Senior Accountant

Accounts Senior & Team Lead Full-time, permanent. Join us on the ground floor of something growing fast No jargon, no stiff suits, no accountants hiding behind spreadsheets. Just good people doing good work, and actually enjoying it. Reign is a North East accountancy practice, working alongside our sister brand practices. We're growing fast, through new clients and new services, which means this isn't a role where you'll be doing the same thing on repeat for the next five years. There's real room to grow with us. We built Reign because we were tired of accountancy being stiff, jargon-heavy and a bit soulless. We wanted something real, straight-talking with clients, genuinely invested in our team, and a place people actually want to come to work. Everything we do runs through four things we mean, not just say:

• Keep it Real - No jargon, no spin, just straight answers, to clients and to each other.
• Don't be an Ass - Decent to clients, decent to each other, every single time.
• Leave an Impression - We do work people remember, not just work that's adequate.
• Growth over Stunt - We build for the long run, not for a quick headline. The practical bits: Reports to: Nicole (Director), for technical review and sign-off Direct reports: 3x Assistant Accountants Location: Reign Accounting Group office, North East England (Northumberland, Gateshead and Teesside) Hours: Full-time (40 hours, flexitime available, core hours between 9.30am and 3.30pm) The Role You'll own bookkeeping, VAT, annual accounts and Self Assessment for your own portfolio of clients, proper ownership, not busywork. Your manager reviews and signs off the numbers, but how you run your files day-to-day is down to you. You'll also lead and train our three Assistant Accountants, show them the ropes, back them up when they're stuck, and help turn them into brilliant accountants in their own right. We want someone who gets a kick out of that, not someone who sees it as a chore on top of the "real" job. Key Responsibilities
• Bookkeeping - maintaining accurate, up-to-date records for clients on Xero, including bank reconciliations, supplier/purchase ledger and general query resolution.
• VAT - preparing and submitting quarterly VAT returns, checking treatment across different schemes, and advising clients on straightforward VAT queries.
• Annual Accounts - preparing statutory and management accounts for sole traders, partnerships and limited companies, ready for Director review and sign-off.
• Self Assessment - preparing and filing personal tax returns for sole traders, directors and individuals, including liaising directly with clients to gather information.
• Client management - acting as a day-to-day point of contact for your portfolio, managing deadlines proactively and flagging anything that needs Director input early.
• Compliance - keeping client files audit-ready and supporting AML/onboarding checks as needed.
• Team leadership - leading, training and developing our three Assistant Accountants: allocating workload across the team, reviewing their work before it goes to Nicole for final sign-off, and supporting their progression (e.g. AAT study). What We Need From You Day-to-Day We're not looking for someone who needs checking in on. In practice, that means:
• Running your own portfolio of clients from start to finish, without needing sign-off on routine steps along the way.
• Knowing when a query is straightforward enough to handle yourself, and when it needs escalating to your manager.
• Hitting filing deadlines (VAT, accounts, Self Assessment) proactively, without chasing.
• Being comfortable using Xero and adapting quickly to Reign's ways of working.
• Being a first point of escalation for the Assistant Accountants, coaching them through queries rather than just doing it yourself. Person Specification Essential:
• ACCA, ACA, ICAEW, AAT qualified (or equivalent practical experience) as a minimum.
• At least 3 years' recent experience in UK general practice, covering bookkeeping through to accounts and Self Assessment.
• Confident, independent working style, able to manage a caseload with minimal supervision.
• Some experience supervising, mentoring or training junior staff, and a genuine interest in developing others.
• Strong working knowledge of Xero.
• Clear communicator, comfortable liaising directly with clients. Desirable:
• Experience with various accounting software, such as Apron, Bright and Sage.
• Exposure to a variety of client sectors and company structures.
• Previous team lead or supervisory experience in an accountancy practice. This Is You If…
• You'd rather explain something simply than show off with jargon.
• You want a team you actually enjoy training, not just managing.
• You want to grow with a firm that's actively expanding, not stand still in a role that never changes.
• You're happy being trusted to just get on with it, and you'll ask when you actually need to.
• You care more about doing right by clients than ticking a box.