The chief accountant has enormous significance for the growth of a business. What is a chief accountant? What is the career perspective of this industry? What is the secret to becoming a top chief accountant? You will find the answers to these questions through this article of Navigos Search.
1. Chief Accountant definition
As the head of the accounting department, a Chief Accountant (CA) is in charge of finance, directing and orienting the financial affairs of an enterprise. For large businesses, the Chief Accountant will supervise the work of financial specialists and work under the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Chief Accountant is the head of the accounting department
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2. Key responsibilities of a Chief Accountant
Manage all activities of the accounting department
Holding a management position, CA is responsible for making recommendations to leaders in increasing profits and cutting costs. When the economy shows signs of going down, the Chief Accountant must provide effective financial methods to help businesses overcome difficulties.
The chief accountant supervises all activities of the accounting department, ensuring that all subordinates constantly change to be well-suited to market needs and participate in the training program. They are also the guide for new employees on the working process and the accounting formula of the unit.
The Chief Accountant is also responsible for ensuring the progress and performance of work in the business, timely reporting, and giving suggestions to help leaders handle problems that arise effectively and promptly. For the accounting activities management, the chief accountant will apply new technologies and techniques to increase efficiency and reduce time and costs. In addition, they are also the ones who perform transactions with banks.
Supervisie settlements
The Chief Accountant must oversee the settlement of revenues and expenditures and inventory the business's assets and cash flows. The management board can request the settlement anytime, so the CA must always be ready to meet their needs.
Besides, they must present the results to the management board and related stakeholders if any. Monitoring the settlement process will help CA handily grasp the business situation to take timely actions to reduce costs and increase financial efficiency for businesses.
Make financial statements
A financial statement is a document summarizing the results of production and business activities in each period of an enterprise. Financial statements are prepared at a specified period such as the end of a month, the end of a quarter, or when required by management. This task can be performed by the chief accountant or by the accountant with the supervision of the CA.
The person in charge of this position has to do a lot of work
Ensure legitimacy in accounts
With this responsibility, the CA must ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and legitimacy of documents, accountants, payment papers, financial statements, balance sheets, insurance and financial statements, insurance, and liabilities with banks, clients, and investors. The CA takes the responsibility of the auditor for the unit's important books and documents.
Analyze and forecast finance
Financial analysis and forecasting is a significant task of the CA. Based on business performance, and domestic and foreign market economic situation, they must make a forecast consistent with the market trend and unit.
From there, businesses will know clearly which areas to focus on investing more in and what budget level should be maintained for reasonableness. Financial analysis and forecasting also helps enterprises promptly handle arising risks and overcome financial problems.
In addition to the main tasks related to accounting and tax, the CA also performs some other duties at the request of the superiors. These duties will depend on the unit they are working for.
3. What are skills needed for a Chief Accountant?
To successfully find Chief Accountant (CA) job, in addition to meeting the requirements for degrees, certifications, and professional knowledge, you must also have the following skills:
Leadership skills: CA is the head of the accounting department, responsible for all accounting activities in the business. Thus, leadership skills are indispensable. The CA will directly manage the accountants and ensure that they strictly comply with the accounting regulations of the state and the business.
Analytical skills: The CA is responsible for assisting seniors in making important decisions related to finance, accounting, and tax, directly affecting the interests of the business. To support effectively, the CA needs to research economic transactions and arising events and assess the impact of accounting policies on enterprises. Mastering analytical skills will help CAs perform these tasks accurately, quickly, and efficiently.
Mathematical skills: Accounting is often known as a profession that works with numbers. Therefore, a chief accountant must have mathematical skills, especially algebra, to understand financial information and complex business figures. Good mathematical skills will help CA save time in updating and analyzing data.
Organizational skills: CAs have to perform a large amount of work related to books, information, and data, so they need good organizational and time management skills to complete tasks optimally. The CA must also use organizational skills to organize and arrange the work of the accountants in the department to ensure that each person has a unique role and contributes to the overall success.
Communication skills: The CA must communicate with accountants to give specific instructions and directions and consult senior managers. Notably, in case it is necessary to convey professional information to people outside the accounting industry, excellent communication skills are the key to helping CAs convey accurate, and easy-to-understand information.
It requires many factors to be a successful CA
Besides the above skills, chief accountant recruiters also require many qualities. They include carefulness, meticulousness, and high discipline because minor mistakes can also cause great losses to the business, a spirit of learning, absorbing and striving for work, honesty, and always being objective.
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4. Roadmap for promotion to CA position
There are lots of career opportunities for CAs as most companies and businesses need this position. However, to be considered for a chief accountant, in addition to honing your knowledge, professional skills, and practical experience, you also need a clear promotion path, specifically:
Being a staff in the accounting department
First, you should start from the position of purchasing accountant, tax accountant, debt accountant, paymaster accountant, etc. Handling operations for each part from a low position will be the first stepping stone for you to get used to the job. As a staff of the accounting department, you will gain handy practical knowledge and skills. An in-depth understanding of an accounting profession will create a solid foundation of knowledge and necessary skills for applicants.
Being a general accountant
After having 3 - 5 years of working experience in the position of staff in the accounting department, with solid expertise and skills, you should try to take on the general accountant position. Those undertaking this position must have synthesis skills and an overview of all accounting activities of the unit. A general accountant will directly support the chief accountant. As you do the job, you can learn more about practical experience and skills from senior managers.
Being a chief accountant
When you are confident with your knowledge and skills, can take responsibility for the accounting department, and consult the CFO and the management board, you are ready to advance to the position of chief accountant.
With this title, you can work at many businesses at once. The important thing is that you must meet the work requirements of the business and do not violate professional ethics when working as chief accountant for many units.
Being confident in your knowledge and skills means you are ready for a CA position
5. Salary and career opportunities of CA position
The chief accountant is a senior manager who is under high pressure and with many responsibilities. CA is considered a high-paying office job. Depending on the size of the business, the job performed, the field of business, and the working experience of each person, the salary will be different.
However, the average salary in the market for this position ranges from about 15 - 30 million VND/month, not including overtime allowance. Those who work as chief accountants for many units and perform well will receive an incredibly high salary.
6. Find a Chief Account job at Navigos Search
Hopefully, with the information compiled and shared by Navigos Search above, you have an overview of this position. If you are finding a chief accountant job, refer to the recruitment news posted on Navigossearch.com.
Established in 2002, Navigos Search is Vietnam's leading recruitment agency for middle and senior-level personnel and is a part of Navigos Group- Vietnam's largest traffic recruitment website- VietnamWorks. With a huge data volume of 375,000+ senior candidates, 85,000+ senior management candidates, and more than 5,000,000+ accounts from VietnamWorks, our headhunters have supported clients in all fields.
With a team of professional, experienced consultants who are deeply knowledgeable in each core industry field and a strict working process to ensure the best quality information. Navigos Search has reached new heights in customer service quality, leading in the field of recruiting middle and senior-level personnel in Vietnam.
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Whether you are looking for a Chief Accountant job or want to be informed about positions that match your skills and experience, quickly send us your CV to be immediately contacted if there are any suitable vacancies. Notably, if your business is looking for personnel, don't hesitate to contact us as per information below:
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