Commercial Accountant in Burton upon Trent

Hybrid: 4 days in the office, 1 from home

Salary: £45-55k (depending on level of experience

Contract: 12 month fixed term contract - could extend

The Opportunity

An established and growing UK business is looking for a Commercial Management Accountant to join its finance team and take ownership of the management accounts for two trading businesses.

This is a hands-on role with a strong focus on monthly management accounts, financial analysis and commercial business partnering. You will be responsible for producing accurate and insightful financial information, challenging performance and working closely with management to understand the numbers and drive better business decisions.

This is more than a reporting role — you will be expected to understand what is driving performance, identify risks and opportunities, and provide meaningful commercial insight to the wider business.

Key Responsibilities

Management Accounts

• Take full ownership of the monthly management accounts for two businesses.
• Lead the month-end process, ensuring accounts are accurate, complete and delivered on time.
• Prepare detailed P&L analysis, including revenue, gross margin, overheads and profitability.
• Analyse actual performance against prior year and expected performance.
• Investigate significant variances and provide clear, commercially focused commentary.
• Work with management to understand the key drivers behind financial performance.
• Challenge assumptions and highlight areas requiring management attention.
• Produce meaningful management information for senior stakeholders.
• Identify trends, risks and opportunities within the financial results.
• Ensure management accounts provide a clear and accurate view of business performance.

Commercial Business Partnering

• Build strong relationships with operational and commercial management.
• Act as a key finance contact for the two businesses.
• Translate financial results into clear and practical business insights.
• Help managers understand the financial impact of operational decisions.
• Challenge costs, margins and performance where appropriate.
• Support initiatives aimed at improving profitability and business performance.
• Provide ad hoc financial analysis to support commercial decision-making.
• Prepare and review monthly balance sheet reconciliations.
• Complete accruals, prepayments and other month-end journals.
• Ensure the integrity of the balance sheet and investigate unusual movements.
• Complete bank reconciliations and support cash management.
• Maintain strong financial controls across the businesses.
• Identify and implement improvements to month-end processes.
• Ensure all month-end activities are completed accurately and within agreed deadlines.

VAT, Audit & Statutory

• Prepare and submit VAT returns.
• Complete supporting VAT reconciliations.
• Assist with year-end statutory accounts and audit requirements.
• Prepare schedules and information for external auditors.
• Support wider Group reporting and compliance requirements.

Wider Finance & Projects

• Support the wider finance team with ad-hoc reporting and analysis.
• Assist with credit card processing and reconciliation.
• Contribute to finance process improvements and efficiencies.
• Become involved in larger commercial and finance projects currently in the pipeline.
• Provide additional support across the Group as required.

What We're Looking For

We’re looking for an accountant who is strong technically but commercially minded — someone who doesn’t simply produce the numbers but wants to understand and influence what sits behind them.

You will ideally have:

• Strong experience preparing monthly management accounts.
• Excellent understanding of P&L and balance sheet accounting.
• Experience analysing financial performance and investigating variances.
• Strong Excel and financial analysis skills.
• Experience with month-end processes and reconciliations.
• Good understanding of VAT.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• The confidence to challenge and ask the right questions.
• A proactive, commercially focused approach.
• Ideally, ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified/part-qualified, or equivalent relevant experience.

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to take real ownership of the numbers for two businesses and become a key finance partner to management.

You’ll gain significant exposure to management accounts, month-end reporting, commercial analysis and business partnering, alongside the opportunity to get involved in wider projects across the Group.

If you’re looking for a role where you can move beyond simply producing reports and genuinely understand and influence business performance, this could be an excellent next step.