MightyRecruiterAn assistant controller often has a wide range of responsibilities. This individual is usually charged with overseeing daily account activities, internal auditing, budgeting and reviewing reports. Typically, this person aids a chief financial executive, treasurer or head controller in managing both the short and long-term fiduciary activities of an organization.
When creating your assistant controller job description, include the most critical qualities your ideal candidate must possess. Specify important educational and licensing requirements, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field or status as a Certified Public Accountant. Most organizations seek professionals with at least five years of prior work experience in business or financial occupations.
Your assistant controller job description should also list crucial skills such as critical thinking, analysis, communication, mathematics and leadership as well as a detail-oriented mindset. Use our example below as guidance for formatting and content in your own job posting.
Assistant Controller Job Summary
Put your hard-earned skills, analytical thinking and leadership qualities to work as an assistant controller for a home health care organization serving over 1,000 clients in a large suburban community. We’re looking for a detail-oriented, experienced professional to work closely with our Controller in overseeing both immediate and long-term fiduciary operations. With your financial expertise and wisdom, you will help our company continue to serve our current client base as well as offer compassionate care options to more individuals as we seek to expand operations into the larger metropolitan area. We offer opportunities for advancement along with a competitive pay and benefits package as well as a collaborative, supportive work environment in which people are put first while progressive values and a commitment to diversity are espoused.
Job Responsibilities
- Assist the Controller by overseeing accounting, billing, collections, payroll and financial reporting functions
- Generate financial statements, financial position forecasts, budgets, business activity reports and other documents that conform to federal and state laws as well as mandates by other regulatory agencies
- Guide and assist other departments by clearly communicating current accounting and budgeting policies and procedures as well as composing and disseminating new procedures and policies as necessitated by best practices and changes in federal and state regulations
- Encourage efficient use and maintenance of departmental and total organizational financial resources
- Review past and present data as well as the organization’s projected future financial health to help management craft sound strategies for fiduciary growth
- Schedule and direct regular audits of organizational accounts, financial transactions and other fiduciary activities to guarantee their compliance federal and state laws and regulations
- Work with the Controller to create immediate and future strategies for the organization’s fiduciary planning, procurement, investment and budgeting activities
- Oversee the training and development of finance staff, and delegate duties and authority to meet departmental and organizational goals
Job Skills & Qualifications
Reqiured:
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration or similar field
- At least five years of work experience in finance, accounting or business operations
- Advanced computer skills, including Office suite applications and financial reporting tools
Preferred:
- Certified Public Accountant status
- Prior experience in a health care organization
- Experience with enterprise resource planning tools, particularly in a health care setting
Assistant Controller Job Responsibilities
When your organization is looking to hire a new assistant controller, writing the job description becomes one of the foundational steps to hiring the best candidate. That’s why you need to know how to best present the assistant controller job responsibilities to a reader. Since assistant controller candidates will be looking to this important section to give them a good idea of the job’s expectations, it’s vital that it communicate clearly. It’s even more vital when you realize that this is also the lengthiest section of the assistant controller job description.
The first step to clear communications is to create a controlled list of 6-8 essential duties that define the job. Order them from most important to least important, and make sure you write in active language. To make things even clearer, start each item with a specific verb that helps the reader visualize the job responsibility, the way you expect items on a resume’s work history to be set up. That way, it’s easier for the reader to visualize the role instead of just analyzing it.
Here are a few examples of job responsibilities you might include in your assistant controller job description:
- Develop operating plans to strategize financial moves for the company
- Develop organizational policies and initiatives
- Supervise employees
- Maintain expertise through continuing education and research
Assistant Controller Job Specifications
When writing the assistant controller job description, it’s important to make sure you treat the less verbose sections with the utmost care, just as you do the lengthier sections. That’s because each part of the job description communicates something essential and unique to the reader. In the case of the assistant controller job specifications you will write into the qualifications and skills section, what is being communicated is the vital prerequisite training and skills.
To make sure your list of skills and specifications is complete, you will want to start by compiling your own list from a few example lists, to make sure you aren’t leaving anything out. From there, you can eliminate skills or proficiencies that don’t fit your organization. If you’re not sure which ones these are, hands-on research in the form of discussions and meetings with hiring managers and people who supervise assistant controllers is a great idea.
Once you have your list codified, try to make it as concise as possible by using detailed words that are specific to the role and active language in the writing.
Here are some examples you can adapt as you write your own assistant controller job description:
- Problem sensitivity
- Strong analytical problem-solving skills
- Quantitative analysis skills
- Experience managing financial resources
