Accounts Preparation Manager

Overview of Firm

PKF Littlejohn is one of the leading challenger firms in the UK with offices in London, Leeds and Manchester. We are also an active member of PKF Global, an international network of legally independent accounting firms, giving us an on-the-ground presence in 150 countries around the world with access to more than 20,000 people across 440 offices globally. We provide a full range of audit, accountancy, tax and advisory services, and are experts at simplifying complexity.

We are particularly well-known for working with complex clients with challenging issues in fast-moving and highly technical areas, such as the insurance industry, the global capital markets and the not-for-profit sector. Our aim is to understand people, the organisations they run, and what matters to them, so we can simplify complexity and help them achieve their ambitions.

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Corporate & Capital Markets

We sit with the Corporate & Capital Markets Division. The division is the largest auditor of AIM listed companies and the fifth largest of all LSE companies with over 140 on either the Main Market or AIM. In the last five years, we have grown significantly in the listed audit market by focusing on delivering consistent quality and making all our clients feel valued.

The team also works with a number of large, multinational private businesses across many sectors with varying regulatory and reporting requirements, and we have specialist knowledge of a range of industries – from natural resource companies, tech companies, professional practices and retailers.

The Accounts preparation team’s role within the division is to work alongside both our audit clients and audit exempt clients to assist them in producing compliant Statutory Accounts to be either ‘ready for audit’ or statutory filing. This will be a mix of single entity and group consolidations. We deal directly with the clients to enable a smooth efficient compliant process.

You will have strong accounts preparation and technical skills, sound professional judgement, be able to use your own initiative, be able to maintain and develop strong client and employee relations and be able to communicate effectively and keep others informed. You will have a proven ability in successfully delivering high quality statutory accounts and working papers as well as having a detailed working knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and FRS 102.

With every assignment, you'll gain a deeper insight into each stage of the process, and a broader view of the businesses we work for. As your experience grows, so will your opportunities.

• Liaising with clients (phone, email and face-to-face meetings) from planning to completion stage, requesting documents and resolving queries;
• Preparation of detailed advice for clients focusing on practical solutions;
• Reviewing of year end and compliance work to ensure that jobs are being completed in a respectable time frame;
• Managing a portfolio of clients across various sectors;
• The role has a focus on Statutory Accounts and Trust Accounts preparation;
• Training and supervising junior members of staff in relation to processing systems, preparation of financial statements, and general accounting processes and procedures;
• Holding appraisals of junior members of staff;
• Heading up our training programs for raw juniors, including checklist of minimum requirements for accounts preparation pro-audit files, and attending training programmes to assist and teach juniors PKF systems and procedures after initial training;
• Formulation of new accounts preparation Pro-Audit procedure and pack;
• Creating electronic work papers for Trust Account assignments;

• Accountancy training;
• ACCA or ACA, or equivalent, qualified;
• Experience using Pro Audit, Caseware and CCH;
• Strong consolidation accounting knowledge and application;
• Proven skills in managing a portfolio of clients;

• Leadership skills, with the ability to command respect at all levels;
• Proactive;
• Strong technical skills;
• Sound professional judgement;
• Accurate;
• Ability to take responsibility;
• Commercial outlook;
• Ability to prioritise workload and work to deadlines;
• Analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Able to cope with the pressure of high and varying workloads;
• Decisive – can make correct decisions when under pressure;
• Flexible in approach to work;