Finance accountants are needed in many different situations and for different roles, however, the core duties tend to stay the same. If you work in this profession it is possible for you to work in nearly any area from auditing a company to forensic accounting. There are certain duties that all general finance accountants are expected to carry out for the company, all though the finance accountant tends to be one of the companies directors. Some of these duties include;
Controlling the working capital for the company and making day to day decisions regarding stock, debts and creditors. They have to make sure they keep all out going payments and stock levels are kept at an acceptable level, for example if the amount the company owed out when up dramatically they would have to investigate why this was.- Giving advice to the board of directors on capital investment ideas/plans, this means they would have to keep up to date with the countries financial investment market to be able to make a wise investment plan for the company.
- Working with the other accountants in the company on the financial reports so they can explain to the board of directors exactly what every piece of information on the chart means for the company as a whole. From this they will be able to work to create the financial forecast for the next period whilst keeping all directors informed of any changes that may be occurring with in the company as a result of the forecast.
As well as the general company work they may be required to carry out there are different areas they can decide to specialise in including;
- An auditing accountants basic duty just includes auditing a companies accounts, this means the financial information the company uses as a forecast is revised to try and verify that the sources of information are reliable.
An environmental accountant can revise a companies financial spending to see if there is any way the company could be environmentally responsible and also profitable as well.
- Forensic accountants investigate crimes such as fraud or embezzlement and work closely with the departments trying to solve the crime.- Management accountants can offer all general finance accountant services but offer advanced services over the top of that service including budgeting accounts and performance monitoring.
So dependant on the situation there are financial accountants that can help with any accounting requirements.