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Qualifications and Experiences That Employers Seek from Corporate Accountants

Paper Type: Free Assignment Study Level: University / Undergraduate
Wordcount: 3810 words Published: 26th Oct 2020

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Abstract

The primary aim of this assignment is to analyze and discuss what qualifications and experiences any organization or company seeks from a corporate accountant. Here we will collect a few job advertisements, and based on that, we will try to answer our assignment questions.

Introduction

A corporate accountant is a responsible person in an organization or company to manage its financial records. It is the corporate accountant's responsibility to ensure that the company follows all accounting laws and regulations while preparing such documents. Organizations search for those corporate accountants who really can match with their objectives and vision. Here we will search for 30 job advertisements and try to analyse that what are those specific skills, attributes required to become a corporate accountant and what are the key job responsibilities and roles played by the corporate accountant in an organization. 

Collected job advertisements will help in understanding g the job titles under which a corporate accountant works and how various industries post their job postings based on defining and requiring different job skills and key responsibilities which they seek from corporate accountants.

Main Body

How many job advertisements you have collected in total? How many job advertisements you have collected from each source?

I have collected 30 job advertisements in total. The numbers of job advertisements we have collected from each source are as follows:

  1. www.seek.com.au – 8 job advertisements
  2. au.indeed.com – 6 job advertisements
  3. au.jora.com – 5 job advertisements
  4. www.adzuna.com.au – 3 job advertisements
  5. www.michaelpage.com.au – 2 job advertisements
  6. au.hudson.com – 2 job advertisements
  7. www.roberthalf.com.au – 2 job advertisements
  8. www.ambition.com.au - 2 job advertisements

Lists the name of the organizations posting the job advertisements and show the industry breakdown of the organizations posting the job advertisements.

a)     Recruitment Industry

  1. HRMatrix Pty Ltd
  2. u&u. Recruitment Partners
  3. Ambrosini Global Recruitment
  4. AXR Recruitment & Search
  5. Mars Recruitment

b)     Accounting services Industry

  1. Paybang Pty Ltd
  2. AUB Group Limited
  3. Sharp & Carter Finance and Accounting Sydney
  4. Hays Accountancy & Finance
  5. ThompsonCook | We Only Do Accounting

c)     Business Development Industry

  1. Robert Walters
  2. KONE Elevators
  3. Anderfield
  4. Thales Group
  5. WiseTech Global

d)     Consultant services Industry

  1. Moore Stephens (WA) Pty Ltd
  2. Deloitte
  3. 2XMFinance
  4. Morgan McKinley
  5. Victorian Government

List all the job titles mentioned in the advertisements that you have collected.

The various job titles mentioned in the collected job advertisements are:

  1. Corporate / International TAX Accountant
  2. Corporate Accountant
  3. Senior Financial Accountant
  4. Corporate Assistant Accountant
  5. Senior Systems Accountant
  6. Senior Financial / Project Accountant
  7. Corporate Management Accountant
  8. Senior Corporate Accountant (Technical)
  9. Corporate Financial Accountant
  10. Senior Corporate Reporting Accountant
  11. Management Accountant
  12. Senior Management Accountant
  13. Internal Management Accountant
  14. Management Accountant (Business Support)
  15. Management Accountant | FP&A | Commercial Analyst
  16. Corporate Restructure Accountant
  17. Fund Accountant
  18. Reconciliations Accountant
  19. Cost Management Accountant
  20. Financial Planning & Analysis Manager
  21. Audit Manager
  22. Credit Analyst
  23. Finance Admin Officer & Loan Support
  24. Business Analyst / Productivity Analyst
  25. Mine Accountant
  26. Corporate Insolvency Accountant - Senior
  27. Financial Treasury Accountant
  28. Deputy Financial Controller

List all the personal attributes required from a corporate accountant that has been mentioned in the job advertisements that you have collected.

1. Working with on financial budgeting software and knowledge of implementation of Financial Planning & Reporting System

2.  Knowledge of Budgeting and Forecasting

3. Strong communication skills and ability to deal with senior stakeholders

4. Ability to work independently

5. Ability to handle long term projects

6. CA or CPA qualified

7. Having good knowledge of preparation of month-end accounts

8. Have good command on preparing analysis reports as per Budgeting and Forecasting

9. Business Partnering and liaising with key stakeholders in the business

10. Having skills to develop financial models

11. Knowledge of Monthly management reports preparation

12. Ability to handle Finance improvement initiative and ad-hoc projects

13. Have accurate reporting and data entry capability.

14. Excellent attention to detail, good Excel skills ( Mazinyi, J., 2019).

15. Strong analytical thinking

16. Well-developed communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills for liaising across a broad cross-section of personnel within the business, including senior management and with external parties

17. High-level organisational skills and the ability to balance multiple priorities and conflicting deadlines;

18. Strong Excel computing skills and knowledge of financial reporting packages

List all the personal attributes required from a corporate accountant that has been mentioned in the job advertisements that you have collected with your detailed understanding of each of the attributes.

  1. Having excellent organisation skills and ability to meet deadlines
  2. Able to take advantage of a range of benefits including flexible working arrangements, leadership and development programs and community programs
  3. Good command over finance with Tertiary qualification with a CPA or CA certification
  4. Having working experience with Global - Multi-National company experience (Roberthalf.com.au.,  2019)
  5. Essential experience with a Project Management Tool – ECOSYS
  6. SAP experience essential
  7. Having good knowledge of Support Management of Change process
  8. Good experience in producing monthly and quarterly project financial reports and status outlining issues, potential changes, and adverse trends/risks
  9. Manage and report project cash flows including currency impacts and potential currency hedging
  10. Compliance with audit law and ensuring accurate books keeping & records are maintained (Au.hudson.com., 2019)
  11. Strong accounting systems and Excel skills, having good previous working experience with Triumph accounting system
  12. Must have big working experience suggestively, 3-5 years of commercial accounting experience
  13. Having skills to maintain accounting systems, including the setup of new trusts.
  14. Can prepare month-end balance sheet reconciliations and monitor cash flow requirements.
  15. Can perform accurate direct and indirect taxation calculations and lodgements and possess good knowledge to prepare investor annual tax statements.
  16. Proper knowledge of various fund and good command & experience on preparing reports on Funds of organizations (Adzuna., 2019)
  17. Experience with accounting software (MYOB/XERO/SAP/Oracle) preferred
  18. Can prepare and review quarterly tax returns including BAS, FBT, GST
  19. Sound knowledge of statutory reporting including APRA returns, ASIC lodgments and ABS surveys
  20. Strong knowledge and understanding of finance processes, GL, and financial/statutory reporting process (Au.jora.com., 2019)

List all the academic and professional qualifications of a corporate accountant that have been listed in the advertisements that you have collected.

  1. CA or CPA qualified
  2. Business Services background highly regarded
  3. Strong communication skills and ability to deal with senior stakeholders
  4. Knowledge of FBT return
  5. Balance sheets and profit & loss reconciliations report making the experience
  6. Must have 3-5 years’ experience working in a public accounting firm environment.
  7. Must have an excellent understanding of corporate structures and their tax implications, Div 7A, FBT and small business challenges.
  8. Must be well experienced with direct client interactions from individuals through to business advisory for all entities.
  9. Must be able to communicate English to a high level in both written and verbal forms.
  10. Should possess a qualification in preparing chartered (audit) and commercial experience (Manufacturing experience highly regarded).
  11. Qualification in preparing Monthly management reports, Consolidations and Develop financial models (Anon, 2019).
  12. Strong knowledge of managing Capex Budgets, and Expenditure, Managing Capex Spending & Business Planning.
  13. Strong ability to efficiently navigate, a mid-tier Aged Care Accounting Package such an MS Dynamics or Epicor.
  14. Should have accurate reporting and data entry capability, and strong analytical thinking.
  15. Must have leadership skills to lead projects and can form development programs and community programs when required.
  16. Should possess strong knowledge of Microsoft Excel and SAP (SEEK, 2019).

Based on the key roles, tasks, responsibilities identified from your collected job advertisements, how those key roles, tasks or responsibilities are related to the topics that you have learned in your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting.

Based upon the key roles, tasks and job responsibilities which I have identified from my collected job advertisements I would like to frame a connection with my learning which I have grasped from MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting are as follows:

  • Accounting for Business Decision; as we have studied how accounting helps a business in making it's crucial the decisions which are related to the finance of the company. The corporate accountant should I problem knowledge of accounting principles to help business in preparing its financial reports and making required development decisions (Baker, C.-R., & Burlaud, A., 2014).
  • Finance for Business; it describes why finance is the backbone of any business and why it is important to manage it effectively. An accountant should have the proper knowledge to maintain Business Finance, and he should ensure in providing accurate and correct data of the business to its owners.
  • Managerial Accounting; it is an account manager job to ensure that prepare profit and loss and balance sheet is 100% accurate and showing correct data of the business. Accountant manager is responsible for the budgeting and forecast related to the business.
  • Audit, assurance, and compliance; a tax accountant is responsible for performing the audits of a company or business. It is his responsibility that hi insurance to perform the audit it compliance to audit law and ensure that bookkeeping and records are maintained accurately.
  • Taxation theory, practice, and law; a tax accountant or senior accountant is responsible for preparing the tax and corporate report, and it must be made as per the taxation guidelines and law. A tax accountant is also responsible to help the company in managing its taxes.
  • Business and corporate law; a corporate accountant is responsible for developing the business and adopting and creating new finance models. It is their responsibility to expand the business and provide proper advice to the company and its clients (Hutchinson, R. Liao, K., 2016).
  • Economics for business; accountants very well know that Economics is the only base on which companies lies. It is their responsibility to monitor the cash flow in the company and manage various funds. They are supposed to prepare reports on the funds related to the organisation.
  • Finance for business; a company can properly understand its financial position by analysing its profit and loss and balance sheet. Accountant manager must ensure that that provide proper analysis report on budgeting and as well as do the correct entries of financial transactions related to the business.

What additional topics, attributes or learning’s outcomes are missing from your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting that is listed on the job advertisement.

  • Statistics for Business Decisions; there are various businesses where an accountant uses the accounting reports for generating statistical reports which help in understanding various methodologies which can help a company in boosting its profit (Barth, M.-E., 2016).
  • Business Research; an accountant is responsible for performing various kinds of researches and generating proper decision-making model which can help a company or organisation in strengthening its financial position.
  • Strategic Information Systems for Business and Enterprise; in my course, I have studied how to use Excel and SPSS, but there are various data handling techniques which are required to be performed by an accountant. These techniques give qualitative and quantitative results to the accountant.
  • Security Exchange and credit analysis; security exchange or credit analysis helps a company getting its borrowings and easily established the market of a company. A corporate accountant as required analyse security market can help the company getting more borrowings when required.

Critically examine the skills, experience and attributes needed to become a corporate accountant.

Also critically evaluate how the topics that you have learned in your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting have helped you in gaining the skills, experience and attributes needed to become a corporate accountant.

To become a corporate accountant first, it is required to have good knowledge of commerce or accounting. There is always question asked by many people that to become a corporate accountant whether I should possess the qualities of an accountant or I should have a degree of a chartered accountant. Certified Public Accountant is a degree which helps an individual to become a corporate accountant. It is required that an individual who is pursuing a CPA degree must possess the analytical and critical ability. It helps them to perform various report making and decision making tasks (Bunget, C.-O., Dumitrescu, A., & Deliu, D., 2013). Managing finance of a company is not an easy task a corporate accountant should have a dynamic personality and leadership skills which can help them in performing auditing, accounting, and various finance task. A corporate accountant should be able to handle various project management tools as one of them as ECOSYS. Apart from this, they should have good knowledge of SAP and Microsoft EXCEL which can help them in preparing an accurate report. One of the most important skill which is required to become and corporate accountant is making projects for the organisation and ensuring that the budget estimation should be as per the organisations' requirement. An effective budget is which helps an organisation in minimising its expenditure or loss and maximizing its profits. So a corporate accountant should have good knowledge of preparing the budget and making estimations. 

A corporate accountant should have the proper experience to maintain the balance sheet and profit loss of a company and based upon that reports, bacon make proper budgeting and forecasting decisions. Due to their years of experience, they should have the ability to handle big finance projects. They should have proper experience of performing audit activities and should have good knowledge accounting regulations and tax laws. Suggestively it is required that a corporate accountant should have 3-5 years of commercial accounting experience in which he has handled various balance sheets, cash flows, tax statements and funds of a business. They should have 4-5 years of working experience with any of registered public accounting firm.

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Topics which I have learned under MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting are Accounting for Business Decision; Finance for Business; Managerial Accounting; Audit, assurance, and compliance; Taxation theory, practice, and law; Business and corporate law; Economics for business; Finance for business. These topics are very helpful for me understanding why finance is necessary for a business and how it helps an accountant in taking crucial decisions related to the company. These also helped me understand the accounting concepts and how to prepare the reports of the company. I also learned to handle various other tools like SPSS and Excel, which is required for doing accounting activities (Comprix, J., Muller, K. A., & Sinclair, J., 2012). Due to the inclusion of taxation theory and practice of various accounting increase I have gained the knowledge of doing journal entries, preparing profit and loss account and preparing the balance sheets as well. during the study of various bank reconciliation statements and other financial reports, I have gained the analytical thinking which is also required for a corporate accountant. Due to the study of topics such as Economics for business and Corporate Law one more skill I have developed that is preparing the reports as per Accounting and auditing law. 

Summary/Conclusion

Due to the analysis of various job advertisement listings I have learned from this assignment that the topics which I have studied under MPAunit HI5020 Corporate Accounting are very helpful in understanding that what specific skills, experience, and attributes are required to become a corporate accountant. Here is a link between the job roles and key skills which is being required by companies and the topics which I have studied under my course. Due to the collected job advertisements, I came to know what specific roles an accountant needs to perform. I also came to learn that what academic and professional qualifications can help me in becoming a corporate accounting. Due to the listed job advertisements understand what personal attributes are required to develop, which is required to become a corporate accountant and to perform various accountant tasks. I also feel that there are some other qualifications also which is required to become an accountant. I came to discover these qualifications due to the job skills and qualifications asked by the company from corporate accountants and the topics which I have learned under my MPAunit HI5020 Corporate Accounting course. Due to the job advertisement listing, I came to learn at what are the specific skills and qualifications which are being required to be a corporate accountant and the same skills and qualifications are seen by employers. There are few other job designations it is almost same and acquired the same skills and qualifications which is required to be a corporate accountant. Roles and responsibilities are also same so I have also learned that it a corporate accountant it can also so work on other designations by fulfilling the same financial and accounting roles and responsibilities which is demanded almost everywhere. Listed skills and qualifications can be easily developed and again show the course which I am going and also I learn new insights at weather how can I improve more and the new skills to be a good corporate accountant.

List of references

  • Mazinyi, J. (2019). Senior Financial Accountant - Ambition Australia. [online] Ambition.com.au. Available at: https://www.ambition.com.au/job/senior-financial-accountant-40/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Roberthalf.com.au. (2019). Financial Accountant job description and duties | Robert Half. [online] Available at: https://www.roberthalf.com.au/our-services/finance-accounting/financial-accountant-jobs [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Au.hudson.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://au.hudson.com/job-seekers/accounting-finance-jobs?Page=1&SortBy=Relevance [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Adzuna. (2019). 1,115 management accountant Jobs in Australia | Adzuna. [online] Available at: https://www.adzuna.com.au/search?loc=105392&p=1&q=management%20accountant [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Au.jora.com. (2019). 24,264 Management Accountant jobs in Australia | Jora. [online] Available at: https://au.jora.com/Management-Accountant-jobs-in-Australia [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://au.indeed.com/jobs?q=Corporate+Accountant&l=Sydney+NSW&start=40 [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • SEEK. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.seek.com.au/corporate-accountant-jobs?page=4 [Accessed 13 Sep. 2019].
  • Hutchinson, R. Liao, K. (2016). Management Accounting Quarterly. Autumn. Vol. 11 Issue 1, p27-35. 9p. 2 Charts, 1 Graph. , Database: Business Source Complete. Retrieved from KaplanUniversity Library
  • Baker, C.-R., & Burlaud, A. (2014). From Accounting Theory To Conceptual Framework. Audit Financiar journal, Year XII, No. 116, 8, 49-62
  • Barth, M.-E. (2016). Including Estimates Of The Future In Today’s Financial Statements. Accounting Horizons, 20, 271-285.
  • Bunget, C.-O., Dumitrescu, A., & Deliu, D. (2013). The Manipulation And Truncation Of Accounting Information And The Impact On The Decisional Process Of The Stakeholders. Annals. Economics Science Series. Timisoara, XIX , 84–96.
  • Comprix, J., Muller, K. A., & Sinclair, J. (2012). Mandatory Accounting Requirements and Demand for Big Four Auditors: evidence from IFRS Adoption in the EU. MEAFA. Retrieved from http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/121764/Muller_MEAFA_2012.pdf.

 

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