Hire an Accountant Who Joins Your Team, Not a Service Provider
Alliance recruits accountants, controllers, finance managers and qualified finance staff on permanent, contract and contract-to-hire terms for employers across 36+ countries, sourced from India and other markets where qualification matters more than location. We recruit finance people. We do not do your accounts.
Need an accountant who can take ownership from day one? We match you with finance professionals based on your reporting requirements, industry, systems and team structure, not generic CVs. Tell us the role you need filled, and we’ll help you identify qualified candidates ready to join your team.
16+ Years Of Experience
550,000+ Placements Delivered
36+ Countries Served
350+ Expert Teams
50+ Top Level Positions
Hiring an Accountant or Outsourcing the Function? Decide That First
Most businesses searching “hire an accountant” are choosing between two very different things without realising it.
Outsourced finance means a firm keeps your books, files your returns and closes your month, billed as a recurring fee. Alliance does not provide this.
Hiring an accountant, which is what we do, means we find and screen a qualified finance professional who becomes your employee, sits inside the business and owns the numbers.
The decision point is usually transaction volume and judgement. Below a certain scale, bookkeeping and compliance genuinely are better outsourced: cheaper, and you get a firm’s capacity rather than one person’s. Above it, you need somebody who understands the business, can challenge a forecast and is in the room when decisions are made.
The other trigger is the audit. Once you are audited, funded, or reporting to a board, having finance sit outside the business becomes a friction that costs more than the salary saves.
Hiring options: a permanent accountant who joins your payroll; a contract or temporary accountant for year-end, a project or a leave, through our contract staffing service; or contract-to-hire, so you can see the accountant at work before a permanent offer.
For the wider practice, see our accounting recruitment consultants page.
Qualification Verified, Not Assumed
A qualification on a CV is easy to take at face value. “Part-qualified”, “pursuing ACCA” and “CA Inter” cover an enormous range of actual capability, and the difference only surfaces at year-end. We verify qualification status with the institute, and we screen on what the candidate has personally completed rather than what their team delivered.
How Long Does It Take to Hire an Accountant?
Accounts executives, accountants, controllers and finance managers: a shortlist within 24–48 hours of an agreed brief.
Finance directors and CFOs: an executive shortlist within 10–21 days and an accepted offer typically within 6–10 weeks; CFO appointments typically take 10–14 weeks. Indian notice periods commonly run 30 to 90 days, which affects the start date rather than the search.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Accountant?
Fees are quoted on request for each mandate. They depend on the role, its seniority, the location, the hiring terms and the number of hires.
Against outsourced finance, the comparison is simple: an in-house accountant costs a salary plus the recruitment fee quoted for the role; outsourcing is a fee that recurs every month.
What We Offer
Qualification verified with the awarding body
CA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA, ACA or CMA, including genuine status rather than claimed progress. “Part-qualified” is the most elastic phrase on a finance CV.
Screening on what the candidate has personally closed
Month-end, year-end, consolidation, statutory accounts, audit liaison. There is a large gap between an accountant who has supported a close and one who has owned it, and both will say they have “handled month-end”.
Systems experience distinguished by depth
Tally, SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books. Running reports from a system and implementing or migrating one are different claims, and CVs use the same verb.
Jurisdictional exposure checked
Indian statutory accounting, GST and TDS are different disciplines from UK FRS 102, US GAAP or IFRS. We verify which the candidate has actually filed under.
Integrity screening proportionate to the role
Anyone with payment authority or reconciliation ownership gets background and reference verification as standard.
Permanent, contract and contract-to-hire
Permanent hires, contract and temporary accountants for a project, a leave or year-end, and contract-to-hire. We do not provide outsourced bookkeeping.
Our Finance Recruitment Process
Brief and Scope
What this person owns: transactional processing, month-end, statutory reporting, treasury, FP&A or all of it. Systems, jurisdiction, reporting line and salary band. We benchmark against live placements and tell you in week one if the scope and the number do not match.
Sourcing and Verification
Sourced against the discipline. Qualification verified with the institute, systems checked by depth, jurisdiction confirmed.
Shortlist With Reasoning (24–48 Hours)
Three to five candidates with written assessment against each criterion, including weaknesses. Expect us to present someone who misses one stated requirement and explain why, because rigid qualification filters routinely exclude the strongest operator.
Interview and Technical Assessment
Scheduling and feedback managed. Where the role warrants it, a practical exercise on a real reconciliation or close scenario.
Offer, Counter-Offer and Start
Offer structuring, counter-offer management and notice navigation. Qualified finance candidates in India are in demand and counter-offers are the norm, not the exception.
Post-Placement Support (After Joining)
We stay involved after the candidate starts, helping manage early-stage communication and settling-in issues. Permanent placements carry a 90-day replacement guarantee: if the hire leaves within 90 days, we find a replacement so your finance function is not left exposed.
Need Help Deciding Between Hiring and Outsourcing?
Not sure whether to hire a finance person or outsource the function? Send us the transaction volume and reporting requirements, and we will tell you which is cheaper, including when it is not us.
Finance and Accounting Roles We Recruit
Accounts executive and junior accountant
Transactional processing, ledgers, reconciliations and support to close.
Accountant and senior accountant
Month-end ownership, statutory preparation and audit support. See senior accountant recruitment.
Financial controller
Reporting ownership, controls and team management.
Finance manager
Where the role blends reporting with commercial support and budgeting.
FP&A and commercial finance
Forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis and business partnering.
Audit, tax and compliance
Internal audit, statutory tax and regulatory reporting.
Treasury and credit control
Cash management, collections and working capital.
Banking and financial services
A separate desk covering the sector rather than the function. See financial and banking recruitment agency.
Qualifications
CA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA, ACA, CMA and part-qualified at every stage.
Markets
India as the largest sourcing base, plus the Gulf, the UK, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Finance business partner
Commercial analysis, management reporting, decision support and close collaboration with operational and leadership teams.
Who We Serve
Businesses outgrowing outsourced bookkeeping
where the monthly fee has passed what a salary would cost and the turnaround has started to hurt.
Companies approaching a first audit, funding round or board
where finance sitting outside the business becomes a friction rather than a saving.
Employers hiring their first qualified accountant
usually after a bookkeeper has been stretched beyond their scope for a year.
Businesses where the last finance hire was over-titled
a “financial controller” who turns out to have supported closes rather than owned them.
Companies operating across jurisdictions
needing someone who has genuinely filed under the standards you report on, not learned them on your risk.
Employers building a finance function rather than filling a seat
hiring controller, FP&A and transactional roles together rather than sequentially.
The Alliance Advantage
Qualification verified with the awarding institute, not accepted from the CV.
Screened on what the candidate personally owned, not what their team delivered.
Systems depth distinguished between using, implementing and migrating.
Jurisdiction confirmed: Indian statutory, UK FRS 102, US GAAP and IFRS are different disciplines.
Integrity screening proportionate to payment authority.
Permanent, contract and contract-to-hire hiring, including interim cover for year-end or a leave. No outsourced bookkeeping or accounting services.
We will tell you when outsourcing is the better answer, which below a certain transaction volume it genuinely is, and we earn nothing from saying so.
Quote on request: fees depend on the role, its seniority, the location and the number of hires.
India as a genuine sourcing base, where the CA and ACCA pipeline is deep and salaries sit well below Western equivalents.
Why Choose Alliance Recruitment Agency to Hire Finance Staff?
Finance recruitment has a specific failure mode. Qualifications are elastic in description and precise in reality. “Part-qualified CA” covers someone who passed their first group four years ago and someone sitting finals next month. “Handled month-end” covers ownership and covers data entry. Both statements are true. Neither tells you what you are buying.
That is why we verify with the institute and screen on what the person personally closed. It produces fewer names, and it is the reason the placements hold.
We will also tell you when not to hire. Below a meaningful transaction volume, outsourced bookkeeping is cheaper and more resilient than one person who takes holidays. We do not provide outsourcing, so pointing you toward it costs us the fee.
We are the wrong choice in two situations. If you want your accounts done rather than an accountant hired, we do not do it. And if the role has been vacant for a year because the banding is below market, recruitment will not fix that, and we would rather say so.
In short: Alliance Recruitment Agency recruits accountants, controllers, finance managers, FP&A, audit, tax and treasury staff and finance directors for employers in 36+ countries, on permanent, contract and contract-to-hire terms. It shares a shortlist within 24–48 hours of an agreed brief and gives a 90-day replacement guarantee on permanent placements. It does not provide accounting or bookkeeping services.
For senior appointments, see accounting headhunters.
Our Client Reviews
We needed an accountant who could handle day-to-day accounts as well as month-end reporting, but the applications we received were very mixed. Alliance took the time to understand the level of experience and systems we used before sending candidates. The shortlist was relevant, and we found the right person without having to restart the search.
Our business had grown quickly, and we needed an accountant who could take ownership of reconciliations, reporting and supplier payments. Alliance focused on practical experience rather than just qualifications and introduced candidates who understood the workload. The person we hired settled in quickly and has taken a significant amount of work off our management team.
We were replacing an accountant in a role that required accuracy, confidentiality and good knowledge of accounting software. Alliance understood those requirements from the beginning and kept the process focused on candidates who could actually do the work. Communication was clear throughout, and the hiring process was much easier for us to manage internally.
Awards
Meet Our Leadership Team
Molly Anderson
Franchise Lead | Recruitment Franchise
Alex George
General Manager | RPO & Enterprise Recruitment
Nikki Miller
Head of Recruitment | Recruitment & Staffing
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Alliance is a recruitment agency. We find and place accountants for your team, on permanent or contract terms. We do not keep books, file returns or run outsourced finance
Below meaningful transaction volume, outsourced bookkeeping is usually cheaper and more resilient. Above it, or once you are audited, funded or reporting to a board, an in-house accountant is better economics and better control.
Fees are quoted on request for each mandate, based on the role, its seniority, the location and the number of hires. Send us the role and we will send a quote.
We share a shortlist within 24–48 hours of an agreed brief for accounts executives, accountants, controllers and finance managers. For finance directors, the executive shortlist takes 10–21 days and an accepted offer typically 6–10 weeks; CFO appointments typically take 10–14 weeks.
Yes, with the awarding institute. CA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA, ACA and CMA, including genuine part-qualified status rather than claimed progress.
By what the candidate has personally owned rather than supported. Month-end, year-end, consolidation, statutory accounts and audit liaison are checked individually.
Yes, distinguishing between using a system, implementing one and migrating to one. Tally, SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero and Zoho Books.
Yes. Indian statutory accounting, GST and TDS are different disciplines from UK FRS 102, US GAAP or IFRS, and we verify which the candidate has actually filed under.
Accounts executives, accountants and senior accountants, financial controllers, finance managers, FP&A and commercial finance, audit, tax and compliance, treasury and credit control, and finance directors and CFOs.
Yes. Alliance places accountants and finance staff on contract, contract-to-hire and temporary terms as well as permanent ones, for example year-end cover, a project or a leave.
Yes. India is our largest sourcing base, with a deep CA and ACCA pipeline and salaries well below Western equivalents.
Send the scope, systems, jurisdiction and salary band. We will confirm whether the role is fillable at that number before sourcing.
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