Everyone knows that an accountant is an essential team member to many businesses but may not necessarily know exactly what an accountant does. Though it is true that they crunch numbers and handle the finances of businesses, there is much more to the job than that.
Accounting is a profession that is prominent across the globe, meaning that whether you are an accountant in Sevenoaks, Kent, or in Sydney, Australia, there will always be a need for your services.
What is an Accountant?
An accountant is responsible for keeping and understanding monetary reports. There are many roles within the accountancy sector such as public accountants, management accountants, and government accountants. Each of these roles focuses on separate aspects of the profession as it is a very diverse sector.
Roles and Responsibilities
As previously mentioned, different types of accountants will have different duties and responsibilities. Despite this, the typical tasks of an accountant include:
- Confirming the accuracy of monetary reports, in addition to their conformity with significant policies and laws
- Preparing and maintaining vital monetary documents
- Preparing tax returns and guaranteeing that taxes are paid correctly and on time.
- Assessing monetary procedures to implement best-practices, recognize problems, organize resolutions, and contribute to the effective running of establishments
- Suggesting methods of expenditure reduction, income augmentation, and profit expansion
- Performing risk analysis assessments
Ultimately, accounts must legally act honestly and avoid negligence whilst certifying that their clients’ monetary reports are conforming with the applicable policies and laws.
Essential Skills
In order to be successful, an accountant must have:
Attention to detail
This is because all information in accountancy will need to be efficiently organized and accurately analyzed. In such a high volume of data, it can be easy to make mistakes but the simplest of miscalculations can escalate into much bigger problems if they go unnoticed and unamended.
Good Business Judgement
In order to correctly analyze and interpret monetary information, a fundamental understanding of business functions is essential. An ample understanding of business provides the necessary context of the monetary data that accountants deal with each day.
Computer Literacy
Accountancy requires the use of advanced software and other computing tools, so an understanding of these processes is vital.
Analytical Skills
The gathering of monetary information is essential in recognizing patterns and prospective problems.
Communication Skills
Listening is a key skill of accounting as accountants must be able to correctly collect facts and fingers from managers, clients, and other stakeholders. Similarly, they must be able to coherently convey the results of their work in both a verbal and written capacity.
Mathematical Skills
It goes without saying that an accountant must be competent in comparing, analyzing, and interpreting data.
What Does an Accountant Bring to a Business?
An accountant allows businesses to grow as they are able to offer guidance in taking companies to the next financial plane. They have the expertise to minimize tax bills whilst simultaneously raising finance as they can steer businesses towards obtaining additional finance. Accountants take the stress out of registering for VAT and ultimately assist you in managing and understanding financial change.
Conclusion
It cannot be denied that an accountant is a valuable asset to any business, and they have an unequivocally vital role in managing finance. Money and finances are the building blocks of any business and so having a professional to keep this data in order is a great addition to any company. Similarly, inaccurate tax returns can land you in heaps of trouble with the government and an accountant can ensure that this does not happen. The aim of businesses is to make money and so it needs to be well managed.