Service Accountant

• Job Type/Contract Type: Permanent
• Available Hours: 37
• Interview Dates: 15/10/2026
• Advertised Salary Range: £40,452 - £47,885

Why Join Us?

• Supportive Environment: You'll be welcomed into a friendly atmosphere that encourages both personal and professional development.
• Influence and Impact: Use your skills to influence various services and see the direct impact of your work on our communities.
• Positive Culture: Work in a people-centred, value-based organisation that promotes a positive culture and values your opinions.

What We Offer:

• Supportive Culture: Be welcomed into a friendly environment that encourages your personal and professional development.
• People-Centred Values: Grow in an organisation that promotes a positive culture and values your opinions.
• Impactful Work: Use your skills to influence a variety of services and witness the direct impact of our work on our communities.

Your Voice Matters: At Cornwall Council, your opinions will help shape how we do things. Join us and be part of a team where your contributions make a real difference.

Ready to make an impact? Explore our opportunities and become a key player in Cornwall Council's finance team. Your journey starts here!

The Role: Service Accountant

We are seeking a Service Accountant to join our team. You will lead the support to budget holders and provide financial management and advise helping maintain budgetary control. You will support budget setting, monitoring, reporting and closure of accounts, supporting more complex areas of the Council. You will excel at presenting financial information in an easy-to-understand format, establishing effective relationships with budget managers and work across with the wider finance team, promoting a productive work environment.  

Key Responsibilities:

• Produce accurate budget reports and attend budgetary control meetings with clients, focusing on more complex areas across the Council.
• Collaborate with client services to identify, quantify, and escalate significant financial issues.
• Lead and attend strategic meetings with business reporting managers and client departments.
• Establish and review arrangements for ensuring data security and accuracy within the Council’s electronic financial management system.
• Ensure in the Council’s annual budget setting process reflect corporate objectives and priorities within timeframes.
• Ensure the completion of the Council’s final accounts and external reporting requirements are met on time and in line with standards,
• Support major projects, capital schemes, and business opportunities to ensure they align with corporate objectives and are financially robust.
• Deliver financial training to key stakeholders.
• Provide leadership, coaching and development to Management Accountants and Accounting Technicians 

What You’ll Need:

• CCAB qualification or significant relevant experience.
• Extensive experience of operating in a similar role
• Strong understanding of medium-term financial planning and forecasting and budgeting processes.
• Ability to provide financial advice on standards, closure of accounts, and financial modelling.
• Ability to ensure a commercial approach to provide financial considerations.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex financial information clearly to non-financial managers.

• Proven ability to build strong relationships and work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders.

Please read the role profile, attached below in this advert, for the full details.  

What you’ll get in return: 

Cornwall Council’s ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance, whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.  

Our core employee rewards and benefits include: 

• A competitive salary 
• A defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions.  
• A generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave. 
• A national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme. 

• Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national good and services.  

Additional Information:

Cornwall Council is unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfer existing sponsorship for this role.

Role Profile

For more information or an information chat about the role please contact [email protected]

Application process 

Please attach a supporting statement to your application, you can add your education & qualification details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points marked as 'Application' on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here – The application process.  

Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted, please contact [email protected] if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.  

Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.

About Us

Cornwall Council deliver services to more than half a million local people and over five million visitors a year. Working here - Cornwall Council

We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part-time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here - flexible working options.

Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall. In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g., race, disability, sex, gender reassignment status, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.

Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It’s a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm.