Essex County Council
Accounting Officer
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About The Role
Accounting Officer
Permanent, Full Time
£25,959 Per Annum
Location: Chelmsford
Working Style: Anywhere worker
Closing Date: Sunday 2nd August 2026 at 11.59pm
Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.
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: Friday 14th August and Tuesday 18th August 2026.
To read more about our business area, please visit: [Corporate Services](Corporate Services)
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.
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The Experience You Will Bring
Essential:
- 5 GCSEs or equivalent (including Maths & English) at Grade 5/C or above 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 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.
- Experience providing information and support to colleagues and customers.
Why Essex?
As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.
In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.
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Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.
At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.
As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events, and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join [The Essex Talent Community](The Essex Talent Community)
If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email daniel.warner@essex.gov.uk
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