Closedown Accountant - #2128452

Key responsibilities

• Deliver allocated elements of the year-end closedown timetable.
• Prepare accounting entries, reconciliations and supporting working papers.
• Produce or review relevant notes and disclosures for the Statement of Accounts.
• Complete control-account and balance-sheet reconciliations.
• Investigate and resolve historic balances, miscoding and unreconciled items.
• Review accruals, provisions, reserves and other year-end adjustments.
• Support capital, grant, Collection Fund, pensions or group-accounting workstreams where relevant.
• Ensure working papers provide a clear audit trail and meet external-audit requirements.
• Liaise with service accountants and budget holders to obtain outstanding information.
• Respond to external-audit queries and provide supporting evidence.
• Track outstanding actions, risks and dependencies against the closedown timetable.
• Apply the CIPFA Code and relevant local-authority accounting requirements.
• Recommend improvements to closedown processes, controls and documentation.

Essential experience

• Recent hands-on closedown experience within a local authority.
• Experience preparing Statement of Accounts working papers and disclosures.
• Strong understanding of the CIPFA Code and local-government accounting.
• Experience completing complex balance-sheet and control-account reconciliations.
• A successful record of responding to external-audit queries.
• Strong Excel, ledger-analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work accurately under demanding statutory deadlines.

Desirable experience

• CCAB or CIMA qualification, or substantial specialist closedown experience.
• Experience supporting delayed or challenging local-authority audits.
• Knowledge of capital accounting, Collection Fund, pensions, leases or group accounts.
• Experience with the authority’s finance system and closedown software.
• Availability to increase commitment around key reporting deadlines if required.