Profession accounting manager

Accounting managers assume responsibility for all accounting activities relating to financial reporting. They develop and maintain accounting principles and procedures to ensure timely and accurate financial statements issued, supervise accounting staff and manage the accounting activities within the appropriate time frame and budget.

Would you like to know what kind of career and professions suit you best? Take our free Holland code career test and find out.

Personality Type

• Enterprising / Conventional

Knowledge

• Tax legislation

  Tax legislation applicable to a specific area of specialisation, such as import tax, government tax, etc.

• Depreciation

  The accounting method of dividing the value of an asset over its useful life for the allocation of cost per fiscal year and in parallel to decrease the value of the asset from the accounts of the company.

• International financial reporting standards

  The set of accounting standards and rules aimed at companies listed in the stock exchange which are required to publish and disclose their financial statements.

• National generally accepted accounting principles

  The accounting standard accepted in a region or country specifying the rules and procedures to disclose financial data.

• Corporate social responsibility

  The handling or managing of business processes in a responsible and ethical manner considering the economic responsibility towards shareholders as equally important as the responsibility towards environmental and social stakeholders.

• Accounting department processes

  The different processes, duties, jargon, role in an organisation, and other specificities of the accounting department within an organisation such as bookkeeping, invoices, recording, and taxing.

• Financial management

  The field of finance that concerns the practical process analysis and tools for designating financial resources. It encompasses the structure of businesses, the investment sources, and the value increase of corporations due to managerial decision-making.

• Accounting entries

  The financial transactions recorded in accounting systems or books of a company together with the metadata linked to the entry such as the date, the amount, the accounts affected, and a description of the transaction.

• Financial analysis

  The process of assessing the financial possibilities, means, and status of an organisation or individual by analysing financial statements and reports in order to make well informed business or financial decisions.

• Financial department processes

  The different processes, duties, jargon, role in an organisation, and other specificities of the financial department within an organisation. Understanding of financial statements, investments, disclosing policies, etc.

• Fraud detection

  The techniques used to identify fraudulous activities.

• Financial statements

  The set of financial records disclosing the financial position of a company at the end of a set period or of the accounting year. The financial statements consisting of five parts which are the statement of financial position, the statement of comprehensive income, the statement of changes in equity (SOCE), the statement of cash flows and notes.

Skills

• Ensure compliance with disclosure criteria of accounting information

  Revise the accounting information of the company to make sure it meets the commonly agreed criteria for its disclosure such as understandability, relevance, consistency, comparability, reliability, and objectivity.

• Enforce financial policies

  Read, understand, and enforce the abidance of the financial policies of the company in regards with all the fiscal and accounting proceedings of the organisation.

• Interpret financial statements

  Read, understand, and interpret the key lines and indicators in financial statements. Extract the most important information from financial statements depending on the needs and integrate this information in the development of the department's plans.

• Explain accounting records

  Provide additional explanation and disclosure to staff, vendors, auditors, and to any other instance about the way accounts were recorded and treated in the financial records.

• Idenfify if a company is a going concern

  Analyse financial statements, financial information and the outlook of the company in order to determine the going concern of the company.

• Follow the statutory obligations

  Understand, abide by, and apply the statutory obligations of the company in the daily performance of the job.

• Ensure compliance with accounting conventions

  Exercise accounting management and abidance by generally accepted accounting conventions such as recording transactions at the current price, quantifying goods, separating personal accounts of managers from those of the company, making effective the transfer of legal ownership of assets in its realisation time, and ensuring the principle of materiality.

• Plan health and safety procedures

  Set up procedures for maintaining and improving health and safety in the workplace.

• Integrate strategic foundation in daily performance

  Reflect on the strategic foundation of companies, meaning their mission, vision, and values in order to integrate this foundation in the performance of the job position.

• Support development of annual budget

  Support the development of the annual budget by producing base data as defined by the operations budget process.

• Strive for company growth

  Develop strategies and plans aiming at achieving a sustained company growth, be the company self-owned or somebody else's. Strive with actions to increase revenues and positive cash flows.

• Manage accounts

  Manage the accounts and financial activities of an organisation, supervising that all the documents are correctly maintained, that all the information and calculations are correct, and that proper decisions are being made.

• Check accounting records

  Revise the accounting records of the quarter and year and ensure that the accounting information reflects with accuracy the financial transactions of the company.

• Analyse financial performance of a company

  Based on accounts, records, financial statements and external information of the market, analyse the performance of the company in financial matters in order to identify improvement actions that could increase profit.

• Follow company standards

  Lead and manage according to the organisation's code of conduct.

• Supervise accounting operations

  Coordinate, commission, and monitor operations in accounting departments in order to ensure the accurate record and eventual reporting of the financial operations of the company.

• Draft accounting procedures

  Lay down standard methods and guidelines to regulate bookkeeping and accounting operations, including determining the bookkeeping system used to record financial transactions.

• Create a financial plan

  Develop a financial plan according to financial and client regulations, including an investor profile, financial advice, and negotiation and transaction plans.

• Monitor financial accounts

  Handle financial administration of your department, keep the costs down to only necessary expenses and maximise the revenues of your organisation.

• Evaluate budgets

  Read budget plans, analyse the expenditures and incomes planned during certain period, and provide judgement on their abidance to the general plans of the company or organism.

• Analyse market financial trends

  Monitor and forecast the tendencies of a financial market to move in a particular direction over time.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB