Financial Controller job description

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What is included in a Financial Controller's job description?
In smaller businesses, a Financial Controller may wear many hats and have additional responsibilities such as accounts payable and receivable, human resources, and information technology. Larger organisations typically have staff who specialise in each of these areas.
A Financial Controller typically has a degree in accounting or finance, and may have certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or a Chartered Accountant (CA).
What is the main role of a Financial Controller?
What are some typical duties of a Financial Controller?
- Tracking, reporting, and analysing budget variances
- Reviewing the company's financial statements to ensure they are accurate
- Preparing month-end reports for management, including profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements
- Recommending changes in policies or procedures that will improve financial performance
- Forecasting future financial performance
- Preparing and analysing budgets
- Providing accurate financial reports to management
- Ensuring compliance with government regulations
What are the responsibilities of a Financial Controller?
- Ensuring accuracy of financial statements
- Overseeing all financial planning and analysis
- Forecasting future performance
- Recommending changes to improve financial performance
- Utilising updated technologies for their job
A Financial Controller may choose to take additional business-related courses post-degree. Many employers also require professional certification such as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Chartered Accountant (CA).
What does a Financial Controller do day to day?
A Financial Controller also works closely with managers across all departments of the organisation, as well as external parties such as vendors and customers.
Developing financial models and cash flow projections is another part of this process. A Financial Controller may analyse results from these models to make recommendations for future activities such as marketing campaigns, and new product launches.
As part of their job, Financial Controllers also analyse financial results each month or quarter (depending on company accounting policy) to prepare monthly reports for the management team, as well as quarterly and year-end financial statements.
They may also be involved with mergers and acquisitions, which requires an understanding of complex accounting issues such as purchase price allocations.
A Financial Controller works within the general framework of a company's overall accounting and reporting system and makes sure that all relevant information is available for management use in running the business.
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