Senior Accountant / Manager - Business Advisory

Senior Accountant / Manager - Business Advisory
Boutique public practice firm
5+ yrs experience
Sydney CBD
Remuneration to $140,000 + super +
Extra 12 days off a year
Hybrid working

The Client
Our client is a small but growing public practice in the Sydney CBD with big plans. They have been growing organically and via acquisition.

They specialise in providing a full range of services to SME clients, including management accounting, financial reporting, tax compliance and tax planning.

Role Overview
Working closely with the Principals, you will manage a portfolio of clients ($600k+) - ranging from small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and complex family groups. You will be responsible for preparing accurate financial reports and tax returns, while also identifying opportunities to provide value-added business advisory services.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Compliance & Complex Review

• Quality Assurance: Final technical review of financial statements, income tax returns, and compliance packages for complex corporate groups, multi-tiered family trusts, and high-net-worth individuals.
• Complex Structural Advice: Providing guidance on small business CGT concessions, Division 7A issues, trust distributions, and corporate restructuring.
• SMSF Over-sight: Reviewing self-managed super fund financial accounts and compliance, identifying potential regulatory or audit risks before submission.
• ATO Representation: Handling complex ATO private rulings, managing audit responses, and negotiating payment arrangements or penalty remissions on behalf of clients

Client Relationship & Proactive Advisory

• Strategic Consulting: Designing and delivering high-value advisory services, including cash flow forecasting, 3-way modelling, management reporting, and virtual CFO duties.
• Tax Planning Campaigns: Leading proactive tax planning sessions in April–June, mapping out legal tax minimization strategies for high-earning entities.
• Primary Point of Contact: Conducting client meetings independently to discuss financial performance, wealth creation, and business growth strategies.
• Onboarding & Offboarding: Steering the transition of complex new client groups into the firm, identifying immediate clean-up requirements or tax saving opportunities.

Team Leadership, Mentorship & Workflow Management

• Work-In-Progress (WIP) Control: Managing the team's job allocation pipeline to ensure internal Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and statutory ATO lodgement deadlines are hit.
• Technical Mentoring: Conducting regular one-on-one catch-ups, file reviews, and training sessions to upskill intermediate and junior accountants.
• Performance Evaluations: Contributing to annual performance reviews, setting technical KPIs, and identifying training gaps within the production team.

Practice Commercials & Business Development

• Commercial Metrics: Monitoring and optimizing team write-offs, recovery rates, and lock-up (WIP + Debtors).
• Fee Scoping & Proposals: Scoping out new project fees, drafting engagement letters, and managing out-of-scope fee variations directly with clients.
• Service Expansion: Identifying unaddressed client needs to cross-sell internal services like bookkeeping, financial planning, or specialized corporate secretarial work.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: 5+ years of experience working in a chartered or public practice accounting firm as a Senior or Manager
• Education: Relevant tertiary degree in Accounting, Commerce, or Business.
• Professional Qualifications: CA or CPA.
• Software Skills: Proficiency in modern cloud accounting and practice management software, key experience of desire is Xero with a secondary (not essential) MYOB et al.

Desired Soft Skills

• Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills for direct client interaction.
• Detail-Oriented: High level of accuracy and strong organisational skills to juggle multiple client deadlines.
• Proactivity: A continuous-improvement mindset and a strong desire to learn beyond pure compliance

Our client provides a really supportive culture and one which also offers decent flexibility and hybrid working conditions.

If the above role is of interest, please apply and we look forward to discussing this role with you.