Job description

Assistant Accountants work within finance departments supporting senior colleagues with accounting tasks. Assistant Accountants may work in specific disciplines - for example financial or management accounting - or may support the accounting function as a whole, depending on the size of the employer organisation.

Assistant Accountants may be accounting technicians or may be part qualified accountants engaged in continuous professional development and studying for exams to attain full qualification.

Although the role of an Assistant Accountant can vary greatly, some typical duties include:

• Regular weekly and monthly financial reporting.
• Assisting in the production of quarterly and annual financial results reports.
• Profit and loss and balance sheet reconciliations and consolidations.
• Budgeting and forecasting and variance analysis.
• Cash flow reports.
• Sales and purchase ledger.
• Payroll.
• Expenses and petty cash management.
• Bank reconciliations.
• Assisting in audits and audit preparation.

Qualifications

Although some Assistant Accountants are qualified by experience, many companies require Assistant Accountants to be qualified accounting technicians or part qualified accountants.

Salary Snapshot

Recent salaries advertised on TopFinancialJobs (November 2009) include:

• £25-30,000 per annum for an Assistant Accountant working for an independent firm of chartered accountants in North West London.
• £23-25,000 per annum for a part qualified (ACCA) Assistant Accountant working for a large media firm in the West End of London.
• £26-32,000 per annum for a qualified (AAT) or part/newly qualified (ACCA/CIMA) Assistant Accountant working for a business services organisation in Manchester.
• £20-25,000 per annum for a fluent Dutch speaking Assistant Accountant working for a business in Newbury.

Do you work as an Assistant Accountant? Would you like to contribute to our "Day in the Life of..." series? Email us at info@topfinancialjobs.co.uk for more details.