MightyRecruiterThe last thing a hiring manager wants to do is spend hours weeding through applications from unqualified job seekers or those who did not understand the requirements for the position. A well-written posting acts as a buffer between the less-qualified and the those who are the top talent. In fact, an accurate and precise job description can attract individuals who are not actively searching for a career change. Investing time to write an on-point job description you will save you the trouble of reviewing hundreds of applications from potential candidates who miss the mark completely. Here is a Financial Accountant sample job description to help you get started drafting with your job description.
Financial Accountant Job Summary
As a financial accountant, you will offer professional assistance to diverse organizations to ensure compliance with regulations and legal requirements, and offer financial stability. You will also use general ledgers to create financial statements and engage in mergers and acquisitions accounting decisions, long-term economic projections, and benefits forecasting. After investigating and interpreting financial data, you will present management with a variety of different financial reports.
Financial Accountant Job Responsibilities and Duties:
- Compiles and analyzes account data to create capital, liability, and asset account entries
- Enters account details to document financial transactions
- Analyzes accounting alternatives to suggest financial actions
- Collects data to summarize current financial status
- Prepares profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and other documents
- Audits records to substantiate financial transactions
- Prepares and recommends procedures and policies by maintaining accounting controls
- Coordinates activities and answers questions to guide accounting clerical staff
- Collects and examines account information necessary to reconcile financial discrepancies
- Completes database backups to secure financial information
- Follows internal controls to ensure financial security
- Verifies documentation, requests expenditures, and prepares disbursements
- Researches and interprets accounting regulations and policies to resolve procedural questions
- Studies current and new legislation to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local financial regulations
- Advises management on necessary operations to enforce adherence to legal requirements
- Gathers, interprets, and compiles account trends and data to create specialized financial reports
- Ensures client confidentiality by keeping financial information secure
- Achieves individual and team goals by contributing to effort as needed
Financial Accountant Skills and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or related field
- Master’s of Business Administration degree preferred
- Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, or Accredited in Business Valuation credentials preferred
- Strong computer skills with Microsoft Office Suite and financial reporting software
- 2+ years’ experience with financial accounting systems, extraction of financial data, and data analysis
- Proficiency in Hyperion or Mapics Accounting software or related systems preferred
- 10-key by touch
- Ability to work under extensive time constraints
Company Profile
SGB Bancorp is one of the few locally owned and operated banks in the Pacific Northwest. As a full service bank, we offer quality services and products to build relationships with the clients we serve. We provide commercial and retail banking, consumer finance, and investment banking services to companies and individuals in the Portland, Oregon area.
Writing a Job Description Best Practices
- This is a great Financial Accountant sample job description, but what about those times when you have an odd job or one that you have created solely for your company? A guideline for writing including these few practical do’s and don’ts can help you create an accurate posting for any position. Follow these best practices in those instances.
- Do provide job specifics by highlighting the position requirements.
- Don’t use words that could be interpreted differently by various individuals.
- Do use adjectives to describe the pace of the role in the company.
- Do mention company benefits and salary ranges along with corporate culture, mission, and environment.
- Don’t use language that might raise discrimination questions.
- Do write the posting to pique candidates’ interest in your business enough to want to apply.
- Don’t list unreasonable expectations or overstate the needs of the job.
- Do use a friendly tone and explanatory phrases to describe how the job is performed.
- Don’t rely on jargon, abbreviations, or acronyms that are specific to your business.
The Financial Accountant sample job description we have included is a solid example of how you can locate top talent with an accurate and precise job description and move them to action by requesting that that send in their resume. You will see a significant return on your investment in the effort it takes to write a standout posting.
Financial Accountant Job Responsibilities
When composing your job description, it’s important to ensure that it accurately reflects what you’ll expect from the successful candidate on a daily basis. Jobseekers will read your financial accountant job description to assess whether they meet the qualifications for your position as well as determine which professional strengths and experiences to emphasize in their resumes. To attract the right applicants, you’ll need to write clear, organized text that effectively communicates the role this position will play inside your organization.
A successfully written financial accountant job description provides vital details about the job without becoming bogged down with minutiae. Achieving this goal requires you to structure its critical duties and specialized aspects in a list of 6-8 bullet points. Additionally, use strong action verbs to give a clear picture of exactly what the successful applicant will do for your organization. Review these examples of financial accountant job responsibilities you might find in a typical job posting:
- Collect, analyze and summarize fiduciary data in the form of monthly, quarterly and yearly financial statements
- Study and comply with state and federal tax filing requirements to prepare tax filings, calculate liabilities and submit payments to the appropriate taxation agencies
- Catalog and maintain the organization’s financial records
- Monitor the company’s fiduciary health and make recommendations to management for future growth and stability
Financial Accountant Job Specifications
Although the qualifications and skills section of your financial accountant job description may seem simple to write, you should not underestimate the importance of composing unambiguous, explicit content. Think of this portion as another method of eliminating the number of candidates who aren’t quite suited for the job. This involves delineating the exact abilities, technical skills, work experience and educational experience that you seek in your ideal applicant.
Before you start drafting this segment of your financial accountant job description, you should meet with the hiring manager or senior leadership to whom your chosen candidate will report. Collaborate with that person to determine which skillsets and qualifications are absolutely necessary, and which ones you can include in your “preferred” group. You’ll need to format these into two separate lists as you write your content. When you do this, you’ll make it clear to jobseekers what you’re looking for and cut back on your chances of getting applicants who aren’t qualified.
Need some assistance? Take a look at these common financial accountant job specifications for inspiration:
- Excellent problem-solving, analytical and critical thinking abilities
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Minimum of 3 to 5 years of work experience in a related industry
- Bachelor’s degree or greater
