Bookkeeper

About The Back Room

We exist to free our clients' time so they can focus on what they do best — growing their business. We deliver smart, efficient solutions that liberate teams from the everyday admin, and we hold ourselves to the same standard. Time is the ultimate currency, and we treat it like it.

About the Client
Our client is a chartered accounting firm based in New Zealand with over 25 years’ experience helping small to medium enterprises achieve their desired outcomes. Their services range from annual accounts, tax compliance, and bookkeeping through to part-time/virtual CFO services, advisory, business valuations, succession planning, and cloud accounting implementation. They are growing their existing offshore team to support their bookkeeping function. This role exists to prepare complete, organised annual compliance job packs so the firm’s accountants can spend their time on accounting and tax work rather than gathering information and routine admin.

The Role
As a Bookkeeper on the annual compliance team, you’ll take ownership of the initial preparation of annual accounting and tax compliance files, so the accountants who draft and review them can start with a complete, organised, and up-to-date job pack. You’ll work across multiple client jobs at once, following the practice’s checklists and procedures, and keeping a clear handover trail for every file. Within 90 days, success looks like independently preparing routine job packs accurately and efficiently, chasing missing documents proactively, and handing over files with minimal rework.

What You'll Do

• Prepare and organise annual compliance job files in line with the practice checklist, ensuring information is correctly named, saved and easy to follow.

• Download relevant information from Inland Revenue, including tax records and other available client information required for annual compliance.

• Set up and prepare Xero Workpapers, attaching relevant supporting documents and highlighting missing information or unreconciled items.

• Roll forward manual workpapers and schedules, checking prior-year balances and updating information for the current year.

• Roll forward financial statements and standard company or trustee resolutions, updating routine details for the current reporting period.

• Create draft income tax returns and draft client reporting letters using approved software, prior-year information and standard templates.

• Identify missing client documents early, request them from clients, follow up where needed and keep a clear record of outstanding items.

• Provide a clear handover to the drafter, including a preparation checklist, documents received, outstanding requests and any matters requiring attention.

• Tools & System Used: Xero; Xero Workpapers; Excel and Word; Xero Practice Manager and the practice’s tax-preparation tools; Inland Revenue / myIR; and the practice document-management system.

• Success Looks Like at 30 days: Understands the annual job-preparation workflow and can roll forward files, gather information and prepare routine workpapers using the checklist with guidance.

• Success Looks Like at 90 days: Independently prepares routine annual compliance job packs accurately and efficiently, proactively follows up missing documents and gives drafters a clear, organised handover with minimal avoidable rework.

What We're Looking For

• Experience in bookkeeping, accounting support or preparation of accounting workpapers.

• Comfortable using Xero and Excel, and able to learn practice software and file-management procedures.

• Excellent organisation, accuracy and attention to detail, with the ability to work across multiple client jobs.

• Clear written communication, confidence requesting information from clients and willingness to follow up.

• A methodical approach: follows checklists, checks work and raises questions rather than making unsupported assumptions.

Nice to Have

• Experience in a New Zealand accounting practice and exposure to annual accounts and income tax compliance.

• Experience with Xero Workpapers, Xero Practice Manager, Inland Revenue systems and standard financial statement or resolution templates.

Why This Role

You’ll be part of a well-established firm with over 25 years of history, in a role that sits at the centre of how annual compliance work gets done. The focus here is on becoming a highly reliable, efficient, and independent specialist in compliance preparation, with scope to expand into Xero file setup and general bookkeeping such as transaction coding and reconciliations as your confidence grows.

This role is open to Philippine citizens currently based in the Philippines.

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