Qualifications and Experiences That Employers Seek from Corporate Accountants
Assignment Specifications
Purpose:
This assignment aims at developing a clear understanding of students on what qualifications and experiences employers seek from Corporate Accountants. Students will have to search and collect a significant number of job advertisements posted by employers in the electronic or print media or in the job search portals throughput the first 8 weeks of their trimester. Based on the collected job advertisements, they will have answer a series of questions and evaluated the qualifications and experiences sought in those advertisements with the learnings objectives, outcomes and contents of the subject.
Assessment task:
Collect as many job advertisements as possible on the position of ‘corporate accountant’, ‘corporate and management accountant’ ‘senior accountant’, ‘tax accountant’, ‘corporate financial accountant’ ‘corporate financial and management accountant’, ‘accountant corporate finance’, ‘senior financial accountant’ ‘senior accountant: tax and corporate reporting’ or any other similar positions published by Australian employers in electronic or print media or in job search portals (such as seek, Jora, Indeed etc.) from the first week of the Trimester to the week 7 of the Trimester.
Based on your collected advertisements, do the following tasks:
- How many job advertisements you have collected in total? How many job advertisements you have collected from each sources.
- Lists the name of the organisations posting the job advertisements and show the industry breakdown of the organisations posting the job advertisements.
- List all the job titles mentioned in the advertisements that you have collected.
- List all the personal attributes required from a corporate accountant that have been mentioned in the job advertisements that you have collected.
- List all the personal attributes required from a corporate accountant that have been mentioned in the job advertisements that you have collected with your detailed understanding of each of the attributes.
- List all the academic and professional qualifications of a corporate accountant that have been listed in the advertisements that you have collected.
- Based on the key roles, tasks, responsibilities identified from your collected job advertisements, how those key roles, tasks or responsibilities are related to the topics that you have learned in your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting.
- What additional topics, attributes or learnings outcomes are missing from your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting that are listed on the job advertisement.
- Critically examine the skills, experience and attributes needed to become a corporate accountant.
Also critically evaluate how the topics that you have learned in your MPA unit HI5020 Corporate Accounting have helped you in gaining the skills, experience and attributes needed to become a corporate accountant.
Executive Summary:
This report analyzes 30 job advertisements on the position of Corporate Accountant, Corporate tax accountant, Corporate Management Accountant etc. in the region on Australia. The main aim of the report is to analyze what are the basic requirements of the companies who are looking for corporate accountants. The analysis of the 30 advertisements showed that having the general knowledge on businesses, being technologically capable, and having expertise in communication skills with a combination of leadership skills would provide the individuals with a competitive edge in the market against other job applicants. This report showed that having expertise in some of the information systems comes in handy as well. However, the main attribute for which the companies are hunting for is related to individual skills regarding verbal and nonverbal communication, stakeholder management, team management, and leadership.
Introduction:
This report is dedicated to finding and identifying the right skills, qualifications, and attributes for which the corporate accountant employers are looking for. This report has hand-chosen 30 advertisements from across the industry and evaluated each of its requirements and compared it with other requirements of the other advertisements to find out the basic needs of the employers. The companies have been asking for over 2 years’ experience for the position of corporate accountant. Other than this, being associated with the CPA/CA accreditation is a must-have for this position. Furthermore, the companies and employers are demanding for the corporate accountants to not only be well equipped with finance and accounting knowledge but also with communication and leadership skills. Moreover, having a command on the accounting information systems and being technically an expert as well is another major requirement from most of the companies.
Published Jobs Analysis:
1. Sources of Selected Job Advertisements
The advertisements on the position for Corporate Accountants have been sourced from four job portals. The advertisement was published on the platforms of Seek.com, jora.com, LinkedIn, and Indeed.com. The distribution of the number of advertisements from each of the job portals is shown in the table below. It is to be noted that the advertisements selected have been intentionally chosen to have a wider spread in terms of the industries. It has been made sure that more of the industries and companies are chosen for the research to have as many variations in the requirements as possible. The job advertisements that have been searched were chosen by using the keywords of.
| Source of Advertisements | Number of Advertisements | Keywords Used |
| Indeed.com | 6.0 | Tax And Corporate Reporting: Senior Accountant |
| Seek.com | 8 | Corporate management accountant |
| Jora.com | 4 | Financial Accountant |
| LinkedIn.com | 12 | Accountant corporate finance, Corporate Tax Reporting Accountant |
2. Industries
The selected job advertisements and the industry to which it belongs are shown in detail in the following table. Furthermore, the breakdown of the industries is separately shown in the next table as well.
| Job Designation | Industry | Employer | Job Portal Source |
| Financial Accountant | Recruitment Services | Twoscots Recruitment | Jora.Com |
| Senior Financial Accountant | Gaming And Entertainment Services | The Star Entertainment Group | Jora.Com |
| Corporate Accountant | Recruitment Services | Hays Recruitment | Jora.Com |
| Senior Financial Accountant | Recruitment Services | Randstad | Seek.Com |
| Senior Corporate Financial & Management Accountant | Recruitment Services | Intuitive Recruitment | Jora.Com |
| Senior Tax & Business Services Accountant | Financial Services | Myssy + Co Accountants Pty Ltd | Seek.Com |
| Tax Accountant | Accounting | Private Advertiser | Seek.Com |
| Corporate Accountant | Government Agency | Hornsby Shire Council | Seek.Com |
| Financial Accountant | Recruitment Services | Sharp & Carter | Seek.Com |
| Financial Accountant | Recruitment Services | Fiona Watson Recruitment | Seek.Com |
| Corporate Accountant | Home Appliances | Waterlogic | Seek.Com |
| Senior Management Accountant | Financial Services | Ey | Indeeed.Com |
| Corporate Accountant | Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering/Telecommunication | Orbital Uav | Seek.Com |
| Assistant Management Accountant | Education | University Of Melbourne/Melbourne School Of Engineering (Mse) | Indeeed.Com |
| Financial Accountant | Publishing | Bauer Media Australia | Indeeed.Com |
| Senior Corporate Reporting Accountant | Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering/Telecommunication | Kone Corporation | Indeeed.Com |
| Financial Accountant | Recruitment Services | Michael Page | Indeeed.Com |
| Senior Accountant / Business Services Manager | Financial Services | Baker Andersen | Indeeed.Com |
| Management Accountant | Fp&A | Commercial Analyst | Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering/Telecommunication | Tdr Group | |
| Corporate Accountant | Recruitment Services | Robert Half | |
| Financial Accountant | Sports Organization | Rsl (The Returned & Services League Of Australia) | |
| Group Reporting Accountant | Construction | Hanson Australia | |
| Senior Accountant | Recruitment Services | Hays | |
| Senior Accountant | Recruitment Services | Michael Page | |
| Financial Accountant | Financial Services | Perigon Group | |
| Management Accountant | Media And Advertising | Trayne Consulting | |
| Fund Financial Reporting Accountant | Information Technology and Services | Anton Murray Consulting | |
| Accounting Officer | Accounting | Programmed | |
| Statutory And Regulatory Reporting Accountant | Information Technology and Services | Latitude financial | |
| Financial Accountant | Financial Services | Recruitment Services | Macias Consulting Pty Ltd |
As shown in the table below, most of the advertisements belong to recruitment companies. 11 of the advertisements are published by recruitment companies; however, these companies are publishing positions which belong to a diverse range of industries. These recruitment companies are publishing positions that are needed by corporate FMCGs, financial services companies, healthcare companies, retail companies, and construction companies. Other than this, four of the advertisements belong to the financial services companies, while three belong to mechanical, industrial engineering or telecommunication companies, two belong to the accounting firms, and two others belong to the information technology and services firms.
| Industry | No. of Jobs |
| Accounting | 2 |
| Construction | 1 |
| Education | 1 |
| Financial Services | 4 |
| Gaming and Entertainment Services | 1 |
| Government Agency | 1 |
| Home Appliances | 1 |
| Information Technology and Services | 2 |
| Mechanical or Industrial Engineering/Telecommunication | 3 |
| Media and Advertising | 1 |
| Sports Organization | 1 |
| Publishing | 1 |
| Recruitment Services | 11 |
| Grand Total | 30 |
This is also shown in the graphical representation to better understand the distribution of the advertisements in terms of the industries. A major chunk belongs to recruitment companies, mechanical and industrial engineering companies, and financial services firms.
3. Job Designations
As shown in the 1st question, the keywords used for the searching of these job advertisements included Senior Accountant: Tax and Corporate Reporting, Accountant corporate finance, Tax, And Corporate Reporting Accountant and Corporate financial and management accountant, Corporate financial accountant, The job titles that are advertised by the employers of the corporate accountant are shown in the table as follows. The resulting analysis shows that most of the advertisers and employers have used the job title of “financial Accountant” and “Corporate Accountant”. Other than that, Senior Accountant and senior financial Accountant are also some of the most commonly advertised job titles.
| Titles of Job | Employer |
| Assistant Management Accountant | 1 |
| Accounting Officer | 1 |
| Senior Corporate Reporting Accountant | 1 |
| Corporate Accountant | 5 |
| Financial Accountant | Financial Services | 1 |
| Financial Accountant | 7 |
| Group Reporting Accountant | 1 |
| Senior Accountant / Business Services Manager | 1 |
| Management Accountant | 1 |
| Fund Financial Reporting Accountant | 1 |
| Management Accountant | FP&A | 1 |
| Senior Accountant | 2 |
| Senior Corporate Financial & Management Accountant | 1 |
| Senior Tax & Business Services Accountant | 1 |
| Senior Financial Accountant | 2 |
| Senior Management Accountant | 1 |
| Statutory And Regulatory Reporting Accountant | 1 |
| Tax Accountant | 1 |
| Grand Total | 30 |
(Indeed.com, 2019) (Jora.com, 2019) (LinkedIn, 2019)
4. Personal Skills
- A person with hands-on and team orientated approach
- has strong verbal and non-verbal skills for communication
- Written communication and reporting skills
- Self-Motivated, positive attitude, can-do attitude, positive work ethic, is diligent, confident, self-starter, have the ability to take ownership of the responsibilities,
- Expert in written as well as spoken English
- Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, believing in accuracy, highly productive, strong multi-tasking abilities,
- proven abilities of meeting deadlines, ability to work under pressure,
- has been exposed to a broad range of portfolios
- proven leadership attributes
- Have the ability to work independently
- Has the ability to approach problems in an innovative and creative manner.
- Ability to make reports, documentaries, and presentations for varying audiences
- Stakeholder management
- Forward thinking, with excellent time management skills
- Ability to interact with diverse audiences
- Sound problem-solving skills have the ability to make practical recommendations
- Has a practical approach towards work?
- Has the ability to take initiatives
- Ability to work with bankers
- Ability to uphold the values of the company
- Strong skills of prioritization
- Flexible and process-driven professional
- Is easily approachable and accessible
- Quick Learner
- Computer skills (Oracle, TM1, Advanced Excel, Sage Software, Hyperion Planning Tool, and Power BI, MS Office, enterprise Systems, APS, Xero and the MYOB suite, IBM Cognos and Peoplesoft)
- Good accounting knowledge
- Has general business knowledge and is able to interact across businesses?
- Have expertise in scenario-based planning, financial modeling, forecasting, and accounting and financial concepts
- Strong experience in the reconciliation of accounts
- Have the ability to identify the issues and trends
- Have the knowledge of preparation of the financial statements, FBT returns, corporate tax returns, General Sales Tax return, and BAS Return
- Have knowledge of the accounting calculations for tax effects
- Technical writing abilities
- Passion for the specific industry
- Experience of building a professional corporate relationship with team members and corporate clients
- Has experience of management of workflow
- Strong experience in data analytics
- Data Entry Skills
- Multi-tasking ability
- Has the ability to explain the financial and accounting concept to the audiences who do not have any prior knowledge
- Experience across several functions of finance
- Experience with dealing with the internal and external auditors
- Exceptional statistical and deduction and quantitative skills
- Knowledge of local GAAP standards,
- Knowledge of Australian financial Reporting standards
- Knowledge of AASB standards
- Knowledge of IFRS Standards
- Has exposure and experience working with advisory groups of more than four entities
- Have expertise in the understanding of financial instruments and financial markets
- Experience in statuary and regulatory reporting
- Understanding of the Industry and regulatory guidelines
5. Analysis of Personal Skills
- A person with hands-on and team orientated approach
- has strong verbal and non-verbal skills for communication
- Written communication and reporting skills
- Self-Motivated, positive attitude, can-do attitude, positive work ethic, is diligent, confident, self-starter, have the ability to take ownership of the responsibilities,
- Expert in written as well as spoken English
- Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, believe in accuracy, highly productive, strong multi-tasking abilities,
- proven abilities of meeting deadlines, ability to work under pressure,
- has been exposed to a broad range of portfolios
- proven leadership attributes
- Have the ability to work independently
- Has the ability to approach problems innovatively and creatively.
- Ability to make reports, documentaries, and presentations for varying audiences
- Stakeholder management
- Forward-thinking, with excellent time management skills
- Ability to interact with diverse audiences
- Sound problem-solving skills have the ability to make practical recommendations
- Has a practical approach towards work and has?
- Has the ability to take initiatives
- Ability to work with bankers
- Ability to uphold the values of the company
- Strong skills of prioritization
- Flexible and process-driven professional
- Is easily approachable and accessible
- Quick Learner
My understanding of the above skills is that the company wants to have an individual who has the above soft skills in abundance. For instance, it wants to have a person who is confident, practical, and ambitious, learned, and flexible, has leadership abilities, is a team player, and has extraordinary communication and reporting skills.
- Computer skills (Oracle, TM1, Advanced Excel, Sage Software, Hyperion Planning Tool, and Power BI, MS Office, enterprise Systems, APS, Xero and the MYOB suite, IBM Cognos and Peoplesoft)
In my understanding, not all of these technical expertise could be found in one individual. For me, I think companies are looking for individuals who are tech-savvy and can easily and immediately learn the software’s and new systems, even if they have no prior working knowledge. However, having a basic knowledge of MS OFFICE, EXCEL and some of the systems, like SAP is essential.
- Good accounting knowledge
- Has general business knowledge and is able to interact across businesses?
- Have expertise in scenario-based planning, financial modeling, forecasting, and accounting and financial concepts
- Strong experience in the reconciliation of accounts
- Have the ability to identify the issues and trends
- Have the knowledge on preparation of the financial statements, FBT returns, corporate tax returns, General Sales Tax return, and BAS Return
- Have knowledge of the accounting calculations for tax effects
- Technical writing abilities
- Passion for the specific industry
- Experience of building a professional corporate relationship with team members and corporate clients
- Has experience of management of workflow
- Strong experience in data analytics
- Data Entry Skills
- Multi-tasking ability
- Has the ability to explain the financial and accounting concept to the audiences who do not have any prior knowledge
- Experience across several functions of finance
- Experience with dealing with the internal and external auditors
- Exceptional statistical and deduction and quantitative skills
- Knowledge of local GAAP standards,
- Knowledge of Australian financial Reporting standards
- Knowledge of AASB standards
- Knowledge of IFRS Standards
- Has exposure and experience working with advisory groups of more than four entities
- Have expertise in the understanding of financial instruments and financial markets
- Experience in statuary and regulatory reporting
- Understanding of the Industry and regulatory guidelines
In terms of these skills, the employers are specifically asking for the main subject areas in which the company requires the new professional to have expertise on. Even with having the requirement of accounting or finance degree with CPA or CA qualified, showing that having experience in or knowledge of IFRS, GAAP, taxation, reconciliation, budgeting, and forecasting shows that companies are looking for this expertise specifically in individuals.
6. Professional and Academic Qualifications:
The 30 job advertisements have required the following qualifications as must-haves for applying for these positions.
- Having more than two years’ experience in a similar role or in a similar field or a reputable firm
- Being awarded Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Computer finance, or Computer accounting or commerce accounting field.
- Qualified and accredited from CPA or CA
- Have working knowledge of SAP, Oracle, Enterprise Resource Planning systems, Power BI Analytics, Databases, STP, XERO Software, Payroll Systems, Microsoft Tableau, OBIEE, etc.
- Have interest and experience in the retail, healthcare, construction, financial services, manufacturing, Broker, or other related industries
- Have been working for tier two organizations or the big four organizations.
7. Job Description:
- Helping in the making of financial statements
- CAPEX Reporting
- Conducting process improvements
- Cash flow reporting and management
- Income tax, GST and FBT reporting
- Corporate tax return making
- Preparing monthly, annual, and quarterly and on-demand reports for the other departments and management
- Conducting variance analysis, performance analysis, ratio analysis, and sensitivity analysis
- Journal maintenance
- Ledger preparation and maintenance
- Cost analysis
- Statuary Reporting
- Internal Control Processes
- Payroll Management and processing
- Internal and External Audit Support
- Budgeting
- Forecasting
- Stakeholder Management
- Customer Service management
- Monthly end closing
- Reconciliations with journals
- Reconciliations with credit cards
- Reconciliation with banks
- Compliance with regulatory needs
- Administration of financial policies and corporate process
- Guiding the changes in taxation, accounting, and other standards trends
- Team management
- Leading the fiancé and management team
- Risk mitigation strategy development
- Written reporting and documentation
- Maintain credit accounts, and supplies accounts
- SAGE management
- Consolidation of reports
- Providing separate reports to all divisions of their performance
- Related accounting duties
- Payroll and IAS and BAS taxes
- Helping with data entry into the EPS
- KPI management and reporting
- Financial analysis conducting of industries, new products launch, and companies
- Cash projections
The above concepts have been mostly covered in the course. For instance, cash flow management, projections, bank reconciliations, financial statement analysis, balance sheet, and cash flow development, closing, reporting, consolidation of reports and etc. have been covered. However, the taxation and statuary regulations, trends analysis, sensitivity analysis, variance analysis, compliance, CAPEX reporting, and auditing can be included as well.
8. Missing Skills
As per the research and analysis conducted, the results show that the requirements that employers usually advertise for the positions of corporate accountant include some skills and attributes which are not covered in our course. Most importantly, all the technical expertise, other than command on MS Office, MS Excel, and to some extent, QuickBooks, are not covered. It is important as well to work on getting the knowledge on the taxation regulations, GST and income tax return filings, regulatory and statutory trends and frameworks, internal and external requirements of auditing, Contract law, treasury directions, and other important topics.
9. Analysis of needed Skillset
The position of corporate accountant requires individuals to have a combination of general business knowledge, technical skills, personal skills, and academic and experience qualification. For succeeding for a position of corporate Accountant in Australia, it is required firstly and foremost to have bachelor’s degree in accounting or relevant field of corporate accounting or finance. Furthermore, the companies usually are all demanding an accredited degree from CPA or CA; therefore, this is another must-have. Other than academic qualification, these positions demand two or more than two years’ experience of working in a related field or role. Moreover, in terms of technical expertise, having a command on ERP systems like SAP and Oracle, and working knowledge of QuickBooks, and other technical software’s is imperative. And this does not essentially end here. Personal attributes are an important requirement as well for the employers of corporate accountant. Companies are looking for individuals with strong interpersonal skills, good leadership, and teamwork qualities, and having proficiency in verbal and nonverbal and written communication is also essential. Therefore, covering these aspects can certainly help individuals in succeeding at getting hired as a corporate accountant (RobertHalf.com, 2018).
Conclusion/Summary
The report encompasses information on the requirements of the companies who are looking for individuals working as corporate accountants. The report has selected 30 job advertisements from the recent period to evaluate the general major requirements of the employers from the corporate accountant. In this report, analysis of the personal attributes and skills, academic and experience qualification, industry specifications and other related requirements from the corporate accountant are discussed in detail. The report entails information on how companies in various industries are looking for individuals who have technical expertise as well along with financial experience and academic qualification. Furthermore, this report also showed that the companies emphasize the personal attributes and skills of the individuals as well and having a confident, strong communication-oriented personality with mentoring and leadership abilities is a must-have for entering in this profession.
References List:
Indeed.com, 2019. Senior Management Accountant. [Online] Available at: https://au.indeed.com/jobs?q=Senior%20Management%20Accountant&start=20&vjk=cf15fc64824a013a [Accessed 24 September 2019].
Jora.com, 2019. Corporate Accountant. [Online] Available at: https://au.jora.com/job/Corporate-Accountant-224fef205c2e997809e4d61f7ef84ce6?from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fau.jora.com%2Fj%3Fl%3D%26q%3
Dcorporate%2Bfinancial%2Baccountant%26sp%3Dhomepage&sl=&sol_srt=c7b71e13-6d84-4fb7-bea3-d3d15334731f&sp=serp&sponsored=false&s [Accessed 24 September 2019].
LinkedIn, 2019. Financial Accountant. [Online] Available at: https://au.linkedin.com/jobs/corporate-accountant-jobs?position=18&pageNum=0¤tJobId=1477103485 [Accessed 24 September 2019].
RobertHalf.com, 2018. Accounting Skills You Need to Succeed On the Job. [Online] Available at: https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/the-accounting-job-skills-you-need-to-succeed [Accessed 25 September 2019].
