Audit Assistant Manager

Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000

Job description

Be part of an award-nominated Audit team offering great experience, development opportunities, and work-life balance in a top 40 Accountancy firm.

Background

An exciting opportunity to join a forward-thinking accountancy practice that continually develops its staff. Within this role, you will be an enthusiastic, qualified accountant looking for the next steps in your career. Our Assistant Manager role provides exactly that, as we assist you through your career development journey towards Manager level and further.

When first taking on this role after qualification, you will still be carrying out Senior work, but on larger, more complex jobs and will be involved in a lot more of the planning and completion.

You will lead these jobs and receive feedback and development points from managers to work towards. You will be involved in closing meetings and will see many jobs through from start to finish alongside managers to prepare you for management positions.

You will be responsible for the training and development of our Trainees and Apprentices and will be key in managing them throughout the jobs they are working on for you.

As you progress through the Assistant Manager journey, you will be given a portfolio of your own to manage. Initially, the split between Manager jobs and Senior jobs will be weighted on the Senior side while you build up your skills, possibly as much as a 90/10 split (dependent on your experience/strengths/requirements and what fits).

However, as you progress through your development journey, the split will shift towards more managerial work with a larger portfolio. This will all be decided in line with your ‘People Passport’ where we discuss our development quadrants to help shape your career.

Main Duties at Manager Level Within the Role

1. Operate a portfolio of audit and accountancy clients, working closely with Audit and Business Advisory partners.
2. Key part of the management team within the Audit Team.
3. Being a proactive member of the team and contributing to delivery, training, liaising with other departments, and business development.
4. Reporting directly to Audit and Business Advisory Partners and liaising with other managers as required both in the Audit Team and across the firm.
5. Management of a portfolio of audit and non-audit clients.
6. Planning, supervision, and review of audit and accounts clients, being the main point of contact for clients, working closely with partners, and taking responsibility for each assignment from planning to completion.
7. Liaising with the Corporate Business Tax department in relation to the preparation and review of corporation tax computations.
8. Assisting the Audit Team with technical accounting and auditing issues.
9. Actively training staff and contributing to their development, which may involve presenting to staff or being involved in the development of internal courses.
10. Day-to-day supervision of the Audit Team as appropriate.
11. Developing and improving audit delivery across the firm, while adding value to clients by developing new, forward-thinking methods and ways of working.
12. Billing and monitoring actual costs against budgets and reporting to partners on variances, and drafting bills on a monthly basis for review by partners.
13. Assisting in the generation of new business for the Audit function.

Software Used

Use of computer packages including CCH Accounts Production, CCH ProAudit, Alphatax, MS Office, Sage 50, Quickbooks, Xero. Any knowledge of other cloud-based applications such as Inflo would be helpful, but not required. The candidate will be expected to use a laptop.

Qualifications/Education Required

ACA or ACCA

Experience Required

Trained within a Chartered Practice or with us and used to dealing with individual and group entities of all sizes. Experience of pension schemes, LLPs, FCA & charities is highly desirable. Audit and preparation of accounts with a turnover up to £40 million, including group accounts.

A passion to become part of a growing team and help to promote the technical expertise of the team and increase its profile both internally and externally.

Strong technical knowledge of accounting and auditing standards (knowledge of FRS 105 and FRS 102 required, and knowledge of IFRS desirable).

Able to communicate confidently and effectively with clients, staff, and partners.

Able to provide on-the-job training for staff as appropriate.

Able to multi-task.

Hands-on and able to get involved in work at all levels.

Proven managerial skills and experience.

Conditions and Benefits

Agile working and Flexi time; however, there will be times when you are needed to be on-site or in the office to train trainees for longer periods of time, dependent on client and business needs.

Values and Behaviours

Our Values and behaviours are based on:

1. Together: The firm with the family feel. Express gratitude. Smile. Be humble and confident. Have fun.
2. Resilient: Change is imminent, and business is imperfect. Be open-minded & agile. Assume positive intent and exercise the power of positive thinking.
3. Each individual matters and will be heard and respected. Honesty, integrity, empathy, and kindness are fundamental.
4. Supportive: We support what is important to you and show kindness in our behaviour to each other. We encourage each other to realise our potential.
5. We strive to be the best, innovate, and always do exceptional work. That’s who we are and what our clients deserve.

Mercer & Hole is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Our people are our most valuable asset. We bring our life experiences, knowledge, creativity, and talents together at Mercer & Hole, making it a unique place to work where all can safely thrive.