Jobs

Accounting Officer

Permanent, Full Time

£25,081 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: Tuesday 31st March 2026 at 11.59pm

The role offers a mixture of home working and attendance at County Hall, Chelmsford; this is dependent on business need, but it is expected that the home working element would make up most of the agreed working pattern with 2-3 days per month in the office, in Chelmsford.

Interview Dates: 14th - 17th April 2026

The Opportunity

The Accounting Officer position is a junior finance role in the Finance Hub Team, a small team within the wider Financial Services function. The Finance Hub is a stepping stone to learn key skills, gain knowledge and progress a career in Finance. The role is designed to support employees to study AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) whilst also learning on the job. As such applicants need to be prepared to study and complete apprenticeship work as part of their role.

This role is predominantly home working but will require a level of attendance at the Office in Chelmsford. Current office attendance is a max of once a week but may be required more or less dependant upon business need and induction requirements.

The Accounting Officer will support the delivery of financial management information to the Management Accountants and front-line budget holders. The role is expected to build strong relationships with finance colleagues and internal partners.

Proactively supports the efficient and effective provision of a Finance Hub, understanding budget holders' needs and providing them with an effective and prompt service they value.

Manage customer expectations and deliver to agreed service standards, ensuring the processing and delivery of timely, accurate, high quality financial information and analysis to allow effective management and monitoring of budgets.

Support the delivery of all other areas of financial management and reporting as requested by the Finance Systems Admin Lead & Finance Systems and Process Manager.

Accountabilities

• Provide and process timely and accurate information to allow effective management of budgets and empowers budget holders to deliver value for money services.
• Develop and maintain a strong understanding of all financial management and reporting systems and processes.
• Analyse and communicate financial and performance data in the form of variance reports. Understand unit costs and drivers and interpret variances robustly. Accurately prepare, monitor and control estimates and forecasts.
• Maintain financial systems and processes ensuring proper reconciliation and control procedures are in place. Implement requested changes.
• Deliver timely information to support financial activity, quality assuring the information provided.
• Deliver information to support the annual accounts closure programme as requested and in accordance with the agreed timetable.
• Ensure compliance with financial regulations and professional accounting standards. Operate to a framework of working practices.

The Experience You Will Bring

Essential:

• 5 GCSEs or equivalent (including Maths & English) or working towards AAT.
• Motivated to pursue a career in public sector finance.
• Committed to studying AAT
• Excellent communication skills

Desirable:

• Knowledge and understanding of financial management and controls.
• Experience of process improvements within a finance setting.
• Experience providing information and support to colleagues and customers.
• Experience working with financial systems and processes.
• Experience working flexibly and proactively in a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience in working with Microsoft packages such as Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

Company: Essex County Council

Salary: Up to £25081.00 per annum + + 26 Days Leave & Local Gov Pension

Location: Chelmsford, Essex

Sector: Corporate Services

Sector: Finance

Job Role: Accountant

Job Role: Officer