Bookkeeper: two Xero instances, Shopify and marketplaces, UK VAT

We are a British food manufacturer running two companies with two Xero instances & two Shopify stores and several wholesale and marketplace sales channels for each company.

We need a bookkeeper to own the books across both Xero instances and keep them current enough that our Monday management meeting runs off real numbers.

This is an ongoing role, not a one-off clean-up. It currently takes around half a day a week.

**Ongoing scope**

- Manage both Xero instances, including the chart of accounts and tracking categories
- Reconcile Shopify payouts on both stores (gross sales, fees, refunds, gateway settlement)
- Reconcile all bank, card and payment gateway accounts: Shopify Payments, Shopify POS, Klarna, PayPal and PayPal POS. Payouts arrive net of fees and must be posted gross, with fees and refunds separated out
- Reconcile each sales channel to its own clearing account so channel revenue, commission and payouts agree
- Pull purchase documents from Hubdoc, code and publish them. Where paperwork is missing, source it yourself first from supplier portals, statements and email, then send us one list of the gaps you cannot close
- Maintain the purchase ledger and reconcile supplier statements
- Maintain the sales ledger, produce an aged debtor report for wholesale accounts, and send statements where accounts are 7 or more days overdue
- Post month-end stock and cost of sales journals (opening stock, purchases, closing stock valuation, work in progress on product still in production)
- Maintain prepayments, accruals and the fixed asset register with depreciation
- Post payroll journals and reconcile PAYE, NI and pension control accounts
- Reconcile intercompany transactions and balances between the two entities
- Maintain UK VAT compliance under MTD. Returns are monthly on the main company, quarterly on the second. We sell in the UK only, so no export or OSS work, but you will handle reverse charge on overseas marketplace commission, the zero-rated versus standard-rated split on food lines, and standard-rated course and event income
- Reconcile every balance sheet control account monthly and clear the suspense account to nil
- Keep Xero accurate enough that we can pull the P&L, balance sheet, cash position and margin by channel straight from Xero reports at any time
- Keep a clean year-end handover file for our accountant

**Volumes**

Main Xero instance, per month:

- Bank transactions: around 510 off-peak, 975 in November and December
- Sales invoices: around 130 off-peak, 170 in November and December
- Purchase bills: around 85 off-peak, 145 in November and December
- This instance is new, set up in the last month

Second Xero instance, per month:

- Around 50 transactions to reconcile, plus quarterly VAT returns
- This instance needs catching up from 1 April 2026 to date, then keeping current

**Standards**

- Books current to within two working days
- Everything reconciled to Thursday night, ready for the Friday pay run and the Monday management meeting
- 99%+ coding accuracy
- Month-end close and VAT figures ready to an agreed working day each month
- Automate as much as can be done without compromising quality. We have used Xero JAX and Booke AI before with disastrous consequences for accuracy
- Check the AI/automation output. Every automated posting needs a human accuracy check before it lands in the accounts
- Flag anything unusual as you find it rather than at month end
- Holiday cover is a nice to have. If you have no cover arrangement, we need at least four weeks' notice of any holiday

**What we provide**

- A coding brief showing what should be posted to which account
- Onboarding, access, and answers to your questions as you get up to speed

**Who we are looking for**

- Xero certified advisor with multi-entity experience
- Strong working knowledge of UK VAT and MTD, including marketplace and reverse charge treatment
- E-commerce and marketplace reconciliation experience, ideally Shopify
- A bookkeeping or accounting qualification (AAT, ICB, ACCA) is welcome but not essential if your VAT and reconciliation experience is strong
- We work in Google Sheets. You must be able to access and work in our live shared documents securely
- You must store passwords securely and maintain the highest standards of security throughout
- You must hold professional liability insurance

**Fee**

Please ignore the project budget shown on this listing. We are looking for an ongoing monthly quote, not a one-off project fee.

Quote a monthly retainer for the ongoing bookkeeping, and tell us what it assumes in terms of transaction volume.

**To apply**

AI-generated responses that simply repeat back this project brief are not welcome. Please respond with a short human written message with a clear quote and a quick outline of how exactly you will use automation to speed your work up.