Curious about what exactly an accountant does?
Whether it’s for an aspiring or a seasoned professional, we have everything you need to know about being an accountant.
But that’s not all you’ll be getting!
We’ve rounded up the top accountant requirements, duties, responsibilities, and some helpful facts about Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that can benefit anybody — from firm owners to professionals.
We also have templates you can use: an accountant job description template for a more general accountant position and another for a more US-focused accountant role.
What is an Accountant?
An accountant is someone in charge of a company’s finances. This role includes, but is not limited to, storing important financial documents, ensuring the transparency of financial records, and maintaining accuracy when encoding financial data.
These tasks are key to your company’s critical financial decisions. This is why screening and selecting accountants is crucial.
Accountant Requirements & Qualifications
To become an accountant, you need to have the right credentials and skill sets. Although there may be additional state-specific requirements depending on where you plan to practice, these are what most firms and companies look for as base qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting
- Trained in financial reporting and record keeping
- Knowledgeable about accounting tasks like billing, payroll, AR/AP, budgeting and forecasting
- Licensure to practice as an accountant (if required by the company)
- Thorough understanding of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)
Accountants vs Certified Public Accountants
Are they one and the same? In some ways, accountants are like CPAs, but there are distinctions that set the two roles apart. Note that every CPA is an accountant, but not every accountant is a CPA. Below is a table comparing accountants and certified public accountants.
Accountant
Earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting*
*except in some roles like auditing clerk or bookkeeping which don’t necessarily require an accounting degree.
No need to pass the CPA exam
Can qualify for entry-level accounting roles
CPA
Earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting** and took college credits of at least 150 semester hours or 225 quarter hours
**except in States like Hawaii, Maine, Alaska, Massachusetts and Georgia where an accounting degree is not required to take the CPA exam
Must take and pass the CPA exam, which consists of three (3) core exams and one (1) discipline exam
Must work as an accountant under a licensed, active CPA for at least one (1) year
Read More: Your Ultimate Guide to Being a CPA
Accountant Duties and Responsibilities
Accurate financial records, precise financial reporting, managing general ledger functions — there are many duties and responsibilities that accountants are expected to take on. With this, we made a table of accountant responsibilities to familiarize anyone curious about the role.
Note that these are general tasks, and not all accountant job descriptions must include everything in the table. Make sure that your skills and qualifications match the duties and responsibilities required by the company you’re applying for.
Accountant Duties and Responsibilities
Bookkeeping-Related Accountant Duties
- Preparing financial statements
- Recording and categorizing financial transactions
- Preparing and reviewing invoices
- Handling general ledger functions
- Managing income and expenditure accounts
- Reconciling bank statements
Payroll-Related Accountant Responsibilities
- Collecting employee timesheets
- Calculating allowances, deductions, and bonuses
- Distributing payment statements and receipts
Auditing-Related Accountant Duties
- Conducting in-house audits
- Preparing balance sheets and audit statements
- Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations i.e. GAAP
Tax-Related Accountant Responsibilities
- Filing and remitting taxes
- Preparing, estimating, and tracking tax returns
- Making quarterly and annual tax reports
- Planning tax season strategies
Other Occasional Tasks
- Conducting analyses of employee expenditures
- Monitoring the company accounting software and programs
- Training other beginner accountants
Based on the table, a general accountant job description entails tasks involving bookkeeping, payroll, auditing, and tax to name a few. As they deal with financial data, accountants are also major decision makers, finding ways to reduce costs as much as possible and seeking growth opportunities for their company or clients.
But they don’t stop at handling journal entries, annual returns, and variance analyses — they also value many other career-related initiatives and milestones, like continuing their education especially in related fields, or understanding the latest trends like artificial intelligence.
Aside from these, it’s also ideal for accountants to adopt new ways to handle financial data, like:
- Finding better ways to store, analyze, and company and client data
- Employing the best project management tools and integrating these into the existing workflow
- Knowing where to extract data for accurate financial forecasting
- Determining the best accounting software to use for the current accounting systems
However, accountants have varying skillsets and commitment levels to their jobs. Since accounting requires more attention to details than most jobs, a set of hard-and-fast rules had to be established.
Especially when it comes to encoding crucial financial data in the company’s ledger or reconciling financial discrepancies, accountants need extra steps to take for enhanced accuracy — and this is precisely why GAAP was developed.
Accounting Regulations: Explaining GAAP
GAAP or the generally accepted accounting principles are the standard rules and regulations in US accounting.
GAAP ensures that every private and public accounting firm in the United States complies with accounting standards, aiming to enhance the transparency of financial records, the accuracy of financial reporting, the reconciliation of financial statements, and especially in fixing financial discrepancies, among other established accounting standards.
In a nutshell, here are some key points that you need to know regarding GAAP:
- GAAP was created to guarantee the accuracy of the financial records of all registered companies.
- GAAP is administered by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
- GAAP is used in the US, while other countries follow a different set of rules and principles, i.e. the IFRS or the international financial reporting standards.
- GAAP focuses on accurate financial records and statements based on data-driven findings, while some firms utilize pro forma accounting, which is based on estimation or hypotheses.
For more information on GAAP, click here.
Free Accountant Job Description Template
Now that we’ve learned about the qualifications to be an accountant, delineated successfully between accountants and CPAs, familiarized ourselves with accountant duties and accountant responsibilities, and understood GAAP, here are 2 templates – each for a slightly different accountant job description.
About the Role
As our Accountant, you will serve as a primary point of contact between us and our clients. In this role, you are expected to handle accounting tasks like bookkeeping, auditing, etc.
We’re looking for an Accountant who pays careful attention to details and can multitask while beating deadlines. You will be managing the general ledger, taking charge of AR and AP, and handling payroll, along with other related tasks.
This position requires a competent professional who has good communication skills to liaise with clients and build long-lasting business relationships.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Keeping track of financial records and managing the general ledger
- Taking charge of accounts receivable and accounts payable
- Handling payroll tasks like collecting timesheets, applying allowances and deductions, etc.
- Reconciling bank activity and accounts
- Communicating with clients and coworkers via email, Teams, and Zoom regularly
- Preparing year-end financial statements
Skills and Qualifications
- 2 to 3 years of experience in accounting
- Strong familiarity with Xero and Microsoft Excel
- Experience handling full cycle AP with a large volume of invoices
- Can process payroll through payroll systems
- Can build long-lasting client relationships by liaising with clients as needed
- An understanding or willingness to learn about the textile industry
Compensation
- $50,000 to $65,000
Benefits
- Flexible Working Arrangement
- Health Insurance
- Paid Leaves and Paid Time Off (PTO)
- 401K
Job Type
- Full-time
About Us
[Company Name] offers accounting and financial consulting services to businesses in the textile industry. We serve our clients through handling their books, reporting important business analytics, and providing consultancy and advisory services so that best practices are implemented in your business.
Job Brief
We are looking for an Accountant to manage our financial transactions, including (but not limited to) bank deposits and budgets, fixed and variable expenses, and other financial documents.
Other accountant responsibilities include auditing, processing payroll, reconciling bank statements, making sure of accurate tax payments and returns, and handling AP/AR.
What we need is to ensure compliance with US accounting standards (GAAP) – we want accurate financial information while ensuring we’re compliant with all tax regulations.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting or other related fields
- Experience in bookkeeping, payroll, and tax
- Can handle AP/AR processes
- Attention to detail and accuracy of output
- Knowledge on IRS rules and GAAP
- Good communication skills
Bookkeeping Duties
- Recording and categorizing financial transactions
- Preparing and reviewing invoices
- Managing income and expenditure accounts
- Reconciling bank statements
Payroll Duties
- Collecting employee timesheets
- Calculating allowances and deductions
- Calculating bonuses
- Ensuring compliance with GAAP
- Ensuring compliance with the IRS
- Handling tax payments and returns
- Making accurate and error-free internal audits
If you’re interested in this role, send your resume/CV to HRemployee@companyemail.com
Where to Source Your Accountants
So now that you have your accountant job description and other details sorted, where do you get your accountants from?
Given the current talent shortage in the industry, quality accountants can be hard to come by. Not to mention the piling up of tasks on your current accountant roster which can make them prone to job fatigue and burnout. This could increase your turnover rate and impact your day-to-day operations significantly.
You need accountants who are passionate about what they do, with their vision aligned with your company’s goals.
If you can’t find in-house accountants, then perhaps it’s time to look beyond your shores: enter offshoring.
Reasons to Offshore Your Accountants
Offshore accountants deliver consistency, show transparency, and possess an incredible work ethic. As there is a current shortage in accounting talent worldwide, global accounting teams are here to rescue.
Here are the best reasons why you need offshore accountants on board:
Reduces operational costs
Allows room for scalability
Gives you enterprise-grade cybersecurity
Increases capacity
Lets you focus on core tasks and activities
You can source your accountants on freelance job sites, but the quality control will suffer. If you get W2 or similar employees on board, you might just be paying the same cost as getting in-house accountants.
So, what is the best course of action for this? Offshoring is your best bet for onboarding elite accountants to take charge of your billing, invoices, general ledger, payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable, internal audits, tax payments and returns, and more.
Looking for Accountants Offshore?
Your business needs an elite team of accounting professionals.
From tax accounting specialists to bookkeepers, auditors, and executive assistants, TOA Global provides elite offshore accounting staffing solutions to firms worldwide.
With TOA Global, you can tap US-trained accountants for a fraction of the cost, which increases your capacity, allows you to focus on core tasks, and saves your firm from the current talent crisis!
Offshoring your accountants is the long-term solution to stay in the black and flourish in the ever-evolving accounting industry. Start your journey in accounting offshoring today.
Book a chat with us to know more.
