Accountant Qualifications

To fill in the position as a staff accountant, an individual must be highly skilled. In a company, this position is within the purview of the finance department. A staff accountant reports directly to either an accounting manager or a finance director depending on the structure of the company. He may also have to supervise employees working under him.

A staff accountant`s duties are basically to perform accounting and budgetary work and other financially related tasks as required by the accounting manager or finance director. He will also be required to prepare financial statements and reports, analyze costs, maintain budget files, interpret and analyze financial records. His duties also include preparing bank reconciliations. He also needs to apply principles of accounting in analyzing financial information in preparing monthly internal reports. He must also be able to interact with the various departments throughout the company.

This is a highly-skilled position. As such, the individual needs to at least have graduated from an accredited college or university with a B.S. in Accounting. Certification as Public Accountant would be an advantage. Experience in a related field would deem the individual a highly desirable candidate for employment.

A staff accountant would have duties and responsibilities that require not only accounting knowledge but also knowledge of the current accounting practices. As such, a staff accountant must always keep abreast of the current financial news. He also needs excellent communication skills in order to convey information to the board of directors as well as in assigning duties to his subordinates. With these duties and responsibilities, a staff accountant may expect to work more than 40+ hours a week and may need to put in additional time as and when is required.