Accounts Apprentice

Level 3 role, £15,600 to £21,200 (£8.00 to £10.87 per hour). Level 4 role, £21,000 to £26,325 (£10.77 to £13.50 per hour).

What we're after

Two people who are already on their way with AAT and want somewhere better to finish it.

One of you will be working towards Level 3, so you've got the basics under your belt and you're ready to start doing real work rather than watching someone else do it.

The other will be working towards Level 4, so you've got a bit of ground behind you and you're at the point where you want proper responsibility rather than another year of the same jobs.

You don't need years of experience. You need enough to hit the ground running, and the appetite to get properly good at this.

Who we are

We're Reign, a small accountancy practice in Stockton-on-Tees. Our clients are small business owners, the kind of people running a trade, a shop, a salon, a startup. Real people who've put everything into something and need someone in their corner who actually cares.

There are only a handful of us. You'll be sat with the people who run the business, learning directly from them rather than from a training module and a queue of jobs in a workflow system.

That cuts both ways. In a small team there's nowhere to hide, but there's also nobody standing between you and the interesting work.

What you'll be doing

Level 3 role. Bookkeeping and transaction work, VAT returns, preparing information for the accounts, chasing records from clients and keeping them tidy, supporting the team on bigger jobs, and being a helpful voice on the phone. As you get more confident, your own small jobs start to finish.

Level 4 role. Preparing sets of accounts and tax returns with someone reviewing behind you, handling your own client queries, management information, and getting involved in the advisory conversations rather than only the compliance. You'll be trusted with more, sooner, than you would be somewhere bigger.

Both of you will have a hand in rebuilding how we do things. We're tightening up our systems and processes at the moment, and the people doing the work daily always spot more than the people designing it.

The part that matters most to us

We can teach the technical side. We can't teach the rest of it, so this is what we're really selecting on.

We want people who go above and beyond because they care how it turns out, not because someone asked them to. Someone who notices the client sounded worried on the phone and mentions it. Someone who spots the figure that looks wrong instead of assuming it's fine because it's not their job.

Our four values aren't wall art. They're how we actually operate:

Keep it Real. Say what you think. If you're stuck or you've got something wrong, say so early. Nobody here expects you to know things you haven't been taught yet, and hiding a mistake is the only real mistake.

Don't be an Ass. Be someone people want to work with. Help out, pick things up, don't make life harder for the person next to you.

Leave an Impression. Clients should come off a call with you feeling better than when they got on it.

Growth over Stunt. We're building something properly rather than chasing the quick win. That goes for the practice and for you.

If that sounds like how you already are, you'll do well here.

What we're looking for

• Already studying AAT, at Level 3 or Level 4, or ready to start the next level
• Some practice or bookkeeping experience. A year or two is plenty
• Comfortable talking to business owners, or willing to get comfortable quickly
• Careful with detail. Numbers matter, and so does spelling someone's name right
• Organised enough to keep your own jobs moving without being chased
• Genuinely decent with people

What you get

• Your AAT fully funded, including fees, exams and professional membership. You won't pay a penny towards your training
• Study time inside your paid working week, not squeezed into your evenings, with a dedicated accountability partner.
• 31 days holiday including bank holidays, rising to 35 with service
• Your birthday off on top of that
• We close between Christmas and New Year, and those days are already built into your allowance
• Flexitime, with everyone here between 9:30 and 3:30
• A real career route. We'd far rather grow someone than recruit over the top of them later

How to apply

Email us at [email protected] with your CV, or without one if you haven't got it to hand.

Tell us three things:

• Where you're up to with AAT and what you've been doing so far
• Why this rather than staying where you are
• A time you went further than you had to for someone, at work or otherwise

That last one is the bit we'll read first.

We reply to everyone who applies.

Pay: £15,600.00-£26,325.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Stockton-on-Tees