Wirtschaftsprüfer / Accounting Lead Buy & Build (m/w/d)

Role Summary

Anyone who buys consulting companies buys consolidation circles - and in most medium-sized companies the accounting system was never built for this purpose, but has grown over the years.

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 grow organically and through acquisitions and use this to build the leading consulting platform for German medium-sized businesses. Each acquisition brings with it a new company, an opening balance sheet, a purchase price allocation and an expanded scope of consolidation. In order for this to be sustainable, you need someone who no longer checks whether the consolidated financial statements are correct.

You are an appointed auditor or are about to take the exam, with four or more years of auditing at one of the largest or next largest auditing companies and real depth in consolidated financial statements. You're switching because the next level in the audit hierarchy means more reviews and less work on your own - and because you'd rather be responsible for the numbers than test them. At Vogel you will find structures that support and at the same time a setup that moves forward every day.

You are responsible for Vogel's accounting - consolidation and consolidated financial statements, ongoing accounting across all companies, its automation and external reporting to banks and stakeholders. You report directly to Joachim and Moritz Vogel; The finance function is just emerging at the Munich location, and you are its professional anchor. The natural development leads to the senior level of the professional expert career - or, if you want, to building your own team.

What you delivered after 6 months

• You have completely adopted the consolidated financial statements and consolidation group and documented the consolidation logic in such a way that it is comprehensible.
• You delivered the first monthly and quarterly financial statements on your own responsibility - on time and in a manner that was auditable.
• Reporting to our financing partners is carried out via your desk and without any questions from management.

What you delivered after 12 months

• You have completely transferred at least one acquisition into the scope of consolidation - from the opening balance to the ongoing integration.
• Manual processes in booking, reconciliation and closing preparation have measurably reduced because you have automated them.
• The annual financial statement audit runs without a fire drill - working papers and evidence are available before the auditor asks.

What you delivered after 24 months

• Several acquired units run in regular operations in the scope of consolidation, and the process supports the next acquisition.
• Accounting questions end with you in-house and not with external advice.
• You built accounting to scale with growth without retaining proportionately more people.

Where the position is developing

The next step is the senior level of the professional expert career - more depth, more methodical authority, more reach in-house, without the need for direct reports. If you decide that you prefer building a team, a management career is also open to you; You make the choice when you first climb, not when you enter. What you get depends on your contribution, not your year of employment.

Responsibilities

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Consolidation and consolidated financial statements

1. You are responsible for the consolidated financial statements according to HGB for all companies - capital and debt consolidation, elimination of interim results, expense and income consolidation.
2. You include every acquisition in the scope of consolidation - opening balance sheet, purchase price allocation, ongoing integration. Your benchmark: The process must support the next purchase without anyone setting up a special run.
3. You make the consolidation logic comprehensible and documented instead of carrying it in your head - audit-proof, even when you're on vacation.

Ongoing accounting and automation

1. You manage ongoing accounting across all companies and are responsible for monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements - on time and without a fire drill before the audit.
2. You treat every recurring manual work as an automation candidate - booking, reconciliation, final preparation - and build the solutions together with our automation team.
3. You manage the interfaces to DATEV, auditing and external consultants so that queries are rare and answers are quick.

External reporting and bank communication

1. You are responsible for reporting to our financing partners - covenants, key figures, reporting obligations - and deliver in such a way that there is no demand.
2. You prepare numbers for recipients who have their own interests and know which message a number carries and which does not.
3. You work in an environment that is hierarchical in decision-making, flat in communication and autonomous in execution. Achievement is celebrated here, not hidden - anyone who wants to get ahead because they are good will find the space to do so, without political camouflage and without consensus theatre.

WHAT YOU WON'T FIND WITH US

1. No client business. You do not manage any mandates or build up a client base. You are responsible for Vogel’s own accounting. If you're looking for client work, you'll find it in other roles with us - not here.
2. No personnel responsibility. “Lead” here means professional leadership, not disciplinary leadership. You grow through depth and methodology, not through personnel span. Anyone who wants to lead a team belongs in one of the roles on the management career.
3. No examination mandate and no rotation. You no longer change clients every year. You build an accounting system over years and live with the consequences of your own decisions.
4. No pure accounting back room. You work visibly with management, corporate development and our automation team. What you deliver goes into bank discussions and purchasing decisions.
5. No exit from the exam into a 45-hour week. The intensity remains high – directed differently, with significantly more ownership, but not less.

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

• You are an appointed auditor or are about to take your exam.
• You have worked in auditing for four or more years - at KPMG, EY, Deloitte, PwC, BDO, Baker Tilly, Rödl or Ebner Stolz - and have been responsible for corporate mandates with real consolidation depth.
• You have a practical grasp of HGB consolidation, not just as an exam material: capital consolidation, eliminations, purchase price allocation after an acquisition.
• You have not only checked financial statements, but understand how they are created - and want to switch to this page.
• Profiles that do not fit into the above grid, but have a reliable depth of consolidation, are expressly invited - we evaluate based on the contribution, not the label. The range shown is not a room for negotiation, but rather a profile scale: the lower end represents the professional who has just completed their exams, the upper end for those who have already independently taken responsibility for consolidated financial statements and have shaped the methodology in their own focus. 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 cleanly and comprehensibly. Anyone who looks at a file after you understands it without question.
• You master Excel beyond pivot tables - consolidation logics, reconciliation bridges, robust structures without hardcodes. SQL or Python are a plus.
• You work with AI as a natural tool for coordination, research, documentation and the multiplication of your own output frequency. Repetitive work is an incentive to automate for you, not a fate.
• You explain an accounting issue in such a way that management recognizes the consequence without having read the comment.

Mindset & personality

• You want responsibility for the numbers, not the distance of the certificate.
• You have a natural aversion to inaccuracy - reliable decisions are not made on unreliable numbers.
• You have the humility to learn from practitioners. The accountant with twenty years of experience knows things about day-to-day operations that are not included in any audit program.
• You are ready to stand on your own professionally. You are the head of accounting in this company - you get sparring from the management and the auditor network, but no one keeps up with you.
• You aspire to set the highest standard in everything you deliver - not because someone controls it, but because mediocrity bothers you personally.