Management Accountant

Hawthorn One; Lancashire; Hybrid; GBP 41,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced holiday entitlement

Contributory pension

Health cash plan

Electric vehicle salary sacrifice

Cycle-to-work salary sacrifice

Structured study support (ACCA/CIMA)

Job summary

Hawthorn One, a growing East Lancashire engineering and manufacturing SME backed by private equity, is seeking a Management Accountant to join the team. You will own month-end close, manage journal entries, and provide analysis across sales and cost of sales, while collaborating with the Finance Controller and ERP systems to drive process improvements.

Ideal candidates will have solid month-end experience, strong Excel skills and be working toward CIMA/ACCA, with a proactive, curious approach in

Qualifications

• Solid month-end experience with journals, balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis.
• Strong accounting principles; understand the numbers, not just the system.
• Proficient in Excel; eager to learn an ERP system in depth and link between finance and production.
• AAT Level 4 or working towards CIMA/ACCA.
• Resilient, proactive in a fast-paced environment with limited documented processes.

Responsibilities

• Own growing share of month-end close, including journals, balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis, building towards the full management accounts pack.
• Take ownership of sales, cost of sales, and the analysis behind the numbers.
• Handle day-to-day banking work, and cash flow support.
• Get hands-on with the ERP system and improve finance processes.
• Contribute to smaller process-improvement projects.
• Support VAT returns, audit schedules and other compliance work.

Skills

Month-end close

Balance sheet reconciliations

Variance analysis

Education

AAT Level 4 or equivalent

Towards CIMA/ACCA

Tools

ERP system

Job description

The Management Accountant Job

Our client is a well-established, ambitious engineering and manufacturing business based in East Lancashire, circa 25m turnover backed by private equity investment. The business is firmly in growth mode and as such it is expanding its capabilities and investing significantly in its people, systems and infrastructure to support its next phase to maintain and drive profitability.

It's a genuinely hands-on, fast-paced SME environment where everyone gets stuck in and things move quickly. The leadership team has real ambition for where the business is heading, and finance is an increasingly important part of how decisions get made as that growth continues.

This is a Management Accountant job for someone who really wants to develop and add value, not just slot into a finished process and do a job. The finance function has been through a recent rebuild. A new Finance Controller and Finance Manager have reworked the core finance packs, from the P&L through to the balance sheet and cash flow and are now turning their attention to the processes and controls that sit underneath them.

You’ll take on an agreed set of month-end tasks, working closely with the Finance Controller and Finance Manager and building towards producing the full management accounts pack. Balance sheet reconciliation, variance analysis, journals, ownership of sales and cost of sales, and day-to-day ledger and banking work all sit within the role, alongside the smaller process-improvement projects the team is running.

In this Management Accountant job, you will:

• Own a growing share of month-end close, including journals, balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis, building towards the full management accounts pack
• Take ownership of sales, cost of sales, and the analysis behind the numbers
• Handle day-to-day banking work, including reconciliations across multiple accounts and cash flow support
• Get properly hands-on with the ERP system and play a genuine part in improving how the finance function works
• Get involved in the smaller process-improvement projects the team is running
• Support VAT returns, audit schedules and other compliance work as it comes up

The Requirements

• Solid month-end experience - journals, balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis gained in a genuinely broad role, not narrowly focused on a single part of the P&L or balance sheet
• Some of the processes (journals, in particular) reflect how the systems are currently set up rather than a clean standard process, so a solid grasp of accounting principles is needed. You’ll need to understand the numbers, not rely on a system.
• Comfortable and capable in Excel, with enthusiasm for learning an ERP system in depth as you will inevitably become a significant link between finance and production with the system your mutual source of truth.
• AAT Level 4 qualified (or working towards CIMA/ACCA), with ambition to progress towards full qualification.
• Resilient, proactive and comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with limited documented process

This is as much about attitude as it is about experience You will need to be someone logical, genuinely curious about how the numbers and the systems fit together, and comfortable getting going without a fully formed process handed to them.

The Rewards

This role offers a salary of circa £45,000, dependent on experience with some room to negotiate, alongside a strong benefits package including enhanced holiday entitlement, a contributory pension, a health cash plan, electric vehicle and cycle-to-work salary sacrifice schemes, and structured study support towards ACCA or CIMA.

Hybrid working is available once you're settled in, and there's a genuine, well-supported route to progress as both you and the business grow.