Associate Accounting & Controlling (m/w/d)

Role Summary

Most medium-sized companies receive their figures months late and in a form that they cannot do anything with. Not because no one does calculations, but because accounting is treated as a compulsory exercise rather than as a basis for decisions.

Vogel is one of the most successful medium-sized consulting companies in Germany - several thousand medium-sized companies entrust us with their tax, commercial and strategic issues. We take over the entire accounting for these companies: from ongoing processing and commercial accounting to evaluation, planning and the discussion in which the entrepreneur makes his decisions. You work on this entire route from the start, not just one section of it.

You have completed your studies or are about to do so - in business administration, economics or a comparable subject, ideally with a focus on accounting, controlling or auditing. You want to understand companies through their numbers and talk to the people who produce these numbers early on - instead of working in a corporate reporting line where you never see the company. At Vogel you will find both: structures that support you - established clients, long experience, a strong basis for growth - and at the same time a setup that moves forward every day.

You take on your own mandates from day one: you clarify what doesn't fit together, build the financial statements and prepare the analyzes that we talk about with the entrepreneur. You work in the line of an experienced colleague who provides you with technical guidance. Vogel supports you with the next qualification step - financially and time-wise. The path leads from professional responsibility for your own mandates to leading your own team.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You are responsible for the ongoing accounting of several mandates and independently clarify any anomalies with the company.
• You have completed the first monthly financial statements under your responsibility, with a review by an experienced colleague.
• You accompanied the first BWA meetings - preparation, your own requests to speak, follow-up.

What you delivered after 12 months

• You are responsible for the monthly financial statements of several mandates independently - independent preparation, initial technical review, escalation only for special issues.
• You prepare the BWA meeting yourself and present parts of it to the entrepreneur himself.
• You have been involved in the commercial law annual financial statements of several mandates and have concretely started your next qualification step.

What you delivered after 24 months

• You manage a partial client base independently and build the commercial law degree under review.
• You have set up a forecast or a contribution margin calculation for several mandates that is used on an ongoing basis.
• You conduct the BWA meeting for your clients yourself.

Where the position is developing

The next step leads to the manager level in Accounting & Controlling - with a development path in both directions, a professional expert career or a management career. The way there depends on the contribution, not the year of employment; We don't know of an automatism "more experience equals higher level".

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Ongoing accounting with a high level of automation

1. Responsible for the ongoing accounting of your clients - processing is largely automated, your work begins where the system reaches its limits.
2. Investigate the anomalies that emerge from the passage of time and the comparison with other mandates - with an eye on the cause in the company, not on the appropriate booking.
3. Responsible for the monthly closing of your mandates and the advance VAT return, and recognize the cases that need a tax query before they become a problem.

Conclusion, analysis and forecast

1. Participate in the annual financial statements under commercial law - accruals, provisions, inventory changes - and gradually take responsibility for them.
2. Prepare the BWA meeting with the entrepreneur: analysis, key figures, the points that need to be discussed. Your benchmark: He can then make a decision, not just repeat a number.
3. Develop forecasts, cost and performance accounting as well as liquidity considerations for your mandates - where the numbers begin to answer business questions.

Tools and automation

1. Work in a modern environment: digital document flows, automated processing, AI-supported plausibility checks. We consciously go beyond DATEV-plus-Excel.
2. Of course, use AI for research, analysis, drafting and checking for abnormalities.
3. Bring in your own ideas on how to make work on your mandates faster and better - and help implement them. How far automation goes is not a foregone conclusion for us.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No document entry job. The recording is largely done by machine. Your work begins where the result has to be assessed - and continues into the conversation with the entrepreneur.
2. No controlling in the corporate engine room. You don't produce reports for management you never meet. You sit at the table with the entrepreneur.
3. No tax career path. This role is economic and accounting. If you are looking for the tax advisor exam and tax structuring, you will find it in our Tax line - with its own advertisement.
4. No fully planned desk. How far the automation goes and what the evaluations look like is not set in stone for us - you help develop instead of operating a finished machine.
5. No corporate corset in which you wait for promotions. Growth here comes from contributions, not from years worked.

FAQ

1. WHAT IS BIRD — AND WHERE DO YOU WORK?

Vogel is one of Germany's leading medium-sized business consultancies - a family business since 1959, based in Aalen - and is building the leading consulting platform for medium-sized businesses. We are growing at several locations: in Aalen/East Württemberg as an established headquarters and in Munich as a new hub. In both, we look across functions — from tax advice to consulting to the strategic teams that build the platform.

1. HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE SALARY BANDS?

• Deliberately wide - and identified at every point.
• We differentiate based on track record and market value, not on degree: scarce, highly sought-after profiles at the top end, less scarce ones at the bottom. We calibrate exclusively to the market - two people with similar experience can earn different things with us.

1. HOW MUCH — AND HOW — DOES VOGEL WORK?

It's measured by what you move, not by hours. But it's also honest: If you're looking for 9-to-5, we're not the first place to go. We are looking for people who work intensively on their own initiative because the tasks are worth it. How you distribute your time is largely up to you. What we share: We work together face-to-face - culture, sparring and the best ideas arise in daily proximity. We are not a remote company and do not have major home office policies; Individual remote days are no problem.

1. HOW DOES THE APPLICATION PROCESS?

Slim, fast, transparent — and graded according to profile. For entry-level roles (internship, work study, career entry), two interviews and a short work sample are usually sufficient; experienced roles are a little more detailed. For selected senior roles, we are looking into incorporating a joint working day in the future so that both sides get to know each other better. The following always applies: scheduled deadlines, quick decisions, substantial feedback - regardless of the outcome.

1. HOW DOES VARIABLE PAY WORK?

Linked to performance on a quarterly basis and assessed qualitatively. The scale increases with the level: up to 20% Associate, 27.5% Manager, 35% Senior Manager, 42.5% Director, 50% VP. Expected value with good performance - you meet the requirements, set your own accents, pass the keeper test - is around 50% of the maximum; the maximum bonus is not the norm. The focus is on a holistic assessment by your manager: ownership, quality, learning curve, collaboration, impact.

1. HOW DO I DEVELOP MYSELF - WHAT CAREER PATHS ARE THERE?

Two active paths: Mastery (technical depth, expert career) and Pioneer (leadership, management). You choose the direction after onboarding, usually in years 1-3. Starting a career is not a special path, but rather the early part of the same route - from working student or intern to associate, for the best ones without having to reapply.

1. TEAM, CULTURE, HOLIDAY?

A shared lunch is an open daily option - not an obligation; If you like, you can join us; anyone can eat at any time. Plus dinners, social events and offsites on a regular basis - not as a mandatory program, but because a good team also shares time outside of work. Benefits: thoughtful and substantial, not symbolic. Vacation: 28 days.

1. I KNOW SOMEONE - IS THERE A REFERRAL BONUS?

Yes — EUR 2,500 for each successfully filled position (no internships). A short context is enough: who you are thinking about, for what role, why. Doesn't have to fit perfectly, but has to be substantial.

Requirements

THIS IS WHAT YOU BRING WITH YOU

Experience & track record

• Completed or about to complete a degree in business administration, economics or a comparable subject - ideally with a focus on accounting, controlling or auditing.
• First practice in tax consulting, auditing or in the accounting of a company - dual studies, internships or a working student position. If you've ever seen a degree from the inside, even better.
• You've already investigated yourself at one point because a number wasn't plausible - and looked for the answer in the company, not in the booking record.
• Profiles that do not fit into the above grid, but have substantial access to company figures, are expressly invited - we judge on the contribution, not on the label. Specifically: tax clerks who have completed their studies; young professionals who have done commercial management in the family business; Graduates with their own start-up or working student experience in which they planned liquidity themselves. The range shown is not a room for negotiation, but rather a profile scale. The lower end represents entry directly after graduation. Anyone who is already responsible for day-to-day accounting and monthly financial statements starts in the top third. The range shown above applies to the primary profile. Anyone who brings a different background starts at a different market price and converges to the role level after twelve months of proven performance - the logic behind this is in our compensation principles https://www.vogel-beratung.com/culture/verg%C3%BCtungsgrunds%C3%A4tze.

Skills & way of working

• You work analytically and structured - you break down a task into steps before you get started and deliver comprehensible results.
• You communicate clearly and authoritatively - in writing, just like in the first conversation with an entrepreneur. You are not afraid of topics that you have not yet fully mastered.
• You work with AI as a natural tool - research, analysis, drafting, plausibility checks. Repetitive evaluations are an incentive for automation, not a fate.

Mindset & personality

• You want to understand how a company works - the numbers are the gateway for you, not the goal.
• You have the humility to learn from practitioners. The entrepreneur with thirty years in the market and the colleague with many years of client knowledge know things about the business that are not included in any model.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver — not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.
• You are ready to get involved in independent work on the mandate and learn every day. If you're only looking for 9-to-5, look elsewhere.