Finance Professional

Interim Technical Accountant (Closedown Review)

Redditch fully remote

Contract to end of year

£3669.86 per day PAYE or £461.77 per day limited via umbrella company inside IR35

Our client is looking for an experienced Interim Technical Accountant (Closedown Review)

Applicants must be fully qualified CCAB accountants (CIPFA, ACCA, ACA, CIMA or equivalent) and possess a minimum of five years' post-qualification experience.

37 Hours per Week Fully Remote Inside IR35

This is one of a number of roles we are currently recruiting for please visit our website for more opportunities.

An experienced Interim Technical Accountant to support a key workstream within the department, focusing on a comprehensive review of the authorities' closedown arrangements and preparation of the Statement of Accounts.

The successful candidate will undertake a fundamental review of the 2025/26 closedown process across both councils, including the Statement of Accounts, notes to the accounts, supporting working papers and source documentation. This role will identify opportunities to strengthen processes, improve audit readiness, enhance governance and ensure adherence to best practice and CIPFA requirements.

Alongside the project work, the successful candidate will also provide support to the Corporate Finance team as required, undertaking duties aligned to a Chief Accountant function.

The review will include consideration of:

Existing revenue closedown processes and procedures

Existing capital closedown processes and procedures

Overall ownership and leadership of the closedown process

Roles, responsibilities and accountability across the finance team

Previous years' performance in delivering final accounts within statutory deadlines

Closedown timetables and allocation of workload

Technical accounting capability and capacity within the team

Closedown team structure, knowledge and experience

Finance system and technical issues impacting accounts production

Quality, sign-off procedures and consistency of working papers

Filing structures and document management arrangements

Maintenance of key control accounts and balance sheet reconciliations throughout the financial year

Capital accounting processes and maintenance of the Fixed Asset Register

Lessons learned from previous closedowns both internally and across the wider local government sector

Issues identified by Internal Audit and External Audit

Findings arising from the independent review of Bromsgrove District Council's 2025/26 unaudited Statement of Accounts

Processes used to extract financial information from the finance system for accounts production

Data quality, system access and availability of information

Spreadsheet controls and master workbook version control

Identification and treatment of prior year adjustments

Hard close procedures and controls over general ledger amendments

Audit trails for journals and late adjustments

Year-end accruals processes

Accounting treatment and coding of grants

Review and clearance of historic commitments

Budget monitoring arrangements, virements, approvals and audit trails

Timely completion of asset valuations and revaluations

Pension accounting arrangements and timeliness of actuarial information

Timely receipt of third-party information required for accounts production

Governance and frequency of closedown meetings

Compliance with the CIPFA Code of Practice

Completion and quality assurance of the CIPFA Disclosure Checklist

Opportunities to streamline and modernise accounts production

Strengthening balance sheet assurance arrangements

Improving preparedness for external audit

Management oversight, review and assurance processes

Extensive Local Government finance experience

Significant year-end closedown experience

Production and review of Statements of Accounts

Strong technical accounting knowledge within a local authority environment

Experience of capital accounting, fixed assets and balance sheet management

Experience working with external auditors and resolving audit queries

Strong understanding of the CIPFA Code of Practice and local authority accounting requirements

Ability to review existing processes, identify improvements and implement best practice

Experience operating at, or supporting, Chief Accountant level

This assignment would suit experienced Interim Chief Accountants, Technical Accountants, Financial Reporting Managers, Corporate Finance Managers or other senior local government finance professionals with a strong background in financial reporting, closedown and audit.

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES colbernlimited co uk

The first part of our recruitment process is to send your CV. Should you be short listed Colbern Limited will contact you within 5 days or we may contact you about other job opportunities. Colbern Limited along with our clients are an equal opportunities employer