management accountant

As a management accountant, your responsibilities include many aspects of a company's finances. You might prepare financial reports or supervise the team that does, then analyse the results for communication to management. You could save your company money by recommending ways to cut costs or forecast future expenses and revenues. No matter what the task, your goal will be to help company management use financial data to make the right decisions. 

In addition to financial policy, your responsibilities include internal matters such as supervising a team of accounting technicians, writing company-wide policy or auditing departments. Your knowledge of accounting practices and eye for detail come in handy here. This variety of different tasks makes management accounting an ideal role for the financial professional who doesn't want to get stuck in a rut.

As a management accountant, you work in an office. If you work in a corporate environment, you could be based in a single location year-round or sent to support different branches of the company. Do you value a good work life balance? You do prefer not to get stuck in traffic several times a week? Remote working is increasingly common for management accountants, although you can still expect to take part in face-to-face meetings. Travel, including international travel in some cases, is a common part of the job, especially in larger enterprises.

As a management accountant, your work schedule matches the schedule of the office you work in. For most management accountants, this means working a typical office week. Working between 36 and 39 hours a week from Monday to Friday is the norm. Because your job involves meeting deadlines for reports and other deliverables, you sometimes work longer hours when time pressure is tight. If you coordinate with colleagues elsewhere in the world, differences in time zone could also have an impact on your work schedule.

In general, though, the work schedule of a management accountant follows the predictable cycle of the office working week. If predictability and work-life balance are important to you, this will be a very appealing feature of a career as a management accountant.

If you've accumulated some experience as a management accountant and are interested in moving into a new role, there are a number of options: 

• if you're interested in management in a corporate framework, you could move up in the corporate hierarchy as a finance manager or chief financial officer.
• if you want to move outside one company and take up consulting work, consider becoming a chartered accountant or management consultant.
• if you want to shift away from finance and pursue management opportunities, experience in management accounting can be valuable for any manager.

Finding your management accountant job through Randstad provides important advantages such as:

• a wide variety of training and development opportunities
• an experienced contact person to provide help if needed
• a range of opportunities in your area
• get paid weekly or monthly, depending on the job
• temporary and permanent contracts

Want a permanent contract? A temporary job as a management accountant is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Every year, thousands of people earn a permanent contract with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too!

No matter which route you choose into your management accountancy career, you'll need professional certification. 

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is a common professional body for management accountants. This institute offers two stages of qualification: the Certificate in Business Accounting and the Professional Qualification. If you have relevant qualifications or other experience in finance, you may be able to skip the Certificate and begin with the Professional Qualification. 

Other professional bodies offering training that can help you start your career as a management accountant include the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA).

Although accounting knowledge is important for a career as a management accountant, it isn't the only essential ingredient. 

• your strong communication skills will be important in communicating clearly with management and other colleagues. Because a management accountant must convey financial data to people without the same level of background in accounting, clear written and spoken communication is key to success. 
• a successful management accountant has an excellent understanding of computer systems. This is a technical field that requires you to stay up to date with new developments in accounting software. 
• administration and management skills are as important to your career as a management accountant as communication and technical skills. The complex tasks of the role require careful attention to detail and precise knowledge of procedures. 
• if you enjoy doing detailed work while coordinating multiple projects with both management and accounting teams, you have one of the most important requirements.

Depending on the size of the company, a management accountant can perform a wide range of functions. Your responsibilities could even extend to taking part in the company's overall financial decision-making. This means that a management accountant's knowledge extends beyond accounting principles to a broader understanding of economics and finance.

A management accountant uses their accounting skills to help a business succeed. This can mean anything from preparing financial reports to cutting costs within the business itself. Management accounts also manage companies' internal accounting procedures. Want to learn more about working as a management accountant? Then check out this article.

Management accountants use advanced accounting knowledge to help businesses succeed. Although there are ways to gain this knowledge without a degree, it's common for them to study accounting, business or a related field to degree level. In addition, a management accountant requires a relevant professional qualification. Want to learn more about working as a management accountant? Then check out this article.

CIMA and ACCA are two of the professional bodies that offer qualifications to management accountants. The majority of employers are looking for a candidate with either qualification, meaning that the best qualification is the one that best fits your needs as a student. Want to learn more about working as a management accountant? Then check out this article.

As a management accountant, your role differs from other accounting jobs both in terms of your position within a company and the intended audience of your work. Unlike a chartered accountant, you're part of the business, working to help the company succeed from the inside rather than working for a separate practice. Unlike a financial accountant, you provide information to help management make decisions rather than reporting financial data to the government or public. Want to learn more about working as a management accountant? Then check out this article.

Your responsibilities as a management accountant are varied. Of the many skills you use, the most important are a mastery of accounting systems and the ability to communicate financial data clearly.

Applying for a management accountant job is easy: create a randstad profile and search our job offers for vacancies in your area. Then simply send us your CV and cover letter. Need help with your application? Check out all our job search tips here!