Senior Accountant
The accounts of any organisation are its lifeblood, and are the basis for calculating its performance, risks and investment opportunities. That’s why larger businesses will have whole teams of accountants monitoring and measuring the finances, and paying and charging the various people they work with. Accountants come in a range of specialisms and levels of experience, and the senior accountant is someone who has shown impressive aptitude in their field.
Usually positioned just below management or executive accountants in a business’s finance department, senior accountant jobs are not normally managerial themselves, but often involve training and assistance to junior accountants and onboarders. They will, however, be a trusted voice for accountancy managers, who appreciate that the senior accountant’s understanding of a specific financial matter could well exceed their own.
The skills required
As the name suggests, senior accountants won’t be freshly qualified at CIMA, AAT, ACCA, AIA or ICAEW level, but they will have augmented one of these qualifications with several years’ experience and a proven track record working in a busy accountancy department.
You’ll need to be thoroughly comfortable dealing with clients and suppliers, and should have an in-depth understanding of the sector that the role occupies, as there can be large differences between the financial and legal requirements of various sectors. Senior accountant jobs are often seen as stepping stones to managerial positions, although a lot of accountants are perfectly happy simply dealing with the numbers for their whole careers.
Senior Accountant Jobs in Harrogate
The North Yorkshire town of Harrogate came to national prominence in the 17th century as a spa town, and over the following centuries visitors would go to the place to take the waters, which they thought had healing properties. Of course, the common people would not have had the wherewithal or the ability to get to the town, especially since they would have been sick, so Harrogate became a resort for the wealthy. Hotels sprung up and the town took on a genteel atmosphere which, some would say, survives to this day. The streets of the town centre are lined with restaurants and cafes, and several large parks give the town a green feel.
Harrogate is 13 miles (21 km) north of Leeds and 18 miles (30 km) west of York. Although the Yorkshire Dales are just to the west and the North York Moors to the north east, the town is not in a national park. It is, however, separated from any major settlement by at least 10 miles of countryside in any direction. The A1(M) passes reasonably close by over to the west; Leeds and York are connected a via rail route that stops at the town.
Despite its largely affluent populace, the town does have some industry, and boasts the Harrogate International Centre, the UK’s third-largest conference and exhibition centre. Thanks to Bucks Fizz’s 1981 triumph, the Centre hosted the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by the German singer Nicole, with her song A Little Peace, something non-Eurovision fans have wished for ever since.
With an economically active populace of about 70,000 and a constant stream of professional visitors and day-trippers, Harrogate has a healthy need for logistics and supply chain professionals, meaning that Senior Accountant positions here and in the region are not uncommon.
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Looking for a senior accountant?
If your company needs someone in its accountancy department with real clout, and there don’t seem to be the opportunities internally, it could be time to draft in some top talent with the help of Cast UK. We recruit at senior, managerial and executive levels, and have a long list of senior accountants to pick from. Call us on 0333 121 3345 to speak with a consultant.
If you’ve been in the accountancy game long enough to be considered for a senior role (or are there already), Cast UK can put you in touch with businesses including accountancy firms who are looking for people like you. Please register with us by following the link below.
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