Commercial Accountant

We have a great opportunity for a Commercial Accountant to join our Birmingham-based Commercial Finance team. In this role, you’ll support the Commercial Finance Manager (CFM), providing financial analysis, performance oversight, and P&L ownership, with a focus on one of the UK’s legal groups (Commercial, Employment and Pensions (CEP)) and the UK’s business services departments.

Whilst this role supports the legal group CEP, it places greater emphasis on business services and focuses on establishing a more streamlined process to enhance overall effectiveness and further progress in the understanding of cost types and historical trends for each category, along with streamlining processes.

The core key elements of the role focus upon:

• Month end reporting
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Pricing and profitability support
• Other ad hoc financial analysis

This role is part of our award-winning Finance team, recognised as the "Finance Team of the Year 2023" and highly commended in the 'Finance Transformation & Change' category.

We are looking for someone who is ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified demonstrating strong financial and commercial acumen supported by strong analytical and financial modelling skills. In this role, you’ll engage with individuals across all levels of the firm, requiring a confident, professional, and trustworthy demeanour to navigate these interactions successfully. You’ll excel at leading discussions and fostering relationships with business services directors, practice group leaders, and department heads, ensuring robust stakeholder management and effective support.

You’ll bring outstanding communication and influencing skills to this role, coupled with a driven attitude and eagerness to grow and develop. Your expertise in advanced Excel and strong technical knowledge will be invaluable.

Desired Requirements:

• Previous experience of working in a law firm or professional services organisation
• Use of, and familiarity with, IBM Cognos TM1 (or similar planning, budgeting and/or forecasting software tools)

Gowling WLG has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work for 25 consecutive years. Excellent benefits include:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week’s extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone’s potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description, please contact Meg Astley at meg.astley@gowlingwlg.com