WHAT DOES A GENERAL ACCOUNTANT DO?
Updated: Dec 31, 2025 - The General Accountant maintains financial records and working papers, performs full cycle accounting duties including month-end accruals, GL reconciliation, and inventory analysis. This position conducts income statement analysis, reviews expenses, investigates variances, and coordinates inter-company transactions. This role assists in monthly management reporting, supports year-end audit preparations, and ensures compliance with tax requirements.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for General Accountant
1. General Accountant Duties
- Approval Management: Ensure that all approvals are obtained before processing AP invoices
- Invoice Data Entry: Accurately enter all vendor invoices in a timely and efficient manner
- Expense Coding: Ensure that all expenses are coded to the right GL account and dimensions
- Vendor Communication: Communicate with vendors on payments and payable inquiries
- Reconciliation: Reconcile vendor statements to ensure completeness of records
- Accruals Management: Work with the Controller to ensure that all accruals are in place for month-end closing
- Credit Card Expense Reporting: Send out Credit Card Expense Reports and review them for accuracy and receipt compliance
- Journal Entries: Responsible for all month-end journal entries, including bank reconciliations
- Invoice Processing: Work with key managers to ensure that all invoices have been received and processed
- Chart of Accounts Mastery: Master the chart of accounts and be able to explain what belongs in each GL account
- Variance Analysis: Review variances versus budget and prior year for income statement preparation and explain variances and identify incorrect GL account postings
- Ad-Hoc Financial Reporting: Prepare ad-hoc financial reports with regards to GL postings
- Ad-Hoc Analysis: Perform ad-hoc reporting and analysis as necessary
- Process Improvement: Constantly strive to improve daily responsibilities through innovation and tenacity.
2. General Accountant Details
- SOX Compliance: Perform SOX walk-through and audit support
- Ad-Hoc Reporting: Provide Ad Hoc reporting
- Journal Entries and Reconciliations: Prepare various journal entries and account reconciliations
- Foreign Office Spending Review: Review foreign office spending and payments
- Vendor Payment Processing: Process foreign vendor payments via wire transfers
- Overhead Reporting: Compile overhead spending reports
- Month-End Reporting: Preparation of month-end management reports and financial results
- Tax and Audit Support: Support local tax, audit, and statutory reporting requirements
- Internal Control: Participate in Internal Control reviews, SOX testing, and various special projects and ad hoc reports
- Adjusting Entries: Prepare adjusting, reversing, and accrual journal entries on a monthly basis for all revenue, unbilled, and unearned amounts
- Record Accuracy: Ensure compliance with established policies and procedures and accurate recording to general ledger accounts
- Revenue Variance Analysis: Conduct monthly analysis, investigation, and explanation of revenue variance from forecasts
- Financial Analysis Support: Assist management with financial analysis related to billings and revenue
- Cash Management: Perform various cash management tasks including monitoring bank balances, generating bank transfers, posting bank transactions, and performing weekly and monthly bank reconciliations
- Account Reconciliations: Prepare month-end account reconciliations and intercompany reconciliations.
3. General Accountant Responsibilities
- Bank Statement Management: Download and format daily bank statements
- Cash Balance Monitoring: Monitor cash balances to ensure no overdrafts arise
- Bank Transaction Recording: Record bank transactions in the general ledger
- Bank Reconciliation: Prepare weekly and month-end bank reconciliations and quarterly funding requests
- Manual Payment Coordination: Coordinate with other departments for the receipt of and preparation of manual payments
- Internal Reporting: Prepare and post mid-month and month-end front-end internal reports for all Fund Groups
- Asset Management: Run ISR asset for manually paid dealers
- Accrual Preparation: Prepare manual payment accruals
- Receivables Analysis: Mid-month & month-end analysis for payables and receivables
- Advisor Charge Calculation: Calculate and post Retro advisor charge
- Project Participation: Participate in departmental projects and/or participate in cross-departmental projects
- Procedure Maintenance: Assist with the maintenance of policies and procedures related to global commissions
- Journal Entries: Prepare and process journal entries and ensure that entries created tie-up with the GL
- Prepaid Transactions Management: Maintain and journalize prepaid transactions, ensuring completeness and accuracy
- Month-End Close Assistance: Assist in the month-end accounting close process
4. General Accountant Job Summary
- Financial Record Management: Prepare and maintain financial records and working papers in support of transactions and ensure transactions are posted to the appropriate company and general ledger accounts
- Income Statement Analysis: Perform income statement analysis
- Variance Investigation: Review expenses and investigate account variances
- Full-Cycle Accounting: Responsible for full cycle accounting duties that include month-end accrual & adjusting entries, GL account reconciliation, fixed assets continuity schedule, bank reconciliation, and month-end foreign currency revaluation
- Inventory Reconciliation: Reconcile month-end inventory sub-ledger with GL
- Inventory Valuation: Analyze inventory valuation, PPV, and investigate any unusual transactions
- Inventory Aging Monitoring: Monitor inventory aging and follow up on obsolete inventory with the sales team
- Inter-Company Transactions Reconciliation: Review and reconcile inter-company transactions with related companies, coordinate and apply inter-company payments with the sub-ledger, and resolve any variances and discrepancies
- Management Reporting: Assist with the preparation of monthly management reporting packages
- Financial Statement Review: Perform a preliminary review of financial statements and investigate any exceptional situations and resolve the issues
- Financial Analysis: Analyze and compare financial results to historical data and budget targets
- Audit Support: Participate in year-end closing, prepare year-end external audit schedules, and respond to various queries and requests from external auditors
- Tax Filing Support: Support annual corporate tax filing working schedules, provide related information to the external tax consulting firm
- Tax Compliance: Ensure the daily transactions and period-end reporting are compliant with tax requirements
- File Management: Maintain up-to-date, complete, and systematic filing system to support bookkeeping and financial records
5. General Accountant Accountabilities
- General Accounting: Perform General Accounting tasks required to complete financial statements
- Audit Risk Management: Support initiatives that reduce audit risk and strengthen controls at ES and the Company
- Audit Coordination: Coordinate and support audits initiated at ES, Corporate, and Businesses by DCAA & DCMA, PwC, Internal Audit, and other audit agencies
- Audit and Compliance Analysis: Conduct audits, analyze results, and compile reports of findings and recommendations to ES and Business management to assess compliance with government regulations and company policies
- Employee Timecard Auditing: Perform timely audits of employee time cards utilizing available systems, face-to-face employee meetings, e-mail surveys, and phone interviews
- Expense Statement Review: Perform reviews of expense statements
- Cost Transaction Auditing: Perform audits of other cost transactions processed by ES
- Financial and Operational Audits: Conduct other financial and operational audits and reviews to assess compliance with company policies, internal controls, and applicable laws and regulations
- Process Improvement: Partner with ES process owners and business units to evaluate and recommend improvements to audit practices and financial processes
- Journal Entries Preparation: Prepare monthly recurring entries and other journal entries
- Year-End Audit Support: Participate in the year-end audit process
- External Audit Reporting: Provide information for external auditors and prepare reports
- Sales and Margin Analysis: Provide insight and analysis on volume, net sales, and margin variances versus forecast, prior year, and plan by customer/product
- Sales Tax Management: Perform Online Sales tax payment and Sales tax reconciliation to our US entity
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Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.