Job description

Technical Accountants are qualified accountants specialising in financial accounting and reporting with specific reference to statutory rules and regulations. Technical accountants may work within the insurance and financial services sector or any area where corporate governance and adherence to local and international financial standards and obligations are paramount.

Technical accountants may also be responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining financial systems and processes with particular reference to reporting standards (e.g. IFRS) and generally accepted accounting principles (e.g. UK GAAP). They will also be responsible for training colleagues in the use of these systems and processes.

Typical duties include:

• Group accounts and statutory returns.
• Maintaining and updating finance manuals/systems and processes and informing colleagues of any changes.
• Compliance and internal controls.
• Monitoring and improving reporting procedures where relevant.
• Preparing financial statements.

Technical Accountants must ensure that they are aware of all changes to statutory reporting rules and should maintain an up to date knowledge of accounting standards, systems and processes.

Qualifications

Technical Accountants are usually fully qualified with significant post qualification experience. They must maintain a detailed knowledge of IFRS, UK and US GAAP and other national and international accounting and reporting standards, rules and regulations.

Salary Snapshot

Recent salaries advertised on TopFinancialJobs (January 2010) include:

• £40-50,000 per annum for a qualified (ACA, ACCA, ICAS) Technical Accountant working in the global accounting team of an Insurance company in London.
• £60-64,000 per annum for a Senior Manager - Accounting Policy working in London for a major UK bank.
• £80-100,000 per annum for a qualified (ACA) Head of Finance working within a Financial Reporting team for a bank in London.
• £61-70,000 per annum for a qualified Group Technical Accountant working in London for a FTSE-100 company.

Are you a Technical Accountant? Would you like to contribute to our "Day in the Life of..." series? Email us at info@topfinancialjobs.co.uk for more details.