Bookkeeper

Vertex Associates are representing a growing professional services consultancy in their search for a Finance Assistant / Assistant Accountant/Bookkeeper. The business delivers specialist consultancy services to a range of clients and operates across a project-led environment. This is a hands-on finance role, ideal for someone who is comfortable taking ownership of a transactional finance function while also supporting month-end, VAT, project accounting and wider finance requirements.

The successful candidate will be working closely with the wider business and will have the opportunity to take ownership of a broad range of accounting responsibilities.

• Process bank transactions, including receipts, payments and regular bank reconciliations.
• Manage the purchase ledger, including purchase orders, supplier invoices, invoice matching, coding and payment runs.
• Process employee expenses and company credit card transactions, including receipt chasing, VAT and nominal coding, and reconciliations.
• Maintain the supplier ledger, including supplier set-up, statement reconciliations and resolving queries and discrepancies.

• Raise and issue sales invoices in line with agreed billing cycles, including milestone and stage-based billing.
• Monitor timesheet completion and ensure time is correctly allocated to projects ahead of billing and month-end.
• Escalate persistent timesheet non-compliance where required.

• Support the Credit Controller with collections and customer queries as required.

• Prepare and post month-end journals, including prepayments, accruals and recurring journals.
• Complete balance sheet reconciliations, investigate discrepancies and clear unreconciled items.
• Carry out month-on-month cost analysis, investigate variances and highlight material movements.
• Maintain the fixed asset register and post depreciation.

• Prepare quarterly VAT returns for review, including reconciliation of VAT control accounts.
• Submit VAT returns under Making Tax Digital following review and approval.
• Maintain accurate supporting records and audit trails for VAT and year-end accounts.
• Assist with accountant and auditor queries and sample requests.

• Monitor shared finance mailboxes and respond to or appropriately route queries.
• Produce reports and data extracts to support ad-hoc information requests.
• Act as a first point of contact for finance-related queries across the wider business.
• Demonstrable experience as a Bookkeeper, Finance Assistant or Assistant Accountant, running a transactional finance function largely unsupervised, including reconciling through to trial balance.
• Strong working knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping, control accounts and the month-end close cycle.
• Practical, up-to-date UK VAT knowledge, with hands-on experience preparing and reconciling quarterly VAT returns.
• Strong purchase and sales ledger experience, including invoice processing, payment run preparation and bank reconciliation.
• Confident Excel skills, including lookups, pivot tables, filtering and reconciling large data extracts.
• Experience working within an accounting or ERP system, with the ability to become productive quickly in an unfamiliar platform.
• A self-starter who can manage a defined workload, prioritise independently, work to a fixed monthly timetable and raise issues early.
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail, with the discipline to reconcile rather than assume.
• Clear and professional written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to chase colleagues, clients and suppliers persistently but constructively.
• Discretion and sound judgement when handling confidential client and commercial information.
• Experience using Deltek Vantagepoint or another Professional Services Automation/project-based ERP platform.
• Understanding of project accounting, including WIP, unbilled revenue, stage/milestone billing and project profitability reporting.
• Background within professional services, consultancy, engineering, architecture or construction.
• Experience supporting year-end accounts preparation or external audit.
• AAT qualified or part-qualified, ICB/IAB certified, or qualified by experience with an equivalent track record.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced finance professional looking for a broad, hands-on role where they can take ownership of the day-to-day finance function while developing their exposure to project accounting, month-end and wider commercial…