Senior German Accountant HGB Payroll

We are looking for a highly reliable and hands-on accounting specialist / financial accountant / tax clerk with strong experience in German bookkeeping and accounting rules.

The person will support us as a freelance accounting specialist and will be responsible for the ongoing bookkeeping of two German businesses: one sole proprietorship and one limited liability company. The role includes financial accounting, payroll accounting, preparation of monthly accruals and provisions, asset accounting, VAT topics, pre-tax deduction, year-end closing preparation and coordination with the tax advisor.

A strong understanding of German accounting is required, especially HGB, SKR04, German invoices, incoming and outgoing invoices, payroll postings, company car benefits, non-cash benefits, occupational pension schemes, accruals, provisions, equity bookings and the differences between sole proprietorships and corporations.

The candidate must be able to read and understand German documents, invoices and accounting records. Spoken German is not mandatory, but the ability to read and interpret German invoices, contracts, payroll documents and tax-related communication is essential.

Strong IT skills are very important. The person must be comfortable working with browser-based cloud software, digital document processing, accounting systems and data exchange with tax advisors. Experience with DATEV is a plus, but the role is not limited to DATEV. The candidate should understand how accounting data can be imported from previous systems, how prior-year values can be transferred, and how accounting data can be exported or provided to a tax advisor through interfaces or structured data formats.

We are looking for someone very careful, structured and accurate, but also proactive and solution-oriented. This is not a role for someone who stops working whenever something is unclear. We need someone who investigates, organizes missing invoices, requests documents independently, documents processes internally and actively helps keep the business administration running.

Main responsibilities:

• Ongoing bookkeeping for two German entities
• Processing incoming and outgoing invoices
• Reading and interpreting German invoices and accounting documents
• Payroll accounting and payroll-related postings
• Posting salaries, freelancer invoices and recurring monthly transactions
• Handling company car benefits, non-cash benefits and occupational pension topics
• Monthly accruals, provisions and period-end closing tasks
• Asset accounting
• VAT, input VAT and tax-related bookkeeping topics
• Preparation of year-end closing documentation
• Communication with the tax advisor and, where needed, the tax office
• Import and transfer of accounting data from previous systems
• Export and handover of accounting data to the tax advisor
• Internal documentation of accounting processes
• Proactively requesting missing documents and solving operational accounting issues

Required skills:

• Experience with German bookkeeping and accounting
• Strong understanding of HGB and SKR04
• Experience with financial accounting and payroll accounting
• Experience with year-end closing preparation
• Ability to read and understand German invoices and accounting documents
• Good IT skills and experience with digital accounting workflows
• High attention to detail
• Strong ownership, initiative and hands-on mentality
• Ability to work independently as a freelancer

Nice to have:

• Experience with DATEV or similar German accounting systems
• Experience with cloud-based accounting tools
• Experience working remotely for German companies
• Experience with both sole proprietorships and German limited liability companies