Operational Accountant
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Operational Accountant
Location: Grantham / Hybrid
Salary: 38k - £50k (DOE)
Benjamin Edwards are recruiting for an energetic Operational Accountant who likes to be close to the day-to-day action and uses insight to help the business perform at its best. In this fast-paced role, you’ll work alongside key teams to ensure costing is accurate, stock and controls are robust, and reporting is clear, timely and decision-ready.
You’ll play a central role in operational finance, combining strong business partnering with the ability to identify trends, interpret variances, improve processes, and deliver the insights teams need to make confident commercial decisions
What’s on offer to the Operational Accountant
- Competitive salary (depending on qualifications and experience)
- 25 days holidays + BH + option to purchase additional days
- Discretionary annual bonus
- Enhanced Pension
- Study support available
The role of the Operational Accountant
- Act as the finance point of contact for Operations, providing guidance and insight to support decision-making
- Support budget owners with reporting and help drive effective cost management
- Maintain standard costing for materials and update where required
- Refresh and issue costing for promotions, new business and new products on a quarterly cycle
- Complete monthly reconciliations for raw materials and finished goods
- Produce and review weekly stock adjustment reporting, using findings to improve processes
- Manage stock write-offs in line with internal controls and policy
- Manage factory accruals and end-of-period adjustments to support clean month-end reporting
- Deliver KPI reporting to monitor efficiency and operational performance
- Produce variance reporting (production and purchase price), investigate root causes and recommend actions
- Support Operations with analysis that improves productivity and cost control
- Prepare annual Tax Packs for tax computation processes
- Support audits and maintain strong documentation and control standards
- Contribute to cross-functional projects that impact financial performance
The ideal candidate for the Operational Accountant
- Qualified or part-qualified (ACCA / CIMA / ACA or equivalent)
- Previous experience in a hands-on role involving costing, stock, and operational reporting
- Strong Excel capability and confidence working with ERP systems
- Comfortable working at pace, with strong communication and problem-solving skills
To Apply
If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for Benjamin Edwards, please do not hesitate to apply.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your accounting qualification (ACCA/CIMA/ACA) prominently as this is essential for the role
📊 Quantify your costing experience: 'Managed standard costing for 200+ SKUs, reducing variance by 15%'
🔧 Emphasise your ERP system expertise and Excel proficiency as these are critical operational tools
📈 Showcase variance analysis skills with specific examples of root cause investigation and recommendations
🤝 Demonstrate business partnering experience, particularly supporting operations teams with financial insights
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:
- •Managed standard costing for 150+ product lines, updating quarterly promotional pricing and reducing cost variance by 12%
- •Completed monthly stock reconciliations for £2.3M inventory, implementing weekly adjustment reporting that improved accuracy by 18%
- •Delivered variance analysis reports to 5 department heads, investigating root causes and recommending actions that saved £45k annually
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Letter preview — tailored to Benjamin Edwards
Dear Hiring Manager,
Benjamin Edwards' Operational Accountant role combines the hands-on costing and stock management experience I've developed with the business partnering approach I'm passionate about. My ACCA qualification and expertise in standard costing and variance analysis align perfectly with your requirements for supporting operational decision-making.
My background in operational finance has equipped me with strong ERP system capabilities and advanced Excel skills, enabling me to deliver the timely, decision-ready reporting your teams need. I've consistently improved processes whilst maintaining robust controls and supporting month-end requirements.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How would you approach setting up standard costing for a new product line?
- ›Walk me through your process for monthly stock reconciliation
- ›How do you investigate and resolve significant purchase price variances?
- ›What ERP systems have you worked with and how do you ensure data accuracy?
- ›Describe your experience with month-end accruals and adjustments
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time when you identified a process improvement that saved costs
- ›Describe a situation where you had to explain complex financial information to non-finance colleagues
- ›Give an example of when you had to work under tight deadlines during month-end
- ›Tell me about a time when you discovered a significant variance and how you handled it
- ›Describe a challenging audit situation and how you managed it
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time when you identified a process improvement that saved costs
Describe a situation where you had to explain complex financial information to non-finance colleagues