Your new company
Hays Accountancy & Finance are working with a Norwich-based business with operations across the UK and Overseas in their search for an experienced Purchase Ledger Clerk or Assistant Accountant who is studying AAT and looking to take the next step towards management accounting to join them in a 12-month contract job within their Expense Management Team.
You’ll move beyond transactional processing to gain hands-on experience in expense analysis, reporting, AP accounting and the financial close, working closely with senior finance stakeholders across the business.
Your new role
In this role, you’ll work closely with the team to support the effective management of business expenses across the organisation. Rather than focusing solely on invoice processing, you’ll be involved in analysing spend, understanding cost drivers and helping identify opportunities to improve value and control. This is a role designed to broaden your financial knowledge and give you visibility into how costs are managed, challenged and reported at a wider business level.
You’ll take responsibility for ensuring expenses are accurately allocated to the correct business units, partnering with the Financial Planning & Analysis team and cost centre owners to provide clarity and insight. Working alongside the Accounts Payable team, you’ll review invoice coding, support consistency across cost centres and help resolve more complex queries. You’ll also act as a key contact for expense-related questions, particularly around travel and entertainment, supporting colleagues and reinforcing policy compliance.
As you grow in the role, you’ll contribute to the development and use of key expense metrics, supporting better decision-making across the organisation. You’ll work with Treasury, Accounts Payable and Head Office teams to resolve cash and payment anomalies, and partner with Tax colleagues to ensure coding is consistent and efficient. These cross-functional interactions provide excellent commercial exposure and help build confidence working with senior stakeholders.
You’ll also be involved in a range of accounting, reconciliation, control and analysis activities that support the monthly, quarterly and annual financial close. This includes preparing reporting schedules, meeting group deadlines and contributing to the accuracy and quality of the close process - giving you practical experience that directly supports progression into a management accounting role.
What you’ll need to succeed
Overall, this position is ideal for someone with strong purchase ledger or assistant accountant experience, confidence using Excel and reporting tools, with a clear desire to develop their technical and commercial finance skills. It offers structured exposure, support and variety, making it a strong stepping stone from transactional finance into a broader accounting career as you will have the aspiration and drive to develop into a Management Accountant.
What you’ll get in return
As explained, this will be a 12-month fixed-term contract paying between £30,000 - £35,000 depending on experience based in Norwich, Norfolk and offering 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home. Please contact me, Andy Jarman on for more details of the benefits package.

What you need to do now
If you’re interested in this role, click ’apply now’ to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.
If this job isn’t quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.
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