Assistant Accountant (Part time)
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Location: Chester
Salary: £33,000 Full-Time Equivalent (Pro Rata)
Working Pattern: Part-Time (3 or 4 Days per Week, or 5 Shorter Days)
Hybrid Working Available
Quarterly Bonus Scheme
25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (Pro Rata)
A fantastic opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Accountant to join a growing and successful business based in Chester.
This flexible part-time position offers the chance to play a key role within the finance team, supporting management reporting, month-end processes, budgeting and forecasting activities, while partnering with operational teams across the business.
The business offers genuine flexibility around working hours, hybrid working, and a collaborative environment where your input will be valued.
Key ResponsibilitiesManagement Reporting & Analysis- Produce weekly revenue and profitability reports, providing meaningful commentary on:
- Revenue trends
- Campaign performance
- Productivity metrics
- Margin movements
- Analyse financial performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Support management with ad-hoc reporting and analysis.
- Complete balance sheet reconciliations and highlight any areas of concern or risk, including:
- Accruals
- Prepayments
- Debtors and creditors
- Ensure financial records are accurate and maintained in line with company procedures.
- Support the month-end close process.
- Prepare and post overhead journals.
- Manage prepayments and accruals.
- Maintain the Fixed Asset Register.
- Perform variance analysis against budget and provide commentary on overhead spend.
- Assist with budgeting and forecasting processes.
- Support year-end activities and respond to audit queries.
- Work closely with stakeholders across the business to improve financial reporting and controls.
- Identify opportunities to improve processes, controls, and reporting efficiencies.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives within the finance function.
- Previous experience within an Assistant Accountant or similar finance role.
- Strong Excel skills within a commercial environment, including:
- XLOOKUP
- SUMIFS
- Power Query
- Power Pivot
- Strong analytical mindset with excellent attention to detail.
- Confident communicator, comfortable working with both finance and operational stakeholders.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently.
- Part-qualified ACCA or CIMA, or actively studying towards a professional qualification.
- Experience supporting budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting activities.
- £33,000 Full-Time Equivalent salary (pro rata)
- Quarterly bonus scheme
- Flexible working pattern (3, 4, or 5 days per week)
- Hybrid working available
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays (pro rata)
- Friendly and supportive team environment
- Opportunity to develop and broaden your accounting experience
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with Excel proficiency — the advert explicitly calls out XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, Power Query and Power Pivot as essential, so name all four tools prominently.
📊 Quantify your month-end contributions: e.g. "Completed balance sheet reconciliations across 8 cost centres, reducing unreconciled items by 45% within 3 months."
🎯 Dedicate a bullet to management reporting specifically — the role requires weekly revenue and profitability reports with commentary, so mirror that language and cite any reporting cadence you have owned.
🏆 Mention your ACCA or CIMA study status clearly near the top of your CV; the advert lists part-qualification as desirable and it will differentiate you from non-studying candidates.
🤝 Highlight cross-functional collaboration experience — the role requires partnering with operational (non-finance) stakeholders, so include an example of translating financial data for a non-finance audience.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Owned end-to-end month-end close for 6 cost centres, preparing overhead journals and completing balance sheet reconciliations within a 3-day close window, reducing unreconciled items by 40%.
- •Built a Power Query-driven weekly revenue and margin report consolidating data from 3 source systems, cutting manual preparation time from 4 hours to 45 minutes and improving commentary turnaround for senior management.
- •Supported annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting cycles across 4 business units, performing variance analysis against actuals and presenting findings to operational stakeholders with no finance background.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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Letter preview — tailored to Adele Carr Recruitment Limited
Dear Hiring Manager,
Adele Carr Recruitment's Assistant Accountant vacancy in Chester aligns closely with the work I do best — producing accurate management reports and driving month-end close with strong Excel skills including Power Query and XLOOKUP. The combination of financial control responsibilities and cross-functional stakeholder partnering is exactly the scope I am looking to build on in my next role.
My background in finance includes hands-on ownership of balance sheet reconciliations, accruals, prepayments and overhead journal postings within a commercial environment. I have produced weekly revenue and profitability commentary for senior management, and used Power Pivot to consolidate data from multiple sources into a single reporting model — reducing manual consolidation time by roughly 3 hours per week. I am currently progressing through my ACCA studies and am comfortable working independently across competing month-end deadlines.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you would use Power Query to automate a weekly revenue report — what steps would you take from raw data to final output?
- ›How do you approach a balance sheet reconciliation where the closing balance does not agree to supporting schedules?
- ›Describe your experience with variance analysis: how do you structure commentary on overhead spend versus budget?
- ›Can you explain the difference between an accrual and a prepayment, and give an example of each you have processed?
- ›How have you used SUMIFS or XLOOKUP in a real reporting task, and what problem did it solve?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified an error or risk in a financial reconciliation — what did you do and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to manage competing deadlines during a month-end close. How did you prioritise?
- ›Give an example of a process improvement you introduced within a finance function. What was the impact?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to explain financial data to a non-finance colleague or operational stakeholder. How did you approach it?
- ›Describe a situation where you supported an audit or year-end process. What challenges arose and how did you handle them?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you identified an error or risk in a financial reconciliation — what did you do and what was the outcome?
Give an example of a process improvement you introduced within a finance function. What was the impact?