Deputy Chief Accountant

This role, working alongside the existing Deputy Chief Accountant, is to deliver the Council's annual Statement of Accounts, ensure effective accounting controls and liaise with the Council's external auditors.
You will be expected to support the Chief Accountant in any aspect of corporate finance and provide resilience across the team, whilst specifically supporting and guiding in the areas of Technical Accounting, Fixed Assets and Taxation.
The Deputy Chief Accountant will report to the Chief Accountant and will support on a range of areas within Corporate Accountancy team Supporting on specific financial accounting areas such as Financial Statements, Fixed Assets, Balance Sheet Reconciliations & Monitoring, reviewing and challenging financial controls and associated processes, and providing financial guidance and support to services across the Council.
Liaising with council's external auditors and maintaining the relationship between auditors and wider finance team.
Taking ownership of specific finance processes to ensure all officers are appropriately trained able to carry out these processes in a consistent and efficient manner.
Ensure that the areas of the Accounts for which the officer is responsible for is accounted for in line with Internal Financing Reporting Standards and CIPFA's Code of Practice for Local Government Accounting.
Pro-Actively seek opportunities to improve the financial support the service provides to the Council.
The successful candidate would need to be a fully qualified CCAB or CIMA accountant with strong Excel and analytical skills.
They would need to be experienced in the closure of accounts, audit and have sound technical accounting skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills are also essential in order to deal with staff at all levels both within the Council and from outside organisations.
Candidates are not required to be office based unless required for meetings.