Accountant freelance

Union Developments is looking for an experienced Freelance Accountant to provide remote support to our finance team.

We manage accounting and reporting for a group of property, development, investment, and related entities. The work is varied and requires someone who is comfortable working across the full accounting cycle, from transaction review and reconciliations through to management reporting, statutory accounts support, VAT/CIS compliance, and audit preparation.

This is not a narrow bookkeeping role. We need someone who can take ownership of assigned entities or workstreams, investigate balances, prepare clear reconciliations, review supporting documents, and help ensure that the accounting records are complete, accurate, and ready for internal or external review.

Main responsibilities

The successful freelancer may be asked to assist with:

• Preparing and reviewing balance sheet reconciliations, including bank, intercompany, debtor, creditor, loan, VAT, and control accounts.
• Reviewing general ledger transactions and identifying miscoding, duplicated entries, missing support, or unusual movements.
• Preparing working papers for statutory accounts and audit files.
• Supporting UK statutory accounts preparation and audit queries.
• Preparing or reviewing management accounts and property performance reporting.
• Reviewing VAT and CIS records, returns, reconciliations, and supporting schedules.
• Investigating intercompany balances and loan account movements.
• Reviewing supplier invoices, customer invoices, receipts, payment records, and other system-generated transactions.
• Working with reports exported from our internal ERP/accounting system and using Excel to analyse, reconcile, and present the data clearly.
• Documenting findings, queries, assumptions, and proposed adjustments in a clear and structured way.

Required experience

We are looking for someone with strong practical accounting experience, especially in a UK reporting environment.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Solid IFRS accounting experience, including statutory accounts and audit support.
• Strong understanding of reconciliations, journals, accruals, prepayments, VAT, and general ledger review.
• Experience preparing working papers that can be followed by management, auditors, or external advisors.
• Strong Excel skills, including lookups, PivotTables, structured reconciliations, and working with large transaction exports.
• Good written English and the ability to explain accounting issues clearly.
• The ability to work independently, ask precise questions, and flag risks or inconsistencies.
• A practical, detail-focused approach to accounting records and supporting evidence.

Preferred experience

The following would be useful but is not essential:

• Experience with property, construction, development, investment, or group company accounting.
• Experience with intercompany accounts, shareholder loans, property-related balances, and project reporting.
• Experience with VAT in property or construction environments.
• CIS experience.
• Experience working with internal ERP/accounting systems rather than only standard bookkeeping packages.

Working arrangement

This is a remote freelance role. The work will be allocated by the finance team and may include both recurring reporting tasks and specific clean-up, reconciliation, or accounts preparation projects.

The role is suited to someone who can work accurately without constant supervision, but who will communicate clearly where information is missing, where a balance does not make sense, or where a decision is needed from management.

Pay: R1 360,00 - R1 380,00 per day

Work Location: In person