Assistant Group Accountant

Arco; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading integrated health and safety firm in the UK is looking for an Assistant Group Accountant to join their team on a 12-month fixed-term contract. In this hands-on role, you will ensure accurate month-end processes and financial reporting. The ideal candidate is part-qualified in ACA, ACCA, or CIMA and possesses strong Excel and analytical skills. The position offers competitive salary, benefits, and a collaborative working environment.

Benefits

Competitive starting salary plus bonus

32 days holiday plus option to purchase more

2 fully paid Community Volunteering days

Excellent pension scheme (up to 8% contribution)

Employee discounts on Arco products

Health Cash Plan reimbursement for healthcare costs

Access to Learning Management System

Qualifications

• Part-qualified or newly qualified ACA / ACCA / CIMA (or equivalent).
• Strong Excel skills with the ability to interpret and summarise large data sets.
• Experience with ERP systems (SAP advantageous).
• Strong analytical skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proactive, inquisitive, and able to challenge existing processes to deliver improvements.

Responsibilities

• Deliver accurate and timely month-end results for allocated cost centres.
• Prepare and present P&L and analytical reports to key stakeholders.
• Complete monthly balance sheet reconciliations, investigating and resolving variances.
• Manage customer rebates and perform reconciliations.
• Assist the transactional finance team with various tasks.

Skills

Excel skills

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

ERP systems experience

Education

Part-qualified or newly qualified ACA / ACCA / CIMA

Tools

SAP

Job description

About The Role

Are you a part-qualified or newly qualified ACA, ACCA, or CIMA accountant looking to build your career in a dynamic, fast-paced group finance environment? We have an exciting opportunity for a Assistant Group Accountant to join our team on a 12-month fixed-term contract.

Reporting to the Group Finance Manager, you'll play a key role in ensuring a seamless month-end close process and delivering accurate, timely financial reporting across the Group. This is a hands‑on role that offers exposure to a broad range of accounting responsibilities and collaboration with stakeholders across the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver accurate and timely month-end results for allocated cost centres.
• Prepare and present P&L and analytical reports to key stakeholders.
• Complete monthly balance sheet reconciliations, investigating and resolving variances.
• Manage customer rebates: raise claims, validate authorisations, perform reconciliations, and produce journals.
• Support vendor rebate processes including validation, forecasting, and reconciliation.
• Assist the transactional finance team with tasks such as bank loading, mandate management, allocations, and reporting.
• Drive continuous improvement in reporting processes and financial controls.

About You

• Part-qualified or newly qualified ACA / ACCA / CIMA (or equivalent).
• Strong Excel skills with the ability to interpret and summarise large data sets.
• Experience with ERP systems (SAP advantageous).
• Strong analytical skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proactive, inquisitive, and able to challenge existing processes to deliver improvements.

On top of working for the UK's leading integrated health and safety experts, you'll also receive:

• A competitive starting salary plus bonus.
• 32 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays which rises with service, plus the option to purchase up to 5 more days each calendar year.
• 2 fully paid Community Volunteering days every year.
• An excellent pension (up to 8% Arco contribution) and x4 Life Assurance scheme.
• A huge range of discounts to help with cost of living via Perkbox plus Employee Discount on Arco products.
• Free, 24‑hour access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
• Health Cash Plan where we'll reimburse up to 100% of everyday healthcare costs.
• Access to our Learning Management System, to support your personal and career development.
• Long‑term service awards – we're proud to have employees who have worked for us for 40 years.

About Us

With a 140‑year legacy, Arco are recognised as the UK's leading safety experts. As the only integrated safety products and services business, our size, scale and reputation in the sector are why we have such an impressive portfolio of accounts and customers. We're the expert safety partner with a unique mix of specialist expertise and practical real‑life industry knowledge.

We are now on a transformation journey to become more profitable and sustainable, with investment in our growing business to help achieve this. This is an exciting and demanding time for the business. There is opportunity to shape and challenge the transformation journey and future growth, while balancing the pressure to deliver sales growth and financial targets that are necessary to support the future growth. Our behaviours – Care, Collaborate, Perform and Deliver – are embedded within our culture, to drive performance and ensure we succeed together and are rewarded for that shared success. Because it's on us. To deliver. Together.

Diversity and Inclusion at Arco means understanding everyone's views and giving colleagues a sense of belonging. We respect and value individuals for their unique skills, experiences, and ideas; to ensure we can be at our best. By creating a supportive and inclusive environment we will be an organisation able to drive our strategic goals, attracting and developing great people to be a more profitable and sustainable business for generations to come.

Be Safe, Be Yourself, Be Your Best.