Cost and Work Accountant

Cost and Management Accountant manages all the financial matters of the company by recording and analyzing the overall cost of production and fixed costs including material cost, labour cost and overhead expenses such as office and administration expenses, selling and distribution expenses etc. It is the work of cost and management accountant to provide the financial information to the management team and internal parties to help in taking a decision for future growth and profitability and also to make a comparison of the performance of the organization over the years. A cost and management accountant not only compute the cost but also helps in ascertaining, allocating and distributing the cost to the proper accounts.

As a cost and management accountant, you will also help in preparing a budget, handling taxes and assets management etc.You will evaluate the operations and determine their cost to create a financial plan. It involves planning, directing, managing and controlling the overall financial activities and help the management to derive the best strategy to control and reduce the costs.

Key roles and responsibilities

As a cost and management accountant, you will be required to fulfil the following roles and responsibilities:

• Preparing and managing the accounts and financial statements including cash flow statement, profit and loss account etc.

• Helping the budget and control department to prepare the financial policies and budgets and help in reducing the cost of production.

• Overseeing the company’s financial activities including transactions and investment activities to compute the cost and revenue.

• You will collaborate with the executive and management team of the corporation including the outside parties such as tax authorities, creditors, suppliers, stakeholders and other regulatory agencies.

• Interpreting the financial and non-financial information to the managers and executives to derive meaningful information.

• You will advise the management on financial aspects to from the business plan and strategy and how to implement them to attain the maximum productivity.

• You will forecast business growth by analyzing the financial performance of the company.

• You will ensure the specific rules and procedures are getting implement while preparing the accounts and reports.

• You will comply with all legal rules and regulations and audit compliance.

• You will collect and record the costs including raw material, inventory, manufacturing cost etc.

• You will negotiate with the loan and finance providers to obtain finance for the company’s business activities.

• Helps in estimating the cost of the new project and forecasting the income will generate.

• Supervising the work of accountants and auditors.

• You will analyse the market and gather information about the inflation, competitors’ strategy, political situation, and other exposures which may affect the business operations.

• Providing timely information on tax, budget, profit and loss etc. to the management to help in decision making.

Enterprising: You should have interests for Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiatives, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision making, risk taking and action orientation.

Conventional: You should have interests for Conventional Occupations. Conventional occupations involve repetitive and routine tasks as well as fixed processes or procedures for getting things done. These occupations involve working more with data, systems, and procedures and less with ideas or creativity.

Abilities

Abstract Reasoning: The ability to understand ideas which are not expressed in words or numbers; the ability to understand concepts which are not clearly expressed verbally or otherwise.

Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden among other distracting materials.

Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information from various sources, concepts, and theories to form general rules or conclusions. For example, analysing various events or situations to come out with a set of rules or conclusions.

Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Inter-Personal: The ability to build and maintain good relationships with others at workplaces and elsewhere.

Numerical Reasoning: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and perform other basic numerical calculations correctly.

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or innovative ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a long period of time without being distracted.

Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.

Verbal Reasoning: The ability to think and reason with words; the ability to reason out ideas expressed in words.

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Knowledge

Accounting: Knowledge of various principles and methods for maintaining records of commercial and financial transactions and records, preparing various reports and statements, ensuring compliance with commercial and business laws and rules of a country, etc.

Business Management:                Knowledge of managing a business which involves planning of what to do, organising resources and people, leading and supervising work activities of people, and monitoring performances of people as well as performance of business. This includes knowledge of marketing, finance, human resources management, operations management, etc.

Economics: Knowledge of economic principles and practices; understanding how various resources such as land, labour and capital are used; how market demands rise and fall; how a country collects and spends money; and similar other economic issues and situations.

Skills

Active Learning: Focused and continuous learning from various sources of information, observation and otherwise for application in getting work done.

Coordination: Skills in working together with other people to get things done.

Critical Thinking: Skills in analysis of complex situations, using of logic and reasoning to understand the situations and take appropriate actions or make interpretations and inferences.

Judgment and Decision Making: Skills in considering pros and cons of various decision alternatives; considering costs and benefits; taking appropriate and suitable decisions.

Managing Financial Resources: Skills in determining how money should be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.

Negotiation:Skills in bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Persuasion: Skills in persuading others to change their minds or behaviour.

Problem Solving: Skills in analysis and understanding of problems, evaluating various options to solve the problems and using the best option to solve the problems.

Reading Comprehension: Skills in understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Service Orientation: Skills in or keen interest to help and assist people.

Time Management: Skills in prioritizing work, managing time effectively.

Writing: Skills in communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the readers.

Personality

You are always or mostly organised in your day-to-day life and activities.

You are always or mostly careful about your actions and behaviour.

You are always or mostly disciplined in your action and behaviour.

You are always calm or generally remain calm in most situations.

You always feel secure in your surroundings and in most situations.

You can always act independently or could do so in most situations.

You trust others sometimes but not always.

You act independently sometimes but do not do so in some other times.

You are always practical or in most situations.

You always or mostly prefer to stick within a routine or carry out routine and repetitive activities.