5 Great Corporate Accounting Jobs

Five Important Careers in Corporate Accounting

  • General Accountant
  • Internal Auditor
  • Financial Analyst
  • Treasury Accountant
  • Controller

Many financial professionals accept one of a variety of great corporate accounting positions because there are some significant benefits of working for a corporation including more flexibility with time off requests and the opportunity to focus on a particular area of an industry. These professionals are part of a much larger team that completes bookkeeping tasks, evaluates investments, performs audits, and helps direct the organization’s financial future. Some of these positions include the following.

1. General Accountant

Generalists are entry-level positions in many different accounting departments including accounts payable or receivable, budget tracking, and bookkeeping. Often these accountants are tasked with preparing reports for management and keep all records current as necessary per governmental and banking regulations. As many traditional accounting tasks are now automated, general accountants also read through the reports and other automatically generated data to make sure everything makes sense and there are no obvious errors.

2. Internal Auditor

External auditors, sent by government offices or financial institutions, periodically check on large corporations to ensure that they are reporting correct financial information and that all rules are being followed. Corporations have their own internal auditor teams to regularly check for the same things so that they can find and fix errors before problems arise. This is one of the more variable corporate accounting jobs because the auditing team investigates all different parts of an organization.

3. Financial Analyst

Entry-level financial analyst positions focus on a specific product line or service offered by the corporation. These accountants study trends to help set price points and make sales predictions. Mid-level and upper-level financial analysts use similar techniques along with advanced statistics to analyze larger portions of the company and make recommendations for maximizing overall profits. These professionals utilize programming skills, as Forbes reports, to design and manage databases to help with these tasks.

4. Treasury Accountant

This is a very practical corporate accounting position that involves monitoring the cash going in and out of the organization on a daily basis. These professionals are in charge of transferring money between accounts and, in some instances, arranging physical transportation of money to banking institutions. Some of these tasks are similar to those of an auditor as treasury accountants frequently double-check the work of other departments to ensure there are no discrepancies between actual totals and reported information.

5. Controller

This is the top accounting position in a corporation and is responsible for all financial aspects from cash flow to accounts payable to investments. In small organizations, the controller personally completes most accounting tasks, but in medium and large companies, they manage teams who do the work and monitor reports created by team leads. Also called the Chief Accounting Officer, professionals in this position work with other high-level managers to drive company profits.

Whether an accountant is interested in climbing the corporate ladder or in finding stability in a mid-level position, corporations offer a predictability that is not found in smaller companies and generally offer better benefits than the public sector. Accountants of all skill levels can find a promising corporate accounting job.

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