Management Accountant

Your new company
Hays Accountancy & Finance are delighted to be partnering with an educational group who are strengthening their finance team in the search for a new Management Accountant who will assist with the schools' budgets and forecast preparation as well as support the wider finance. This role will be based in Peterborough and offer hybrid working.

Your new role
You will join the organisation as a Management Accountant (AAT qualified or part‑qualified), taking a pivotal role in delivering timely, accurate financial information that empowers school leaders and senior managers to make confident, evidence‑based decisions. You will work closely with Finance Business Partners, school business managers and the central finance team to maintain strong financial controls, support audits and ensure compliance with accounting policies and regulations.

Your responsibilities will be to produce accurate monthly management accounts, including profit & loss, and balance sheet reporting, month‑end processes such as accruals, prepayments and journals, and reconciliations. As an inquisitive finance professional, you will investigate budget variances and queries, produce clear financial analysis and actionable insight, recommend opportunities to maximise income and improve budget monitoring / expenditure across their mufti sites.

Your financial reporting and insights will play a pivotal role in providing the schools with good quality financial information to empower them in decision-making.

What you'll need to succeed
The successful candidate will be AAT qualified or part‑qualified (eg: ACCA, CIMA), with proven experience in management accounting and month‑end close processes, ideally across multiple sites or cost centres. You will be highly proficient in Excel and be confident with accounting systems, (any experience of ACCESS Dimensions would be desirable, but not essential) and be able to prepare accruals, prepayments, journals, P&L and balance sheet reconciliations, as well as be skilled at analysing variances and translating financial data into clear, practical advice for non‑specialists.

You will demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication, strong analytical and problem‑solving abilities, meticulous attention to detail, able to meet tight deadlines and have a collaborative, proactive mindset with a track record of suggesting process improvements to maximise income and strengthen budgetary control.

What you'll get in return
As explained, this role is based in Peterborough and after a qualifying period, you will be able to work 2 days in the office and 3 days from home with the occasional off-site meeting. The generous benefits package includes a salary of £33,000, 26 days holiday plus bank holidays, pension scheme, life cover and other flexible benefits. Please note an enhanced DBS check will be requested for the successful candidate.

What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, and call Andy Jarman on (phone number removed)
If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

Hays EA is a trading division of Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited and acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at (url removed)