The Accountant works in business as well as in an accounting firm. His career prospects and his employability are widened.
In business, his missions are extended, he is a single accountant and must be able to intervene in related fields: establishing a cash budget, calculating taxes and making tax declarations, establishing salaries, carrying out budget forecasts, or even analyzing the balance sheet and the income statement.
In an accounting department, their missions can be very specialized, such as taking care of customer or supplier accounting.
In the firm, the Accountant takes charge of a client portfolio for which he manages the accounting independently.
Accountant in office
In the firm, the Accounting employee manages a portfolio of clients for whom he ensures Accounting, social, and tax monitoring.
He works for structures diversified by their legal status, their size, and their economic environment. He is faced with a multitude of problems.
It is for these reasons that companies appreciate people who have experience in law firms.
His missions :
- He prepares the annual accounts, takes care of the management of the payslips, the establishment of tax declarations and sometimes the legal secretariat of his clients;
- He manages customer relations daily, in particular by answering questions related to business management;
- He assists the Chartered Accountant during meetings with the client;
- Often, he works with an Assistant / Accounting Assistant who performs the input operations.
In larger firms, Accountants can be specialized in social matters (in particular payroll management), or Accounting and tax monitoring. The complexity of the laws, the need to update knowledge justifies this specialization of the missions of employees. The Accounting employee can also be brought to
advise project leaders in their financial, legal, and fiscal choices. He carries out feasibility studies for them and accompanies them to support their case before bankers or investors.
Single accountant
The single accountant works mainly in small businesses:
This position is characterized by versatility: the single accountant is responsible for keeping current accounts in general accounting and also performs analytical accounting.
It processes the Accounting data, establishes the legal documents: annual balance sheet, income statement, and produces the intermediate situations (monthly, quarterly accounting situations …). It analyzes the accounting situation. He can exercise financial activities (treasury …), fiscal (tax calculation, declarations …), or social (wages, balance sheets …). It determines the profit centers and establishes the budget forecasts as well as the control procedures.
Customer accountant
He works under the direction of the Accounting Manager or the Administrative and Financial Director depending on the companies, and in SMEs most often.
He is responsible for processing and controlling the accounts for sales and collection operations:
- He is directly responsible for customer invoicing and monitoring this invoicing;
- He manages collections, deals with disputes and unpaid debts. He sets up the control tools necessary to reduce the payment period, and works in conjunction with the commercial services to improve the customer relationship to anticipate disputes;
- It monitors assets, manages customer outstandings and any relationship with a factoring company;
- It reports items to general accounting.
Accounting suppliers
Like the Customer Accountant, he works under the direction of the Accountant manager or the Administrative and Financial Director depending on the company, and in SMEs most often.
It specializes in the accounting processing of purchasing operations, it collects supplier invoices from the various departments:
- It codifies purchase invoices: lettering and pointing of accounts and records invoices in newspapers;
- He pays the suppliers and follows the payment schedules;
- He manages supplier disputes;
- It processes expense reports;
- It analyzes and justifies the accounts (CCA, FNP, inventory entries);
- He participates in, even establishes, monthly, quarterly and annual closings;
- In certain cases, it calculates and declares the VAT and/or the DEB (Declaration of Exchange of Goods).
Accountant specialist in collections
He works under the direction of the Chief Accountant or the Administrative and Financial Director in SMEs and large companies in general. Its role is to collect payments from unpaid invoices. For this, he is often in direct contact with the sales team and the sales administration.
His missions :
- He deals with questions addressed to the finance department regarding the payment of invoices;
- He reminds customers in writing and by telephone to collect the payments for unpaid invoices. He must maintain privileged contact with creditors as much as possible;
- He monitors collection, planning management and the timing of reminders;
- He letters and records the regulations received;
- He prepares the litigation files in the event of failure of the amicable recovery, manages the formal notices and follows the procedures with the bailiffs;
- It informs the internal contacts concerned of potential risks and problems;
- He prepares reports.
Apart from his technical skills and his qualities of rigor and organization, the Accountant specializing in debt collection must have great interpersonal skills and a persuasive force; he must be pugnacious and be persistent, know how to be firm while being diplomatic.
Accounting is a profession where contacts and relationships are far from being put aside. It is, of course, a profession where computer work occupies an important part, but internal contacts with other services (sales, purchasing, management, HR …) are very frequent, as well as external with financial partners of the company or with clients in an accounting firm.
The Accountant reports to the finance department or the general management depending on the size and structure of the company. The Accountant must manage an additional activity during the fiscal period which extends from January to the end of April, each year.
Rigor, honesty, method, and organization are essential qualities to be an Accountant. The precautionary principle must govern how he approaches his work. His interpersonal skills will be an asset for his professional progress.
Experienced professionals have highly sought after. Accountants who have experience in law firms are particularly appreciated by companies and have a faster career progression. When you start, internships, interim, allow you to make your first experiences; they should not be overlooked.
In a cabinet, the Accountant Perth will be able to evolve towards posts of head of mission, but often he joins the world of the company. In business, the Accountant can progress to Chief Accountant positions and later to Administrative and Financial Director positions depending on his initial training and experience.
