Senior UK Accounts & Tax Accountant

Role Purpose

We are a UK accountancy practice seeking an experienced accountant based in South Africa to support our accounts and tax production. The successful candidate will receive clearly allocated work from our UK team, complete it to a review-ready standard and return it to us for review and approval.

This is a hands-on technical role for someone who already has substantial, recent experience of UK accountancy-practice work. It is not a training position. The candidate must be able to work independently within an agreed brief, recognise issues that require judgement and raise clear, concise queries with the UK team.

Important Role Boundary: Direct communication with clients is not part of the standard role. Client queries will normally be drafted or summarised by the accountant and handled by our UK team. Any direct client contact, filing or submission authority would only be introduced if expressly agreed.

How the Work Will Flow:

• Receive an assignment, scope, records and target completion date from a named member of the UK team.
• Review the information promptly and provide the UK team with a focused list of missing records, assumptions and technical queries.
• Prepare the accounts, tax return or other agreed work in our systems, together with complete and clearly cross-referenced working papers.
• Return the completed file to the UK team for review, highlighting key judgements, uncertainties, tax points and outstanding matters.
• Respond to review points promptly and update the work until it is ready for approval. The UK team retains responsibility for client communication, final approval and submission unless otherwise authorised.

Core Responsibilities:

• Statutory Accounts: Prepare UK financial statements for limited companies in accordance with applicable UK financial-reporting and statutory requirements, including FRS 102, Section 1A and FRS 105 where relevant, from both complete and incomplete records.
• Year-End Work: Review ledgers and bookkeeping records; prepare reconciliations and year-end adjustments such as accruals, prepayments, depreciation, payroll/control-account reconciliations and other journals.
• Corporation Tax: Prepare corporation tax computations and draft CT600 returns, with supporting schedules and clear notes on adjustments, claims, elections, risks or matters requiring review.
• Unincorporated Accounts: Prepare accounts and supporting schedules for sole traders, partnerships and property businesses where required.
• Personal Tax: Prepare Self Assessment tax returns and computations for individuals, including directors, sole traders, partners and landlords, within the candidate’s experience.
• Working Papers: Maintain a complete electronic audit trail, cross-reference supporting evidence and document significant judgements, assumptions and unresolved points.
• Quality and Review: Perform a careful self-review before hand-off, respond constructively to review points and complete agreed corrections on time.
• Issue Spotting: Identify inconsistencies, unusual transactions, missing information, tax risks and potential planning points, and escalate them to the UK reviewer rather than making unsupported assumptions.

Additional Support When Required:

Subject to workload, competence and the scope agreed with the UK team, the role may also include:

• Preparing or reviewing UK VAT returns and related reconciliations.
• Checking digital bookkeeping records and supporting Making Tax Digital processes and submissions.
• Processing or reviewing UK payroll when required, using BrightPay and following the agreed payroll procedures.
• Bookkeeping clean-up, control-account reconciliations or management accounts support.
• Other routine UK compliance work that is specifically assigned and within the candidate’s experience.

Essential Experience and Technical Knowledge:

• Substantial, recent hands-on experience in a UK accountancy practice or a specialist outsourced team serving UK practices; ideally five years or more at an accounts/tax senior level.
• Demonstrable experience preparing UK limited-company statutory accounts and corporation tax returns through to review stage.
• Demonstrable experience preparing UK Self Assessment returns and computations across a varied personal-tax caseload.
• Strong current working knowledge of UK financial-reporting requirements, UK corporation tax and UK personal tax as they apply to owner-managed businesses and individuals.
• Practical awareness of HMRC and Companies House requirements, deadlines and the evidence expected in a well-prepared compliance file.
• Ability to work from incomplete or imperfect records, reconcile balances, identify gaps and explain exactly what further information is needed.
• Strong written and spoken English, including the ability to write concise internal queries and completion notes for a UK reviewer.
• High standards of accuracy, confidentiality, professional judgement and personal organisation.

Qualifications:

Candidates must either hold a recognised UK accountancy qualification, such as ACA or ACCA, or be demonstrably qualified by experience, with substantial recent experience working in a UK accountancy practice.

Desirable Experience:

• UK VAT returns and Making Tax Digital processes.
• UK payroll processing or review, particularly using BrightPay.
• Owner-managed businesses, property businesses and higher-volume personal-tax work.
• Working successfully in an outsourced or remote delivery team with formal review and hand-off procedures.
• Preparing files that require few review corrections and explaining technical points without overcomplicating them.

Software and Digital Working:

Experience with CCH Central and associated CCH accounts-production and tax software would be highly advantageous. Candidates should also be confident with Microsoft Excel, familiar with cloud bookkeeping packages such as Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage, and able to use BrightPay for any payroll work assigned. Experience of comparable UK accounts-production, tax, document-management and workflow systems will be considered.

The successful candidate must be comfortable learning our systems, following standard file structures and working-paper templates, and recording progress accurately in our workflow tools.

Working Style and Personal Qualities:

• Self-motivated and dependable, with the discipline to manage assigned work remotely and meet agreed turnaround times.
• Proactive in raising questions early, while avoiding unnecessary queries that could be resolved through careful review of the file.
• Comfortable receiving detailed review feedback and applying it consistently to future work.
• Calm and organised during busy filing periods, with a willingness to communicate capacity or deadline risks promptly.
• Team-focused, discreet and committed to maintaining current UK technical knowledge.

Working Arrangements, Confidentiality and Security:

• The individual will be based and employed in South Africa through the selected outsourcing or staffing provider and will work as a dedicated member of our extended team.
• Day-to-day instructions, technical review and prioritisation will come from our UK practice. Employment terms, benefits and South African statutory requirements will be administered by the provider.
• The normal working day will be 7.5 hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm UK time with a one-hour lunch break.
• The role has a UK salary equivalent of £50,000 per annum.
• Regular communication with the UK team will take place through email, telephone and video meetings.
• Timesheets must be completed accurately each working day.
• The individual must use the approved working environment and equipment and comply with all confidentiality, data-protection, information-security, access-control and document-retention requirements set by our practice and the provider.
• Client data must not be downloaded, copied, printed, shared or stored outside approved systems. Any suspected security or confidentiality issue must be reported immediately.

Measures of Success:

• Accurate, complete and well-presented accounts and tax files that are genuinely ready for review.
• Clear working papers, appropriate supporting evidence and a reliable audit trail.
• Low levels of avoidable review points and evidence that previous feedback has been applied.
• Achievement of agreed turnaround times and budgets, with early warning where these may not be met.
• Clear, timely internal communication about queries, key judgements, outstanding information and completion status.
• Consistent compliance with our procedures, technical standards and security requirements.

Technical Assessment:

Shortlisted candidates should expect a practical technical assessment covering UK statutory accounts, corporation tax and Self Assessment, together with an interview focused on their recent UK practice experience and approach to review-ready working papers.