An accountant is responsible for maintaining accurate financial records and preparing associated reporting. Accountancy is a nuanced profession which has many specialisms, such as management accounting, fund accounting or financial accounting.
Accountant responsibilities
An accountant’s role is to support the organisation by ensuring that all financial records and reporting are up to standard, updated and maintained regularly. In some cases, they are responsible for working with third parties, like banks or auditors, to keep business finances on track.
Accountant duties include:
- Preparing monthly and annual accounts
- Corporate document maintenance
- Projecting cost calculations
- Liaising with auditors
- Processing employee expenses
- Costing for projects
- Data gathering
- Receiving and storing invoices
- Using digital systems to keep records and create payments
- Preparing and posting journals
- Logging daily entries in accordance with accounting policy
Accountant skills, qualifications, and experience
To become an accountant, professionals should have a degree-level education in a finance subject (accounting, mathematics etc.) and an accounting qualification or part-qualification in ACA, CIMA or ACCA.
Accountant skills and experience can include:
- 3-5 years accounting experience ERP knowledge
- Excellent MS Excel capabilities
- Regional experience
Soft skills needed for the role are as follows:
- Excellent attention to detail
- Good time management
- Strong commercial acumen
- Good problem solving skills
- Analytical thinking
- Relationship building skills
In some cases, fund and investment experience is needed, especially for fund accounting work.
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