WHAT DOES AN ACCOUNTANT DO?
Published: May 15, 2025 - The Accountant performs daily, weekly, and monthly cash postings, prepares reconciliations and reports, and creates journal entries in compliance with accounting policies. This position supports monthly, quarterly, and yearly close processes by preparing schedules, account reconciliations, and assisting in variance analysis and external audits. This role maintains internal SOX controls, participates in special projects, and enhances professional knowledge through continuous learning.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Accountant
1. Accountant Duties
- Accounting Oversight: Oversee the company’s accounting and financial processes
- Bookkeeping Updates: Update company books on a monthly basis
- Financial Reporting: Prepare financial reports including P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
- Budget Preparation: Prepare and update the monthly budget and short-term revenue projections
- Data Reconciliation: Manage and reconcile all financial data necessary for accurate accounting of transactions and business results
- Payables Receivables: Manage accounts payable and receivable and ensure timely payments
- Payroll Processing: Manage and process payroll and reimbursements timely manner
- Regulatory Reporting: Oversee regulatory reporting, including tax planning and compliance
- Accounts Maintenance: Maintain the chart of accounts
- Filing Management: Maintain an orderly accounting filing system
- Transaction Controls: Maintain a system of controls over accounting transactions
- Insurance Renewal: Renew company insurance and support tax filings
- Audit Support: Assist with the company audit or financial statement compilation
- Cap Table: Maintain the cap table via Carta
2. Accountant Details
- Cash Posting: Record daily, weekly and monthly cash postings and bank reconciliations
- Cash Reporting: Prepare daily, weekly and monthly cash reports
- Journal Entries: Prepare general journal entries in accordance with department policy, including monthly, quarterly and yearly adjustments
- Close Assistance: Assist with the monthly close procedures and tasks, such as creating accounting entries
- Account Reconciliation: Prepare certain monthly account reconciliations, including fixed assets and prepaid
- Problem Solving: Ability to problem solve and find practical solutions to accounting questions through researching and data interpretation
- Balance Analysis: Assist in the preparation of monthly balance sheet analysis reports, accompanying schedules, and documentation of significant variances
- SOX Controls: Assist in documenting and maintaining internal SOX controls
- Audit Support: Assist with annual external audit by preparing assigned schedules and completing requested materials
- Project Contribution: Contribute to department and organization special projects
- Professional Development: Update job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities and reading professional publications/and maintaining CPE
3. Accountant Responsibilities
- Balance Reconciliation: Manage the completion and analysis of balance sheet reconciliations on a monthly basis
- ERP Proficiency: Proficiently operating in the accounting modules of a mid-tier ERP system
- Documentation Control: Ensure adequate documentation exists for all journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations, etc.
- Journal Preparation: Prepare journal entries and supporting schedules and support
- Expense Accruals: Manage monthly expense accrual processes primarily relating to accruals for goods and services received but not invoiced
- Lease Accounting: Manage the process for accounting for leases and related journal entries
- Subsidiary Accounting: Oversee foreign subsidiary accounting and reporting processes and prepare related intercompany and elimination entries
- GL Close: Provide support and participate in the management of the GL monthly close activities and processes
- Journal Entries: Prepare monthly journal entries for various business transactions, focusing on G&A (T&E, credit cards, accruals, allocations)
- Balance Analysis: Prepare monthly and quarterly balance sheet reconciliations and flux analyses in accordance with close calendar timelines
- Transaction Review: Review and analyze detailed transactions to ensure proper GL coding
- Audit Support: Assist in the support of external audit, including the preparation of audit requests and ongoing support
- Process Coordination: Coordinate with cross-functional partners to facilitate streamlined processes
4. Accountant Job Summary
- Financial Close: Assist in the monthly, quarterly, and annual financial close process including account reconciliations, accruals, journal entries, and researching discrepancies
- Invoice Matching: Match and organize vendor invoices to internal reports
- Check Run: Manage a weekly check run from processing vendor bills through mailing
- Customer Billing: Process customer billing, generate invoices and credit memos based on shipments and Returns
- Payment Processing: Receive payments and process deposits
- Receivables Review: Weekly review of Receivables Aging, contact and collect delinquent accounts
- Record Maintenance: Maintain and organize customer, vendor, and other accounting files and records
- ERP Training: Train and assist in the implementation of the new ERP system, bring over historical data
- Transaction Analysis: Process/analyze transactions in ERP including material, labor and overhead costs, and variances
- Issue Resolution: Research, track and resolve any accounting issues
- Report Preparation: Compile and prepare a variety of reports
- Audit Assistance: Assist the Controller with annual financial and other audits
5. Accountant Functions
- Asset Management: Performing fixed asset management
- Tax Management: Managing taxes and liaising with third parties to submit taxes
- Asset Oversight: Overseeing asset management
- Transaction Coding: Providing appropriate transactional coding
- Invoice Coding: Providing AP invoice coding to the SSC and ensuring proper posting of AP transactions
- Subledger Adjustments: Performing AP and AR subledger adjustments
- MEC Review: Undertaking MEC activity to review reconciliations and exceptions
- Journal Analytics: Preparing analytics for MEC and reviewing journals
- Tax Review: Reviewing tax calculations and sending to the SSC for posting
- Audit Support: Supporting the local statutory audit
- Ledger Reconciliation: Reconciling TB with the local ledger
- Transfer Pricing: Providing transfer pricing documentation and adjustments
- Non-PO Processing: Handling the Non-PO Processing
- SSC Coordination: Cooperating with the SSC on a regular basis