Rutherford Cross is delighted to be working with the Veitchi Group on a retained basis to appoint a Group Accountant.  A new opportunity has arisen for a CA or ACCA qualified accountant to join the company in the role of Group Accountant.  This would be a great career move for an ambitious accountant to join a growing business with succession planning on the agenda.

The Veitchi Group was established in 1917 and comprises of five trading companies; the strength of the group lies in its diversity and excellent market reputation. The company was born out of the shipping industry before establishing the Veitchi name as a reputable flooring business.

The group offers a unique range of services to main contractors and end users across the UK. This, together with financial strength and commitment to the health and safety of their workers, sets them apart from other competitors in the Scottish and wider UK market.

Veitchi’s ethos has always been to provide the very best service to their clients. To achieve this, they work closely with their key clients to understand their needs and wants with a strong focus on innovation, reliability, quality, cost and added value. These “Veitchi Values” are also highly important from an internal perspective and has led to the business creating a very loyal and long-standing workforce. 

The Group’s annual turnover for the year ended 30th November 2016 was £39 million, with a healthy pre-tax profit of £1,242,000, an increase on the previous year. Veitchi has a wide variety of shareholders and has established a culture of rewarding long-serving, key members of staff with share options

The purpose of the role is to improve the quality of the accounting function, delivering a first-rate service to the branches (our “customers”) and to provide the necessary information to the board and external stakeholders. The successful candidate will take ownership of the finance team with 9 direct reports.

Veitchi Group represents an excellent opportunity to work in a role that could provide a platform to succeed the Financial Director in the next 5-10 years. The business has a culture of promoting and rewarding high performing staff and as such has a wealth of employees with long-standing service. The Board of Directors have ambitious growth plans for the company and may look to make acquisitions in future.

The position encompasses a combination of key accounting tasks, supporting the Group FD, Group MD and Group Operations Director. It is likely the individual will have trained with a small or mid-tier CA firm before gaining experience with a larger firm or in industry.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• Qualified CA, ACCA

• Confident managing a team

• Highly organised & efficient

• Driven and ambitious

• Evidence of excellent planning and organising

• Demonstrate the ability to work meticulously and accurately

• Ability to meet tight deadlines and handle changing workload priorities

• First class communications skills

• Computer literacy (database, internet, spreadsheet and word processing)

• Evidence of a positive, proactive and flexible approach

• Pragmatic and approachable

The purpose of the Group Accountant position is to take ownership of the day to day running of the accounts function. The successful candidate will take responsibility for management of a finance team of 9 and support their development. In addition, the post-holder will play a key role in setting up and the delivery of an internal audit function and help implement Phase 2 of a new ERP system. The role will also involve working closely with the Financial Controller who takes ownership of company’s back office finance requirements (statutory reporting, company secretarial, etc.). The Group Accountant will report directly to the Group Financial Director.

An overview of core responsibilities includes:

• Direct responsibility for running the accounts function for the Group

• Prepare monthly management accounts 10 sets p/m

• Financial accounts production

• Internal audit responsibilities

• Working on up and coming IT project

• Working with senior management on specific projects as required

• Strategic planning, funding and investment modelling

• Direct responsibility for accounting department (GL, PL, SL, Cash Book, Cost Ledger) and integrity of above

• Responsibility for credit control department – 2 No staff

• Team development, including role analysis

• Preparation of cost budget comparisons, days of debt and timetable compliance chart

• Oversee operative wages

• Manage daily cash flow reporting

• Monthly group forecasts

• Monthly group sales reporting

• CIS returns and submissions

• Assist with annual accounts preparation (R&S stats at least)

• Involvement in bi-annual reconciliation process

• Branch cash expenses

• Develop and maintain good working relationship with company’s operational and senior management

Salary:                            £46,000-£50,000 

Bonus:                            Typically 5-10% dependent upon company performance 

Pension:                          Employee contribution 5% and employer 7% rising to 10%

Holidays:                         29 days (including bank holidays), rising to 34 after 5 years

Life Cover:                      Death in service 3 times salary, Widows benefit 6 times                                                              salary, Permanent health Insurance 50% of Salary

Medical Care:                  BUPA Private Medical Insurance

Working Hours:               36.25 hours per week

Other Incentives:            The company has track record of rewarding high performing individuals with share options