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Accounting Job Descriptions

Your business or organisation can’t afford to make mistakes when it comes to its finances. Your cash flow, financial accuracy, reporting, and taxes all fall to your accounting department, so hiring the best candidates for this office is vital.

Your accounting job descriptions will need to advertise the skills, qualifications, and mindset you desire. You can hit all three of these high notes by modifying one of our job description templates. By following our formula, you will improve the quality and quantity of candidates while filtering out unqualified applicants.

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What Do Accounting Professionals Do?

Your job descriptions should detail the accounting team functions and how they fit in your organisational culture. Your business or accounting firm needs to hire the right candidates that will create an experienced, professional, and effective team. They will need to handle various accounting tasks and meet strict deadlines, while simultaneously providing excellent customer service and maintaining the reputation of your company and brand.

Depending on how the business functions, your company’s financial department may oversee:

  • Producing financial statements and other financial documents
  • Conducting risk analysis
  • Maintaining and updating financial records
  • Preparing accounts and submitting tax returns
  • Determining the financial strategy
  • Managing budgets
  • Investigating financial discrepancies
  • Identifying investment opportunities
  • Consulting and providing financial advice to individual clients

Accounting Role

A few of the different accounting roles include:

  • Management Accountants
  • Accounting Technicians
  • Qualified Accountant
  • Certified Public Accountants
  • Auditor
  • Accounting Officer
  • Credit Controller
  • Tax Specialist

Accounting Responsibilities And Duties

Next, we look at accounting jobs and the roles and responsibilities of those who undertake them.

Accounting responsibilities and accountant duties include:

  • Monitoring accounting processes
  • Reviewing financial information
  • Forensic accounting
  • Preparing financial accounts
  • Making financial forecasts
  • Balance sheet and general ledger functions
  • Bank reconciliations
  • Calculating taxes
  • Resolving discrepancies
  • Maintaining financial data on the company’s finances
  • Maintaining financial records and account information
  • Making capital account entries
  • Computing taxes and filing tax returns
  • Conducting financial analysis or providing financial advice
  • Preparing financial statements, preparing balance sheets, writing loss statements, and creating other reports
  • Performing financial audits
  • Ensuring legal compliance with financial regulations
  • Maintaining accounting systems and performing database backups
  • Implementing accounting controls
  • Determining the best accounting options and recording the financial actions of private clients

These accountant duties and responsibilities are pretty generic, but you can make the job’s duties more engaging and meaningful by saying how the responsibility should be accomplished. For example, ‘You will ensure legal compliance by introducing financial policies and monitoring accounting procedures.’

Accounting Skills

The accountant skills or personal traits an accounting person should demonstrate include:

  • Analytical skills
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Communication and interpersonal skills
  • Time management
  • Numeracy
  • Analytical thinking
  • Detail oriented
  • Trustworthiness
  • Teamworking
  • Polite
  • Active listening
  • Target driven
  • Adaptable
  • Leadership and motivational
  • Presentation skills
  • Strategic thinking
  • Excellent customer service skills
  • Financial planning
  • Ability to make financial decisions
  • Thorough knowledge of accounting policies and current legislation
  • Thorough knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles
  • Coordinating activities
  • Aptitude for collecting information

Accounting Qualifications And Education

To ensure your company leverages best practices, meets any legal obligation, and hits its targets and deadlines, you need to hire individuals with the right professional qualifications.

To complete their accounting role, you need candidates with professional qualifications that include:

  • A Finance or Accounting Degree (Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting/Master’s Degree in Accounting)
  • Achieved Chartered Status with a CPA exam pass
  • Chartered Institute Accreditation
  • Specialisation in particular areas, such as forensic accounting or corporate finance
  • Accounting software proficiency

Required Accounting Experience And Accounting Training

Many accounting professionals have previous experience or gain experience and training through apprenticeships. School leavers might complete the Professional Accountancy Technician Higher Apprenticeship or Accountant and Taxation Professional Higher Apprenticeship.

Further training and experience might be evident with certifications from professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA), or the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).

Accounting Job Description FAQs

Here we answer your questions on accounting roles and job descriptions.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN ACCOUNTING?

These include maintaining accurate financial records, analysing the company’s financial position, authorising financial transactions, and performing financial audits.

WHAT ARE THE ACCOUNTING ROLES?

Accounting roles in businesses, large corporations, or an accountancy firm include chartered accountants, senior management accounting executives, property accountant, payroll officer, and credit controller. Most accounting jobs require a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and proficiency using accounting software.

WHAT QUALITIES MAKE A GOOD ACCOUNTING PERSON?

Complementing professional qualifications should be skills such as problem-solving, analysis, and strategic thinking. An accounting person should be able to audit accounts, prepare financial statements, record financial transactions, use accounting software, write a loss statement, and assess the current financial status.

ARE ACCOUNTING JOBS IN DEMAND?

According to research conducted by the University of Bolton, within the next three decades there will be an additional 80,000 accountancy jobs in UK.

ACCOUNTANT REQUIREMENTS/WHAT COUNTS AS CPD?

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development and defines the learning activities undertaken by accounting professionals to ensure their skills remain relevant and up to date.

A CPD portfolio is an important aspect of accounting career paths and can include different learning activities such as training workshops, CPD seminars, and CPD online courses as well as reflective learning and self-directed learning.

WHAT IS AN ACCOUNTING JOB DESCRIPTION?

An accounting job description is a document that sets out the role’s duties, tasks, and skills. Putting these in black and white is crucial and will help you find the right match for a position that directly affects financial reporting, compliance, business decisions, and performance.

The job description should be transparent and clearly set out who you are, who you want, what they will do, and why a potential candidate might want to work for you. It helps tremendously to use language and jargon that engages your audience.

When you get all of this right and include the best words to use when writing accounting job descriptions, you will get job applications from candidates with professional accounting qualifications and skills that closely match your ideal person profile.

HOW DO YOU WRITE AN ACCOUNTING JOB DESCRIPTION?

When writing a job description either for accounting jobs or an internal job specification you need to focus on 5 main criteria:

1. What are the key jobs, tasks, and duties required for an accounting position

2. Consider all the job responsibilities required for an accounting role

3. What skills the person must have for the job

4. What personality traits the person must have to work in accounting

5. Appropriate and relevant education and qualifications

These five criteria should help you build a picture of your ideal candidate. Excellent questions to consider that will help you write a concise accounting job description that stands apart from others (essential in the current competitive job market), and attract the best accounting candidates, include:

1. What value does this role bring to your company?

2. How does the role align with your company culture, values, and mission?

3. How does this role differ from other company positions?

4. How is this role similar to other company positions?

5. What are the minimum accounting skills or transferable skills?

6. What are examples of your financial goals and targets?

Suppose you are not hands-on in the accounting department or highly familiar with the company’s financial data, financial records, and financial reports. In that case, it can help to interview one of your experienced management accountants or accounting staff to gain a greater understanding.

A word about jargon: The phrase ‘jargon’ has good and bad connotations, and if it isn’t carefully considered, it may deter accounting candidates from applying. Ask yourself if words and phrases are company exclusive or industry recognised.

Furthermore, if you are hiring senior chartered certified accountants, you would expect candidates to have a greater vocabulary and understanding of financial jargon. However, if you are hiring a junior-level accounting person, consider being as straightforward and transparent as possible. You can use an accountant job description template to get the best results.

HOW DO I ENGAGE ACCOUNTING CANDIDATES?

As a final note for employers and recruiters, it is vital to remember that while a job description is about what and who you want, describing this alone will not create an inbox full of eager candidates willing to comply. An accounting or accountant job advert must go beyond the duties, skills, education, professional qualification, traits, and tasks that you want and communicate the position’s value to job seekers.

Your business or accounting firm should convey its employee value propositions to engage candidates, highlighting both monetary and other benefits. Benefits that will entice qualified job seekers or university graduates to apply might include:

1. Stating the accountant salaries or salary range

2. Focusing on work-life balance

3. Flexibility in work location and when hours are completed (work from home or hybrid office and remote)

4. Training opportunities

5. Accounting career development opportunities

6. How company values align with those of customers and employees

Accounting roles entail many responsibilities that must be carried out with absolute accuracy to ensure your business remains compliant with financial regulations, taxes, and reporting. Conducting critical functions within your organisation or providing them to clients, it is vital to stipulate the role’s responsibilities, especially when creating accounting job descriptions and job ads.

Accounting Job Description Examples And Samples

We recommend creating your accounting job description using an accountant job description template. You can select one of the samples and examples below, which include accountant responsibilities and duties.

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