Group Accounts Manager – Core Accounting, Control & Compliance (Budget AED 16K - 22K)

Element HR Consultancy; Sharjah; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consultancy firm in Sharjah seeks a Group Accounts Manager responsible for the financial integrity of multiple entities. You will design and enforce a standardized accounting framework, manage month-end closings, and oversee intercompany transactions. The ideal candidate has 8–12 years of core accounting experience, strong problem-solving skills, and proficiency in ERP systems. This role is crucial for ensuring precise and compliant financial reporting across all group entities.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years of experience in core accounting roles.
• Experience in a multi-entity/group environment preferred.
• Strong command of double-entry accounting and GL management.

Responsibilities

• Design and enforce accounting framework across entities.
• Manage month-end and year-end closing processes.
• Oversee intercompany accounting and reconciliations.

Skills

Disciplined accounting practices

Strong problem-solving skills

Attention to detail

Effective communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting / Commerce / Finance

Professional qualification (CA, ACCA, CPA, CMA)

Tools

ERP systems (SAP / Oracle / Dynamics / Tally)

Advanced Excel

Job description

About The Group

We are a diversified, multi-entity industrial group operating across trading, distribution, engineering, and project-based businesses. With multiple legal entities, branches, and business lines, our operations generate high transaction volumes, complex intercompany flows, and a strong need for disciplined, standardised accounting across the Group.

Role Overview

To strengthen our financial backbone, we are looking for a Group Accounts Manager who will own our books, closing, and consolidation agenda across all entities.

This is a hardcore accounting and control role – not a corporate finance, fundraising, or FP&A position.

You Will

• Design and enforce a common accounting framework across all entities
• Lead the record-to-report (R2R) cycle from entity books to Group consolidation
• Ensure accurate, timely, and compliant accounting across the Group
• Deliver clean, reconciled Trial Balances and reliable Group financials every month
• Act as the key accounting contact for auditors, tax advisors, and internal stakeholders

If you enjoy the engine room of finance – ledgers, reconciliations, intercompany, controls – and want to do it at Group scale, this role is for you.

What You Will Own

• Group Accounting Framework & Policies
  • Establish and maintain Group-wide accounting policies aligned with IFRS/local GAAP and regulatory requirements.
  • Design and govern a harmonised Group Chart of Accounts, enabling consistent reporting across all entities.
  • Define minimum documentation standards for invoices, GRNs, contracts, journals, and credit/debit notes.
  • Ensure all entities apply these policies consistently, and address deviations with entity finance teams.
• Entity-Level Books Integrity & Closing Discipline
  • Oversee the quality of books across all legal entities:
  • Daily postings for sales, purchases, expenses, payroll, journals, provisions, accruals, etc.
  • Correct GL, cost centre, and project coding.
• Implement a standard monthly and annual closing calendar for all entities, with clear cut-offs and checklists.
• Ensure clean, reviewed Trial Balances for each entity by a defined working day every month.
• Perform periodic GL reviews to clear suspense items, fix misclassifications, and resolve abnormal balances.

Intercompany Accounting & Reconciliations

• Set standard processes for intercompany transactions (cross-entity sales, shared services, cost recharges, loans/advances).
• Ensure intercompany entries are properly documented, mirrored, and posted in all relevant entities.
• Lead intercompany reconciliations, resolve mismatches, and prepare elimination schedules for consolidation.
• Reduce intercompany noise and ensure Group financials are not distorted by internal imbalances.

Group Consolidation & Reporting

• Own the Group consolidation process:
• Map entity CoAs to Group CoA.
• Apply appropriate consolidation rules.
• Eliminate intercompany revenues, costs, and balances.

Deliver monthly/quarterly consolidated financials (P&L, Balance Sheet, and, where feasible, Cash Flow).

Support management with variance analysis and commentary (month-on-month, year-on-year, budget vs actual).

Provide accurate data and explanations for Board packs, lender reporting, and management reviews.

VAT / Indirect Tax & Basic Regulatory Compliance

• Coordinate VAT accounting across entities (output VAT, input VAT, imports, reverse charge, VAT reconciliations).
• Ensure VAT ledgers tie to Trial Balances and filed VAT returns.
• Provide reconciled schedules and support for VAT filings and address queries with advisors/authorities when needed.
• Uphold statutory record-keeping and documentation standards from an accounting perspective.

Audit Readiness & Control Environment

• Act as the central accounting contact for Group statutory auditors.
• Coordinate audit schedules, reconciliations, sample support, and responses across entities.
• Work with internal audit (if present) on accounting, reconciliation, and control-related observations.
• Track closure of audit findings and management letter points, especially recurring issues.

Strengthen controls by embedding:

• Maker-checker checks.
• Proper access rights and segregation of duties.
• Routine reconciliations and exception reporting in daily work.

ERP, Systems & Data Quality

• Act as functional owner for finance modules in the ERP (GL, AP, AR, FA, Inventory from a financial perspective).
• Govern master data (CoA, cost centres, project codes, vendor and customer masters) across entities.
• Collaborate with IT/ERP teams to:
  • Improve posting logic and workflows.
  • Reduce manual work and duplicate data entry.
  • Enhance reporting capabilities for accounting and consolidation.
• Promote a culture of "right first time" data entry.

Leadership & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Provide technical guidance and coaching to entity accountants and finance teams.
• Set expectations on closing timelines, reconciliations, and documentation quality.
• Partner with Sales, Operations, Procurement, HR, and Projects to:
  • Explain accounting implications of operational decisions.
  • Clarify what good documentation looks like and why it matters.
• Be seen as the go-to person for accounting questions across the Group.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting / Commerce / Finance.
• Professional qualification preferred: CA, ACCA, CPA, CMA (fully or substantially completed).
• 8–12 years of experience in core accounting roles, including:
  • Responsibility for month-end / year-end closing, GL reviews, and reconciliations.
  • Experience in a multi-entity / group environment is a strong advantage.
• Sector exposure to trading, distribution, industrial, engineering, or project-based businesses is preferred.
• Strong command of double-entry accounting and GL/sub-ledger management.
• Hands-on experience with:
  • AP, AR, bank reconciliations, fixed assets, provisions, accruals;
  • Intercompany accounting and Group consolidation;
  • VAT accounting and reconciliations (GCC/UAE context is an advantage).
• Proficient in ERP systems (SAP / Oracle / Dynamics / Tally / similar) and advanced Excel.

Behavioural Traits

• High ownership – treats the books as their responsibility, not just a checklist.
• Detail-obsessed, but still able to see patterns and root causes.
• Disciplined and reliable on deadlines, especially around closing.
• Strong problem-solving skills – especially with reconciliations and consolidation issues.
• Clear, respectful communicator with both finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Uncompromising integrity and confidentiality with financial information.