Compared to controllers, it’s best to look at experienced accountants (even managers or other senior positions). An entry-level accounting job can be great, but most controllers have years of experience and several professional certifications. Virtually all controllers start their careers as accountants or work in a corporate environment before moving on.
Key Findings
An accountant or practicing accountant maintains and analyzes financial statements.
The controller or controller oversees the firm’s accounting operations, including the management staff.
Since the duties and responsibilities of controllers go beyond those of an accountant, they usually receive a higher salary.
There are no additional requirements to become a controller from an academic standpoint, but most have advanced degrees such as an MBA.
Accountants
Non-controlling accountants have a choice of several specialties. Someone is engaged in audit, someone is involved in tax accounting, someone works for the government, and someone is engaged in accounting and internal reporting.
Accountants of all stripes perform the functions of accountants or review other accountants’ work. They work to stop fraud and maintain accuracy for their colleagues, investors, creditors, and regulators. Many have a strict code of professional ethics, not unlike that applied in the medical industry.
Controllers
Controllers come in different types. The most typical are business and corporate controllers who maintain entire accounting systems for their employers. It means setting up an accounting infrastructure and keeping records for small companies, while larger companies use controllers as overseers. Other controllers perform for the government and are like their respective agencies’ chief financial officers (CFOs).
The business controller is, in fact, the chief accountant of the company. The controller is believed to be a member of the executive staff and usually plays a vital role in organizing and (in the absence of a better term) controlling the accounting staff in the company.
A common but underestimated role of the business controller is interpreting financial data. Controllers are usually highly experienced in accounting and business forecasting, especially as far as tax administration is concerned. The controller may also be asked to share their experience in investment, creditor relations, corporate governance, or other areas.
Often, the controller has one or two controller assistants at its disposal. Assistant controllers are typically less experienced and pay more time on the day-to-day minutiae of data collection, regulatory and regulatory reporting, and preparing particularly complex log entries.
Facts about the CFO position
The financial director, as a rule, is a member of the company’s top managers. Reports directly to the head of the firm. Maybe an associate of the board of directors of the organization. Its main features include:
development of a strategy for managing the company’s cash flows.
- Financial planning
- Building the monetary policy of the company
- It ensures the stability of the company in terms of capitalization
- Participation in the preparation of reports and control over the relevant procedure
Deputy General Director for Finance
It is usually within the competence of the person holding the position in question to analyze the situation within the firm and in those socio-economic and political environments surrounding it.
Comparison
What is the critical difference between a financial director and a chief accountant? It lies, first, in the difference in competencies associated with the right to dispose of funds.
The financial director can direct the capital belonging to the company for one purpose or another. At the same time, the chief accountant, in most cases, does not make such decisions. However, he provides their correct implementation and compliance with the law and reports on them so that the financial director can use the available figures to optimize the investment strategy.
We noted above that due to the nature of his job functions, the financial director might need to study internal corporate business processes and external factors affecting the company’s financial stability. In turn, the competence of the chief accountant usually does not possess such activities.
Thus, the financial director is accountable for the business’s compliance with market realities, for the efficiency of capital allocation, and for improving the company’s profitability. The duties of the chief accountant are to guarantee the legitimacy of financial transactions carried out by the company by preparing supporting documents and forming the necessary basis for the economic analysis conducted within the organization.
The work of a financial director is mainly related to interaction with business entities – company executives, representatives of partner organizations, investors, banks, etc. The chief accountant, in turn, is not very actively involved in such communications. However, he regularly interacts with government agencies – in the process of transferring reports there or during inspections. The financial director is not always connected to this direction.
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