Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in business and industry work for different companies ranging from family-owned enterprises to massive corporations. They are deemed as strategic business partners of their relevant businesses and work in a diverse range of areas along with those mentioned below. AICPA and CIMA, the world’s top accounting organizations, empower these professionals with the requisite skills and prowess while the CGMA designation gives them research, tools and a worldwide network. CGMA is the novel global designation that is granted to CPAs working in business and government. The CGMA complements your CPA qualifications in a strategic manner as it bolsters and strengthens your expertise and experience.
1 – Staff-Financial Accounting & Reporting (1-3 Years)
These personnel work under the auspices of a Senior Accountant and conducts in-depth tasks in one or more of the following areas: receivables, payables, payroll, property, general ledger and financial statements.
2 – Staff-Management Accounting (1-3 Years)
A Senior or Manager supervises the Staff-Management Accounting professional and ensures that in-depth cost data is collated. He or she may be responsible for preliminary cost review and formulation of reports.
3 – Staff-Tax Accounting (1-3 Years)
Working under a Senior or a Manager, the Staff-Tax Accounting professional develops returns or different schedules for review.
4 – Staff-Internal Audit (1-3 Years)
A Senior or Manager supervises the Staff-Internal Audit professional and ensures that appropriate compliance audits are conducted and test internal controls and information systems.
5 – Senior-Financial Accounting & Reporting (3-6 years)
A Senior-Financial Accounting & Reporting officer looks after the tasks performed in one or several of the general accounting fields such as receivables, payables and financial reporting. These professionals may also be designated to formulate special reports and review financial data.
6 – Senior-Management Accounting (3-6 Years)
This professional looks after a portion of the entire management accounting system and is generally assigned special or project cost related studies.
7 – Senior-Tax Accounting (3-6 Years)
Senior-Tax Accounting professional is responsible for working in the following areas: federal, state, and local income taxes; sales tax, property tax or payroll tax.
8 – Senior-Internal Audit (3-6 years)
A senior internal audit officer oversees the testing of internal control and accounting information systems. He or she regularly conducts statistical samples of document approval, carries out special tests to bring to the forefront existing lacunas and carry out operational audits for profit improvement suggestions.
9 – Financial Accounting & Reporting Manager (6+ years)
A Financial Accounting & Reporting Manager helps the Controller and is generally held responsible for one of the functional areas such as financial accounting or budgetary planning and control. He or she coordinates and supervises the work of personnel involved in comprehensive accounting entries, internal financial reporting and financial statements.
10 – Management Accounting Manager (6+ years)
A Management Accounting Manager oversees personnel responsible for formulating and changing the management accounting system. He or she creates product costing techniques, sets up cost control measures, ensures timely and accurate labor, material, and overhead reports, directs the undertaking of special cost studies and periodically analyses designation of overhead costs.
11 – Tax Manager (6+ years)
A tax manager works under the Controller and supervises the personnel tasked to determine the company’s liability to disparate taxing agencies for income tax, licenses, sales tax, property tax and payroll tax. A tax manager also reviews the effect of tax accounting alternatives and researches laws and regulations to ensure accurate implementation of new tax measures.
12 – Internal Audit Manager (6+ years)
An Internal Audit Manager supervises the personnel responsible for systematically sampling the adequacy and the reliability of the internal control systems. He or she makes recommendations for modifications as required, and ensures that company policies and systems are followed. In addition, he or she sets up the proper protocols to unearth and prevent fraudulent practices. The Internal Audit Manager also chooses areas of concern for operational auditing.
13 – Assistant Controller
An assistant controller works under the Controller and helps in overseeing of regular collection and interpretation of accounting data. He or she supervises statutory and management reporting functions but the scope can vary from one firm to another. He or she formulates comprehensive journal entries and account analyses and also helps in creation of tax return and financial statement.
14 – Controller
A controller acts basically as the Chief Accounting Executive and organizes, directs, and controls the work of the accounting personnel in collecting, summarizing and interpreting financial data for the use of management, creditors, investors, and taxing agencies. He or she is the member of the top management echelon, assists in formulation of forecasts for proposed projects of the company, gauges actual performance against operating plans and standards, and interprets the results of operations for all levels of management.
15 – Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
A chief financial officer provides appropriate advice to the President or Chief Executive Officer of the company related to financial reporting, financial stability, liquidity and growth, and financial strategy, design and execution. He or she oversees the work of the Controller, Treasurer, and sometimes the Internal Auditing Manager. Moreover, a Chief Financial Officer maintains relationships with stockholders, financial institutions and the investment community. More often than not, the CFO is a member of the Board of Directors and/or the Executive Committee and contributes to overall organization planning, policy development and implementation.
16 – Audit Committees
Positions are there as an Audit Committee Chair or Audit Committee Member for public companies, private companies and not-for-profit institutions.
