; prepare and post payroll journal from payroll CSV; process Payroll payment, process PAYE and Pension payments each month

• Submit pension data and confirm direct debit on the 19th;

• Prepare payroll recharge cost invoices and journals

Key Skills & Experience

• Currently studying towards ACA, ACCA or CIMA (finalist or part-qualified); strong academic background

• Solid bookkeeping and double-entry accounting skills

• Hands-on experience with Xero (posting journals, managing recurring entries, bank reconciliation, AP ledger)

• Good Excel skills: VLOOKUP, SUMIF, pivot tables

• Organised, deadline-driven and proactive: able to work independently with problem solving skills

• Self-starter who can operate independently from day one once inducted, without needing to be managed day-to-day

• Strong communicator: able to liaise confidently with Heads of Finance in subsidiary businesses and senior stakeholders     

• Comfortable building and documenting processes from scratch

       

• Committed to accuracy and takes pride in clean, reconciled accounts

• Resilient and adaptable in a fast-moving, acquisition-led environment

What we offer

• Competitive salary and benefits package.

• Enjoy 25 days of holiday, including bank holidays.

• Contribute to the Company Pension Scheme.

• Wellbeing benefits include 24/7 access to a GP

• Employee discounts i.e. gym memberships, high street shops

• Individual recognition schemes with rewards

• Employee referral scheme

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, colour, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability.