Assistant Accountant: Job Description

  
Assistant Accountant – Job Description

Main Duties

You will work in a team of accountants helping them to work with the accounts of the company. You will need to respond well to instruction form your superiors and be prepared to do the work that they assign to you and help out wherever required. There are opportunities in many different types of business as all companies have accountants.

You will be working closely with numbers all of the time and so you need good arithmetic skills and be happy to use them all day. You might be involved in doing the monthly accounts but also in other finance related tasks. These could range from budgeting, invoicing, expenses, ledgers and VAT returns.

The role is seen as a starting position for someone who wants to be an accountant. You would need to be in the role for about three years, while studying for relevant qualifications before being able to consider a role as an accountant.

Most assistant accountants will work in an office Monday-Friday from 9-5. However, at the end of the financial year there may be a need to work extra hours.

Expected Salary

The starting salary is around £25,000-£27,000 with an opportunity to increase that with experience and with promotion through the team.

Pros

A very well paid job.
Great prospects for promotion through the department.
An interesting and varied role.
Lots of opportunities for jobs both as assistant accountants and as accountants when qualified.

Cons

You need to be happy working with numbers all of the time.
High pressure at the end of the tax year to get everything finished.
Lots of hard work and study needed to be done in own time outside of work.

Qualifications Required

Five GCSE A-C passes including English and maths.
A degree can help but is not necessary as an accounting technitian qualification will do instead.
IT skills with knowledge of Excel and bookkeeping skills can be an advantage.
It would normally be expected that applicants would be studying for accountancy qualifications with the ACCA, CIMA, IFA, IVAEW, ACAI or ACAS and this work would need to be done in the evenings after a days work in the office.

Required Skills
Confident arithmetic skillsA head for numbersGood at reaching deadlinesHonest and trustworthyGood IT skillsClear minded and methodicalAble to work accurately and quickly under pressure