Financial Reporting Accountant

The Vacancy

We are looking for a passionate, proactive and enthusiastic finance professional to join Wates within our Finance team as a Financial Reporting Accountant working within our Wates Property Services division.

The role will require travel to London (Finsbury Park) twice a week.

The successful professional will ensure effective controls, processes, information systems and results are practiced, achieved and recorded to support and shape the direction of this key business area. This is a unique and outstanding opportunity to join a successful and growing business through its next phase of growth at the outset of the journey. With plans to grow at speed with investment, the finance function is central to the success of the plan going forward.

Reporting to the Head of Financial Reporting, this new Financial Reporting Accountant role will play a pivotal role in establishing the processes and systems to enable growth in line with our ambitions

The Role and essential candidate requirements

Given the business’ ambitious growth plans, this opportunity will suit a driven individual with strong experience as a technically focussed accountant in a business of significant corporate scale.

• Past Finalist/Fully qualified accountant (ACCA or ACA , ideally practice trained)
• A keen eye for detail and experience working for a medium / large corporate business
• Display deep expertise in technical accounting (revenue recognition, consolidations, purchase accounting and debt/equity)
• Strong working knowledge of tax / VAT compliance
• Previously worked in a business of scale, with a track record of developing and improving systems and processes
• Advanced Financial Modelling and Excel skills

Ongoing responsibilities will include:

• Subject matter expert on all technical accounting matters
• Responsible for production of all company and consolidation accounts
• Responsibility for corporation tax compliance, sales tax/VAT
• Responsibility for all other non-tax compliance reporting
• Responsibility for the company balance sheet
• Maintain appropriate accounting policies, making recommendations for changes to the Head of Financial Reporting
• Key contributor to all audit and tax related matters
• Liaise with third parties and advisors including banks, suppliers, and accountants as required
• Constant process improvement, reducing reporting time frames and increasing the quality of financial information
• Key stakeholder in change projects, driving design and implementation
• Monitor ongoing accounting updates and analyse and implement newly issued accounting updates

Based: Finsbury Park (North – Inner London), with travel as required, currently operating a hybrid/flexible working model

Wates Property Services

Wates Property Services (WPS) is one of the largest divisions of The Wates Group, focusing on housing and non-residential maintenance and facilities management across the UK with annual revenues of c£550m per annum, with business plans to grow organically and via acquisition to £750m in the coming years.

Work for Wates

Wates is one of the UK’s leading family-owned development, building and property maintenance companies.  Founded over 125 years ago, we have a proud legacy in the built environment.

We are driven by our purpose, ‘reimagining places for people to thrive’ and our three promises:

• Thriving places – working with customers, partners and communities to create places that are more sustainable, inclusive, and full of opportunity.
• Thriving planet – protecting nature and taking action on climate change by collaborating and innovating with our partners.
• Thriving people – creating opportunities and relationships so that everyone who works for and with us feels included, invested in and treated with care.

We are proud to be recognised as Gold Investors in People and as a Disability Confident employer.  We also ensure that our recruitment processes do not treat anyone less favourably due to an offending background.