Some accountants choose to work in the accounting/finance department of an organization in a drive to make a valuable change to that company. They’re employed in multiple sections of departments. Let’s discuss those sections in detail below:
Financial Accounting / Corporate Reporting
This department is responsible for recording the financial transactions of a company and ensuring the preparation of financial statements as per regulatory standards (IFRS / GAAP). This section can also be segregated into different sub-sections where CA, CPA, ACCA work as a general accountant, treasury analyst, financial analyst, AR Accountant, AP Accountant, Financial reporting accountant as per their expertise:
- Accounts Receivable
Responsible for recording the revenue and receivables
- Accounts Payable
Responsible for recording and payment of expenses
- Financial reporting
Calculating the tax, ensuring all the entries are recorded and preparing financial statements
- Treasury
Monitoring the cash position of an organization.
- CAPEX Accounting
Monitoring the asset sub-ledger and its recording in GL
- General Accounting
Responsible for booking entries other than above
Managerial Accounting (also known as Financial Planning & Analysis – FP&A)
The managerial Accounting department serves the internal management to make effective business decisions.
This department is responsible for preparing and monitoring annual budgets, co-ordinate with division managers for profit/cost center revenue and expenses, preparing forecasts, costing analysis, financial and non-financial analysis, etc. Most importantly, analysts working for this department suggest recommendations to the management on business strategy, operations, resource allocations, etc. based on the analysis.
In FP &A, certified accountants work on the capacity of;
- Cost Accountants
- Budget Accountants
- Financial Analysts
- FP&A Manager
Information Systems (Basically Information Technology)
With the increased use of financial software or ERP to record and analyze the financial activities of an organization, there has been a surge in demand for finance professionals to handle the accounting and finance part of it.
There is a range of ERP software in the market based on the size and complexity of an organization. These can be divided into three tiers:
Tier 1 ERP such as SAP and ORACLE – Designed for the needs of Fortune 1000 Companies.
Tier 2 ERP such as Microsoft, Sage, Epicor – Targeted for mid-sized corporations
Tier 3 ERP such as Quickbooks, Sage 50 – Low-cost software targeted for small organizations
Especially the companies with Tier 1 / 2 ERP have a sub-section under the IT department to handle the financial systems. Some of the professional accountants work in such department as:
- Financial System Administrator
Oversees the effectiveness of the ERP, handles IT issues, ad-hoc report creation, etc
- Functional Consultant
Guides the core finance team on the efficient use of the software, handles any issues, handles technical part of creating the ad-hoc reports
- Manager, Financial systems
Manages the overall use of financial systems, researches innovative ways to improve the processes
To know more about corporate accountants: