Accountant
Job description, salary, sourcing, 15 interview questions and a 30/60/90 plan to hire an Accountant in a German SMB.
At a glance
- Time to fill50–90 days
- Experience5–10 years
How to hire an Accountant for your SMB
Before you write the job posting, settle three questions. They determine the profile you actually need and help you avoid the seniority mistakes common at German SMBs.
Question 1: Assistant Accountant, Accountant or certified Accountant? The assistant accountant (Hilfsbuchhalter:in / accounting assistant) records documents under supervision (0 to 3 years of experience, 28 to 35 k€). The Accountant (Finanzbuchhalter:in) runs the accounting autonomously, prepares the month-end and year-end closes and exchanges directly with the tax advisor. The certified accountant (Bilanzbuchhalter:in, with the IHK exam) finalizes the balance sheet, owns internal reporting and engages with the auditor (50 to 70 k€). Mixing these three levels in a single posting attracts poorly fitted applications and costs time. Name the seniority level explicitly in the title: Buchhalter:in (m/w/d) or Bilanzbuchhalter:in (m/w/d), not the meaningless “accounting wanted”.
Question 2: Which scope exactly? At a German SMB the scope of an accountant varies widely: pure financial accounting (accounts receivable, payable, fixed assets), with or without payroll, with or without treasury, with or without current tax filings (VAT return, recapitulative statement, payroll-tax return). List the covered areas explicitly in the posting. An accountant with no payroll experience needs 3 to 6 months of onboarding if payroll is to be taken on; a versatile profile expects varied topics and gets bored on pure document entry.
Question 3: Which software and which ERP? The ecosystem matters. A candidate trained on DATEV is not immediately productive on SAP FI or Sage 100 without 2 to 4 weeks of onboarding. If an ERP migration is planned, a person who has already migrated an accounting system (even partly) is a clear advantage. Name your stack in the posting; experienced candidates often filter on this criterion. DATEV is the standard in the tax-advisor context, SAP FI at group subsidiaries, Sage 100 and Lexware at classic Mittelstand companies, sevDesk and Pennylane at modern SMBs.
If the three answers converge on a full-time Accountant (not an assistant accountant or a certified accountant), see the ready-to-use template on the Job description tab.
Where to source this role
Stepstone
From €995 / 30 daysClearly the strongest channel for accountant profiles in Germany. Deep volume across all experience levels, good filters by software experience (DATEV, SAP, Sage) and region. Expect 40-60 % of qualified applications via Stepstone when the posting is sector-precise. Unlike sales roles, a classic job posting is more effective here than active sourcing.
LinkedIn
€200-400 / month (Job Slots)Effective for younger profiles (5-7 years of experience) and for accountants with a corporate or IFRS background who want to move into the Mittelstand. Active sourcing via InMail works only moderately (accountants are less responsive to cold outreach than salespeople). Strongest signal with accountants in corporate subsidiaries who are looking for more autonomy.
XING
ProJobs from €195 / monthStill relevant for financial accountants in the classic Mittelstand (mechanical engineering, industry, wholesale, construction), especially in NRW, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Profiles over 35 are often more reachable here than on LinkedIn. A good complement to Stepstone if you run a traditional Mittelstand environment.