Senior Accountant

About Buzz Accounting

Buzz Accounting is a modern, cloud-first UK accountancy practice built around outstanding client service and smart use of technology. We are building a South African delivery team — Buzz Accounting (SA) Pty Ltd — to support our growing UK client portfolio. This is an exciting ground-floor opportunity to join as employee #1 of a business with genuine ambition and a clear growth roadmap.

The Opportunity

This is a hands-on senior accounting role serving a portfolio of UK-based clients across a range of sizes and complexities. You will be responsible for delivering high-quality bookkeeping, management accounts, VAT returns, payroll, and year-end preparation — all within Xero. Critically, this is not just an accounting role. As our first senior South African hire, you will set the standard for how we work, help shape our processes, and grow into the Pod Leader position within 12 months — managing and mentoring the accountants we hire after you . If you are an experienced accountant who wants ownership, variety, and the chance to build something from the ground up, this role is for you

.

Key ResponsibilitiesDay-to-Day Accounting

• Bookkeeping and transaction processing for a mixed portfolio of UK clients in Xero
• Preparation and filing of quarterly VAT returns and MTD (Making Tax Digital) submission
• Preparation of monthly and quarterly management accounts
• Bank reconciliations and supplier/customer ledger management
• Year-end accounts preparation and liaison with reviewing accounts
• Self-assessment support for sole trader and director clients
• Processing small, straightforward UK payrolls (initial stage — handover to specialist as volume grow

Client Onboarding & Migra tions

Receiving clients across a range of starting points: manual records, incomplete records, basic income & expenditure, and full bookkeeping/year-end history

• Cleaning, reconciling, and structuring historical data ahead of Xero setup
• Working within the onboarding system developed by the practice management

Client Communication

• Primarily back-office delivery — the UK partners will front client relationships
• Written communication with clients and their contacts via email (professional, clear, and timely
• Proactively flagging queries, anomalies, and deadlines to the U

Pod Leader Responsibilities (Target: Mo nth 12)

• Supporting the hiring and onboarding of junior accountants into the SA pod
• Reviewing and quality-checking work produced by pod members
• Allocating and managing workload across the pod
• Acting as the first point of escalation for technical queries within the team
• Contributing to the development of standard operating procedures and best practice

What Our Clients L ook Like

Our UK client portfolio spans a variety of sizes, industries, and stages of financial record-keeping. You should expect to work with:

• Clients transitioning from manual or paper-based records
• Xero Clients with incomplete or missing historical records requiring reconstruction
• Clients on basic income & expenditure accounting
• Clients requiring full bookkeeping, quarterly VAT returns, and year-end accounts
• Clients with MTD obligations under Making Tax Digital for Income
• TaxDirector/sole trader clients requiring year-end self-assessment

A significant part of the early work will involve bringing clients up to standard — not just maintaining clean books

Skills & Experience

• Essential Minimum 5 years of practical accounting experience
• Xero — confident and capable across the full platform (not just basic data entry)
• Bookkeeping to trial balance, management accounts, and year-end preparation
• VAT preparation experience (UK VAT knowledge advantageous; training available)
• Payroll processing — basic PAYE payrolls
• Strong written English — clear, professional email communication
• Highly organised, self-managing, and comfortable working independently
• Comfortable working with incomplete or messy data and bringing it up to date

Beneficial (Not Essential)

• UK accounting experience — VAT, Making Tax Digital, self-assessment, Companies House
• Experience working with UK-based clients or in an outsourced/shared services environment
• Exposure to practice management workflows and multi-client environments
• Some experience of supervising or reviewing the work of juniors

We welcome applications from candidates who are qualified by experience or hold a relevant accounting qualification, including but not limited to:

• Qualified by Experience (QBE) — with a strong, demonstrable track record
• AAT (or equivalent SA qualification e.g. ICB)CIMASAIPA, SAICA (CA(SA)), or higher

The quality of your experience and attitude matters more than the letters after your name