UK Accounting Manager

Flare is building the first AI accounting firm, serving startups and high-growth companies.

Today, we operate as an AI-powered accounting firm serving US & UK businesses employing human accountants across India and South Africa. In practice, with ex Y Combinator founders, we behave much more like a technology startup than a traditional accounting firm. Engineering is at our core as we develop our own software and AI agents that can be used by our accounting and sales teams with the ultimate goal of achieving software level margins with all the benefits of a services business (notably low churn + high customer lifetime value).

Founded in 2022 by ex-KPMG leadership and Y Combinator alumni, Flare has grown to over $2.5M ARR, with just 30 humans. Our clients include YC, Sequoia, a16z and OpenAI backed startups (e.g. Solve Intelligence, Heron Data & Sully.ai) as well as public companies such as DeFi Technologies (NASDAQ: DEFT).

Accounting firms have never been able to scale revenue without increasing headcount. As a result the profit margins are traditionally compressed at ~20% given the limited operating leverage available. No firm can scale past their headcount ceiling resulting in an incredibly fragmented market with most practices doing less than a few million in revenue per year. This is despite accounting services having one of the largest TAMs on earth and one of the best retention business models. The bottleneck isn’t demand, it’s operations. Solving this problem will unlock infinite scale.

Our vision is to create the first infinitely scalable accounting firm, run by software.

We’re in a market dominated by dinosaurs that don’t realise there’s a meteor on the horizon. As we build more agents to replace human tasks, we will increasingly scale like a software company, launching new services and geographies that we can apply our software margins to. Our ambition is to build a $100m business within the next 3 years given the scale of our growth, profitability and opportunity; but beyond that, the next big 4 firm.

Flare is backed by an incredible group of select investors including Eric Feng (former GP @ Kleiner Perkins and co-founder of Hulu) and Chaz Englender (YC founder & Cofounder/CEO @ Model ML, YC W24).

You will be Flare’s first accounting team member sitting in the UK, meaning you will be wearing various hats:

Delivery Manager — you will manage your own portfolio of clients, over time leading your own delivery team of accountants across the UK and India.

UK Services Specialist — you will take responsibility for UK-specific services such as VAT, payroll, annual accounts and corporation tax across all of our UK clients.

UK Practice Operations — initially you will own the people and practice operations of the UK accounting team, ensuring exceptional service delivery adhering to our SOPs, strong compliance standards, and scalable operational processes.

You will form part of the global management team and report directly into the company founders.

At Flare you own the questions

Is the work from our UK team high quality, being delivered on time and in the correct format?

Is our UK specialist work (VAT, payroll, Annual Accounts/CT & other filings) technically accurate and correct?

Is our UK team happy & performing well?

Compensation

Base salary: £75,000–£85,000.

Target bonus: 10% of base, tied to practice KPIs.

Equity options available in future.

Client service & financial operations

• Serve as the primary accounting and finance contact for a portfolio of clients.
• Lead and oversee bookkeeping, accounting and month-end close processes.
• Design and implement scalable accounting processes tailored to each client.
• Review financial records, reconciliations, journal entries, accruals and supporting schedules.
• Ensure timely and accurate monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting.
• Deliver management reporting packages and financial insights to founders and stakeholders.
• Support annual audits, tax preparers and external advisors.
• Monitor accounting compliance and adherence to UK GAAP.
• Provide proactive recommendations to improve financial operations and reporting.
• Review and oversee accounting and financial reporting for multi-entity and multi-jurisdiction group structures, including preparation and review of consolidated management accounts and reporting packages.
• Understand and manage intercompany accounting, eliminations, foreign currency considerations and reporting requirements for UK businesses with overseas parent companies, subsidiaries or affiliated entities.

UK compliance & practice operations

• Manage UK compliance requirements across the client portfolio.
• Oversee Companies House filings, confirmation statements, company formations, changes to directors and shareholders, registered office matters, and company strike-offs where required.
• Establish and oversee company secretarial services and maintain statutory records.
• Support Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Client (KYC) and client due diligence processes.
• Support the Client Lead in onboarding.
• Ensure compliance with ICAEW, ACCA and other relevant professional and regulatory requirements.
• Act as a primary point of contact for HMRC and Companies House queries.
• Coordinate responses to HMRC correspondence, compliance checks and information requests.
• Support practice-wide operational processes to ensure efficient and scalable service delivery.

Payroll, VAT & employment taxes

• Oversee payroll processing and workplace pension administration.
• Review PAYE compliance and pension submissions.
• Manage VAT registrations, VAT returns and VAT advisory matters.
• Oversee Employment Related Securities (ERS) filings.
• Manage P11D and benefits-in-kind compliance.
• Support EMI schemes, share option plans and related reporting obligations.

Statutory accounts, corporation tax & financial reporting

• Review and oversee preparation of statutory accounts under FRS 102, FRS 102 Section 1A and FRS 105.
• Review and oversee preparation and filing of Corporation Tax returns (CT600) and supporting tax computations.
• Coordinate year-end reporting, filing deadlines and stakeholder requirements.
• Liaise with tax advisers, auditors, banks, investors and other professional advisers.
• Ensure accounting and tax treatments are technically compliant and commercially appropriate.
• Review complex accounting matters including group structures, intercompany transactions, share-based payments and director transactions.
• Ensure all statutory filings are completed accurately and on time.

Team leadership & practice management

• Lead, mentor and develop accounting professionals in the UK team.
• Serve as the point person on UK specialist services to the global Flare accounting team.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, training and professional development for UK-based and offshore team members.
• Manage and review work delivered by your accounting team, ensuring quality, consistency and adherence to Flare SOPs.
• Manage resource planning and workflow allocation across multiple client engagements.
• Review team output and ensure exceptional client service delivery.
• Drive accountability, ownership and high-performance standards.
• Conduct performance reviews and support career progression planning.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performing culture across UK and offshore teams.

Process improvement & technology

• Identify opportunities for automation and process optimization.
• Implement best practices and standardized workflows across client engagements.
• Leverage cloud-based accounting and finance technology to improve efficiency.
• Maintain strong internal controls and quality assurance procedures.
• Champion AI-driven innovation and continuous improvement within the firm.