Associate, Finance Operations at Charles Ardor & Company

Reports to: Supervisor 

Charles Ardor makes its clients' financials reliable and helps them understand what the figures mean. Our clients rely on those figures to run their businesses, so the work has to be right. The Associate, Finance Operations, is the first person to check that the work the firm delivers is accurate and complete. The Analysts and clients' own finance teams do the operational accounting, the reconciliations, month-end close, schedules, and tax, and you review them before it reaches the Supervisor for a second review. You also prepare the client's monthly report from the figures once they are sound. 

What this looks like in practice: 

• You are the first check on the work. You review the reconciliations, month-end close, schedules, and tax the Analysts and client teams prepare, confirm the figures are right and that nothing is missing, and send the work back to be corrected when it is not, so that what reaches the Supervisor is already right.
• You tie the figures to the source. Before you prepare the report, you confirm that each figure agrees with the record it comes from, so the report uses only figures that have been checked.
• You prepare the monthly report. You set out clearly what the figures show for the client, and give your first read of what they mean, which the Supervisor then reviews.
• You develop the Analysts. When you send work back, you show them what was wrong and why, so they get it right themselves next time.
• You keep the clients on schedule. You carry several clients through the monthly cycle at once, so each one is closed, reviewed, and reported on time. As the firm grows, the balance between what you prepare and what you review will shift, and you will take on work across the operational and reporting cycle as the team requires.

Requirements

• A strong foundation in bookkeeping, reconciliations, month-end close and tax, with solid and accurate hands-on experience.
• Able to prepare a clear report that explains what the figures show, not only present them.
• A professional accounting qualification, ACA or ACCA, or steady progress towards one, is an advantage rather than a requirement.
• Solid working knowledge of accounting software. Zoho Books experience is an advantage.
• Careful and accurate in your own work, and quick to notice when something in someone else's is not right, even when it looks right on the surface.
• Able to manage several clients' deadlines within a structured monthly cycle without being chased.
• Someone who takes ownership of their work and follows it through.
• Able to give a colleague feedback that makes their work better, not only point out what is wrong.

What We Offer

• A role with real ownership: you hold the first line of quality on the work that leaves the firm. • A close working relationship with the review layer above you, with direct access and real mentoring as you develop.
• A structured, technology-forward firm with documented systems and clear standards, built so you can do your best work.
• The chance to shape a growing practice, with your impact visible in the team and the firm's work.
• Paid annual leave.
• Hybrid working, two days a week in the office