Management Accountant - Payroll

Our client is seeking a Management Accountant - Payroll for a contract opportunity within a complex finance environment. The role will focus on assessing, validating and certifying the integrity of balance sheet and control accounts across multiple entities, supporting audit readiness, control remediation and sustainable process improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

Conduct structured reviews of balance sheet and control accounts against established reconciliation policies
Assess account completeness, accuracy, supporting evidence, reconciling items and outstanding balances
Reconstruct account history, where required, to identify root causes, historical inaccuracies and potential misstatements
Investigate unsupported balances and aged reconciling items by tracing general ledger postings back to source data
Work collaboratively with local payroll, finance, shared services and external finance teams to resolve variances
Oversee corrective actions and verify that balances are accurate, complete, supported and policy compliant
Prepare formal account health reports, balance sheet certification packs and audit-ready supporting documentation
Drive standardisation through reconciliation tools, payroll-focused account guidelines, review timetables and clear escalation processes

Key Deliverables:

Documented historical balance sheet reviews covering up to three years of activity
Account health assessments for all relevant and material balance sheet accounts
Fully reconciled and cleared material control accounts
Formal balance sheet certification packs suitable for audit and due diligence review
Reduction of aged and unsupported balances
A sustainable, standardised reconciliation and certification framework

Job Requirements:

Qualified accountant with ACA, ACCA, CIMA or an equivalent professional qualification
Strong experience in balance sheet reconciliation, account review and control account investigation
Experience of month-end close within a complex or multi-entity finance environment
Proven ability to investigate historical accounting issues and work with incomplete or poor-quality data
Understanding of payroll accounting, payroll reconciliations and related finance controls
Experience supporting audit, financial due diligence, control remediation or transformation programmes is desirable
Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail and the ability to deal effectively with ambiguity
Demonstrable perseverance, adaptability and a clear drive for results

Performance Measures:

Validated historical accounts and completed balance sheet reviews
Reduction in aged reconciling items and elimination of unsupported balances
Accuracy and completeness of balance sheet certification documentation
Timely completion of monthly reconciliations and sign-off
Reduction in audit findings relating to balance sheet accounts and financial controls
If you are a qualified Management Accountant with strong balance sheet, payroll reconciliation and control account experience, this contract opportunity offers the chance to make a significant impact across a complex finance function. Apply now to be considered
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed