Accountant Job Description

Key skills

Responsibilities

• • Maintain the general ledger and ensure all transactions are correctly coded and recorded
• • Execute the month-end close process including journals, accruals, and prepayments
• • Perform bank reconciliations and substantiate all balance sheet accounts monthly
• • Manage accounts payable and receivable processes, ensuring timely payment and collection
• • Prepare and submit VAT, GST, or equivalent tax returns accurately and on time
• • Produce monthly management accounts in line with agreed timelines
• • Support the annual audit by preparing reconciliations and responding to auditor queries
• • Identify and flag transactional anomalies or control weaknesses to the Finance Manager

Requirements

• • 2+ years of hands-on accounting experience in a similar role
• • Working knowledge of applicable accounting standards (IFRS, GAAP, or local equivalent)
• • Proficiency with at least one accounting software platform
• • Strong attention to detail — errors in financial records have downstream compliance consequences
• • Understanding of tax obligations relevant to the jurisdiction
• • Ability to work to strict month-end and statutory filing deadlines without compromise

Nice to have

• • Part-qualified or fully qualified accounting credential (ACA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent)
• • Experience with multi-currency accounting or intercompany transactions
• • Familiarity with ERP systems such as NetSuite, SAP, or Dynamics
• • Experience with revenue recognition under IFRS 15 or ASC 606 in a subscription or services business
• • Exposure to automating close tasks with tools such as FloQast, BlackLine, or built-in ERP reconciliation modules

What to look for in a great Accountant

Accuracy and reliability matter more in accounting than in almost any other function — an error in the books has downstream effects on tax filings, investor reporting, and management decisions. Look for candidates who can describe their reconciliation process in detail and who have a clear view of what 'done properly' looks like. Ask how they have handled a situation where they discovered a historical error. Great accountants also understand the 'why' behind the numbers they post — not just how to process a journal, but what it represents in the business.

Where to source Accountant candidates

Accounting practices and audit firms produce well-trained candidates with rigorous process discipline who often seek in-house roles for variety and work-life balance. Bookkeepers who have grown their technical knowledge and are studying for a professional qualification can be excellent hires with practical skills that textbooks do not teach. Specialist finance recruitment agencies have pre-screened talent pools and can move quickly for time-critical roles. Part-qualified candidates (ACA or ACCA students) offer strong potential at cost-effective salary levels.

Interview questions to ask an Accountant

Ask 'Walk me through your month-end close process — what are the key steps and how do you ensure nothing is missed?' This reveals process discipline immediately. Follow with 'Tell me about a reconciling difference you found that turned out to be significant — what caused it and how did you resolve it?' Then test depth: 'How do you ensure all accruals are complete and accurate at period end?' Finish with a systems question: 'Which accounting platforms have you used and what are the strengths and limitations of each?' Strong candidates will have clear, structured answers to all of these.

Screening an Accountant quickly

The fastest way to filter accountants is to anchor the screen to the specific work in front of you rather than the profession in general. If you need someone to run a monthly close, ask how they sequence a close and where it typically slips; a real practitioner will talk about accruals, cut-off, and reconciliations without prompting. Confirm the exact software they own day to day — Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or a full ERP such as NetSuite — because moving from a small-business ledger to a multi-entity ERP is a genuine step up in complexity. Ask about the tax regimes they have filed under, since VAT or GST fluency does not transfer automatically across jurisdictions. A tidy answer on how they substantiate a balance sheet tells you far more than the qualification alone.

Junior vs senior Accountant: what changes

A junior accountant executes well-defined tasks — postings, reconciliations, payables and receivables, and the mechanical parts of the close — under review. A senior accountant owns the close, prepares the financial statements, manages the audit relationship, and is trusted with judgement calls on accruals, provisions, and revenue recognition. The shift is from accuracy on a defined task to ownership of outcomes. Be honest in the brief about which you are hiring: paying senior rates for junior processing wastes budget, while asking a junior to sign off on statements creates real compliance risk. Interview for the level you need by testing judgement, not keystrokes.