Senior Accountant / Advisor

The Opportunity

• Move beyond compliance and become a genuine commercial advisor to owner-operated and growing businesses
• Join a long-standing team of experts renowned for the highest standard of client service in Wellington
• Real long-term career pathway, with a firm that promotes people because they want to keep them

Some accounting firms rotate staff like a revolving door. This one has a team that has been together so long they finish each other's journal entries.

We're working with a respected Wellington CBD firm whose people are genuine experts, whose clients stay for decades, and whose reputation for service is the kind money can't buy (though several competitors have no doubt tried). Now they're looking for a senior addition who wants to do more than tick the compliance boxes, though you'll be brilliant at those too.

Here's the deal: yes, you'll be across the accounting, tax and compliance. But the real prize is the advisory work. This role is for someone who looks at a client's financials and sees a conversation waiting to happen: where's the margin leaking, what's the next smart move, and which tool could save them 10 hours a week?

About the Role

• Prepare and review complex financial statements and tax returns (income tax, GST, FBT, PAYE, provisional tax) for a varied client portfolio
• Act as the trusted first call for your clients, providing proactive tax and commercial advice that actually moves the needle for their business
• Review and guide the work of junior team members, with clear briefing and a good dose of mentoring
• Lead client meetings and accounts presentations, turning numbers into plain-English insight
• Advise clients on financial systems and process, including Xero set-up and optimisation
• Help clients (and the firm) get smart about AI tools and automation for small to medium business, separating the genuinely useful from the shiny and overhyped
• Liaise with auditors, lenders and other advisors as required

About You

• A Chartered Accountant with solid senior-level experience in a New Zealand accounting firm
• Strong technical grounding in tax and accounting compliance
• A genuine appetite for advisory work, with the commercial curiosity to ask "why" and the confidence to say "here's what I'd do"
• Expert knowledge of financial systems (Xero, cloud accounting and related apps), with a hands-on interest in how AI can make SME clients more efficient
• Someone who has already rolled their sleeves up with AI tools, not just read the LinkedIn posts about them
• A natural communicator who builds real client relationships and leads by example with junior staff

Why Join?

• The team: experienced, long-serving and genuinely good at what they do. You'll learn from people who've seen every tax curveball and still enjoy coming to work
• The culture: high standards, low ego. Excellent client service is the baseline, not the exception, and everyone pulls in the same direction
• The pathway: a real, long-term career track with room to grow as the advisory side of the firm builds
• The pay: $130,000 - $150,000, reflecting the seniority and value you'll bring
• The location: Wellington CBD, close to clients, coffee and everything in between

If you're a senior accountant who's ready to trade pure compliance for genuine client impact (and who has opinions on where AI fits into a small business), we'd love to hear from you.

Apply now, or reach out for a confidential chat to Julian Greaves, [021 844 076](tel:021 844 076).