Accounting Assistant in London

About ML Projects

ML Projects is an executive architecture and project management practice in Bermondsey, London. We deliver luxury and premium retail fit‑out projects for globally recognised brands across the UK and Europe – Hermès, Givenchy, Canada Goose, ON Running, New Balance, Foot Locker, and others. Our projects are commercially exposed, brand‑sensitive, and operate to fixed opening dates. The finance function exists to give the directors and project managers an accurate, current view of where the money is – by project, by supplier, by month. That is the role we are recruiting.

The Role

We are recruiting a Bookkeeper to run the firm's day‑to‑day finance operations in Xero. The role reports directly to the Managing Director and works closely with the two Directors and the project management team. This is a focused, transactional finance role. Its scope is supplier payments, customer invoicing, bank reconciliation, month‑end close, and first‑line credit control. It is not an office administration role and not a project administration role – those responsibilities sit with the Office Manager and the Project Managers respectively. Finance sits inside the project rhythm here, not outside it. Project managers will come to you with cost queries, invoice timing, and supplier issues. You will go to them, equally, to unblock missing purchase orders, resolve client‑side invoice rejections, and route payments correctly. The role is partnered with the project teams to find solutions – not a desk that waits for problems to be tidied before they arrive. The role succeeds through discipline, not breadth. A narrow scope, consistently delivered to a high standard, is worth more to the business than a broad one delivered reactively.

What you will do

• Supplier and subcontractor invoicing. Process invoices in Xero, matched to the approved purchase order, coded to the correct project and cost category, entered within two working days of receipt.
• Weekly supplier payment run. Schedule and review against the weekly cash position. Process payments within agreed authority limits; ESCALATE anything outside the band before processing.
• Customer invoicing. Issue customer invoices only against PM‑confirmed milestones or variations. Maintain the customer ledger; run first‑line credit control on aged debt.
• Bank reconciliation. Reconcile all bank accounts daily. Code transactions, investigate variances same day, clear unreconciled items within the week.
• Employee expenses. Process expense claims and reimbursements weekly. File receipts. Flag policy exceptions to the Managing Director.
• Supplier ledger hygiene. Maintain KYC documentation, verify bank details, avoid duplicates. Act as the first point of contact for supplier payment queries.
• Project‑team partnership. Work with project managers and coordinators to identify and resolve commercial blockers as they emerge – missing or mismatched purchase orders, client‑side invoice rejections, supplier scope or payment‑timing queries. Attend project health meetings where finance touches programme. Where a problem needs an external client finance team to fix it, open that conversation directly. Bring issues to a resolved position, not just to the PM's inbox.
• Month‑end close. Accruals, prepayments, reconciliations, and reporting handover to the directors and external accountant. Closed on schedule, every month.
• Chart of accounts and project cost codes. Maintain in agreement with the directors. Discuss before adding or amending.

What we are looking for

Essential

• Two or more years of practical bookkeeping experience in a commercial environment.
• Working competence in Xero – bank rules, project tracking, payment runs, contact management, reporting. Sage or Quickbooks experience does not substitute.
• Confident with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, particularly Excel and Sheets. Accurate. Pays attention to detail without sacrificing pace.
• Direct, clear written and spoken English. Comfortable picking up the phone or writing the email needed to unblock a payment – internally with project managers or externally with client and supplier finance teams.
• Right to work in the UK.

Desirable

• Experience in a construction, architecture, or project‑based business where costs are coded by project.
• Working knowledge of general contractor accounts processes – interim payment applications, retention release, CIS, VAT reverse charge on construction services, and how subcontractor payment cycles align with client invoicing.
• Exposure to multi‑currency transactions – we trade across the UK and Europe.
• AAT qualified or part‑qualified, or equivalent.
• Comfortable working alongside modern operations tooling – we use Smartsheet, Fireflies, and Claude actively in day‑to‑day operations and expect new joiners to use them too.

Package

Salary £28,000 – £35,000 dependent on experience. 28 days annual leave including bank holidays. Company pension. Private medical and dental insurance after successful completion of probation. Office in central Bermondsey. Direct working relationship with the Managing Director and Directors. Training and development budget agreed at probation.

Equal opportunities

ML Projects is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background, race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age.