Financial Accountant

Make your mark with Colas Rail UK 

At Colas Rail, differences matter. Join a team where being your authentic self is respected, encouraged, and vital to our success. At Colas Rail you'll be at home. You'll be welcomed into an inclusive team where there's a role for every talent and a close-knit, familial culture. You will also get the opportunity to help us transform transportation, set new standards, and dare to be different. 

This is true because...

• We value everyone as part of the same team.
• We treat everyone as equals - and everyone is approachable, from the CEO down.
• We put you in control of your career to lead and grow in any way you want.
• We have a culture of care, from safe working environments to diversity and inclusion.
• We're renowned for innovation, adopting new ideas, and daring to be different.
• We are building a more sustainable future and our projects impact infrastructure for generations.

About Us 

Step into the world of Colas Rail, where a century of expertise merges with a daring spirit to shape the future of rail infrastructure. 

At Colas Rail, we deliver transport solutions for sustainable mobility. We are a leading rail infrastructure business with on track plant and freight capabilities. As a subsidiary of the Colas Group, we are part of over a hundred years' experience in delivering major innovations across our sector. Every day, thousands of trains run on tracks built, designed, or maintained by Colas Rail. 

Leading by our Values

Our values, Respect, Commitment, Pioneering and Sharing are at the heart of everything we do. These values feed into our main strategies and accompany us daily in realising our ambitions. 

We Respect our employees, celebrate diversity and foster a culture of safety, care and respect for everyone we interact with. We care about our employee’s wellbeing and create an environment of inclusivity and support.

We Commit by showing up wholeheartedly. When we commit together, we invest in everyone’s success. We invest in our customers, our teams and our colleagues, and we lead with safety, integrity, passion, purpose, ethics and transparency.

We Share as we all hold knowledge that could and should be shared, enabling us to grow and making us a strong collective. We have a passion for excellence, celebrating achievements and nurturing talent. 

We Pioneer to push boundaries, imagine what does not yet exist and dare to do what others do not. We innovate with ambition, and we find solutions.

Even if you don't meet every requirement, please don't rule yourself out, we still encourage you to apply if your skills, values, and experience align to the role.

Purpose of the Role

Are you an ACCA or ACA Qualified Accountant?

Colas Rail UK is a market leader in railway construction and maintenance, with annual turnover exceeding £400m and a strong track record of profitability and cash generation. Our success is driven by the excellence of our teams across all disciplines, and we are proud of our record of developing and rewarding our teams.

The Financial Control team plays a critical role by safeguarding the integrity of the financial information which we use to make key business decisions, overseeing group and statutory reporting, managing balance sheet risk, maintaining a robust control environment, ensuring regulatory compliance, and leading on all areas of tax.
We are looking for a Financial Accountant to help us take our financial control activities to the next level, presenting an excellent opportunity to join a high performance finance community with real scope to build new processes and ways of working.

Where will I be based?

This role is based at our HQ in London Victoria and we offer hybrid working with 3 days in the office.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing confidence and control over the company balance sheet by producing balance sheet reconciliations which efficiently and effectively identify risk and correct errors.
• Take overall accountability for Fixed Asset accounting across the business – reviewing accounting treatments, advising divisional finance leaders on accounting policies, coordinating and monitoring capital expenditure budgets and approvals and reconciling the Fixed Asser Register monthly.
• Undertake a variety of process reviews to identify business risks or weaknesses in internal control, propose process improvements and document clearly financial processes.
• Coordinate the annual internal audit self assessment process.
• Monitor and reconcile intercompany and intergroup balances.
• Produce a variety of external reporting for parties such as the Cabinet Office and Office for National Statistics.
• Review and reconcile monthly management accounts and board reports to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Support in the timely completion of external and internal audits.
• Provide technical accounting guidance on evolving standards, company law, and HMRC requirements; effectively communicated updates to finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Support the Financial Controller and Senior Financial Accountant in all of the overall activities of the financial control team on an ad hoc basis.

Person Specification

• ACA / ACCA / CIMA qualified accountant - Essential
• Takes accountability and delivers to deadline without compromising accuracy.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge & a proactive approach to keeping technically up to date.
• Ability to use key IT tools efficiently (e.g. Excel, ERP systems) and to learn new tools (e.g. Alteryx)
• Communicates financial concepts clearly and concisely.

What we Offer

Competitive Salary
26 days Annual Leave
Industry leading Life Assurance
Healthcare Cash Plan
Wellbeing Employee Assistant Programme
Pension Scheme
Eye Care Vouchers
Long Service Award
Season Ticket Loan
Occupational Health Service


This is an exciting opportunity to build a career in the rail industry. We’d particularly encourage applications from women, or those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diversity drives innovation and creativity, and we actively seek to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, heard, valued and respected. Regardless of background, disability, age, race, religion, or gender, everyone is welcome at Colas Rail. 

We strive to promote equity and eliminate discrimination, actively seeking to create a workforce reflective of communities we serve. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, offering flexible and inclusive adjustments to the interview process. 

As part of a positive action drive to address under-representation we encourage applications from women, ethnically diverse individuals and people with disabilities, along with all candidates who identify with protected characteristic groups under the Equality Act 2010.

We are proudly part of the Disability Confidence Scheme, and as such we operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme if you meet the minimum requirements. 

On joining Colas Rail you’ll have access to our growing Employee Network Groups including Railbow (representing the LGBTQ+ community), BeyonDisability (representing those with disabilities) and Cross Culture (representing people from ethnic backgrounds). Everyone is welcome to join our network groups whether you are part of the community or an ally.

Work life balance is important to us; flexible working options are available where feasible and dependant on the role. Please discuss this during the interview process.

Join us in making a positive impact! Apply and be part of a team that values diversity and embraces unique perspectives.