[Zolushka]

My dear friends!

Can you help me and describe typical day of staff accountant. Especially I need to know how many transactions per day/month staff accountant need to perform in small – medium size company with several line of business.

I was a Staff accountant in another country and I am just stat r looking for a job in US, so need to compare.

Thanks a lot!

FAR - 11/28/2015 (fail)
AUD - ???
REG - ???
BEC - ???

[Anonymous]

I think this will vary a lot from company to company, so is hard for anyone to answer. I don't think staff accountants are usually evaluated by the number of transactions they perform per day or month, more by simply if they're getting the job done.

If you review job postings for Staff Accountant positions, you'll see a wide variety of duties which will probably give you the best examples of daily duties that fall under that title. For example, I just searched for “Staff Accountant” on indeed.com and this is the first 3 results that I got:

Restuarant: The individual will work closely with the CFO on monthly/annual financial statement preparation, P&L and B/S account analysis, Fixed Asset maintenance, bank and B/S reconciliations, closing monthly J/E’s, review of daily financial operations, preparation and assistance of year-end financials for auditors and special projects as needed.

Wine Store: Duties of this position include: Record financial transactions via journal entries including month end close process; Analyze and consolidate financial information for reporting; Reconcile accounts and research discrepancies; Assist in the annual financial audit; Assist in the preparation of annual budgets, variance analyses and projections; Ad-hoc reporting and special projects as assigned by Management; Assist with the planning and execution of new accounting systems implementations or existing system application upgrade projects

Tech company: Candidate’s current/previous experience should include: Bank Reconciliations Account analysis Sales Tax preparation Journal entry posting Expense Report coding Intercompany reconciliations Work with external auditors as required to provide support when requested Balance sheet reconciliations Management of fixed asset sub-ledger Strong communication and organizational skills Strong Microsoft Excel skills

So, first 3 Staff Accountant jobs I clicked on, all 3 have some overlap and some differences, all look to be small to medium size companies. I don't know if this is different in other countries, but in the US, it seems like a job title can mean 2 entirely different job at different companies.

[Zolushka]

Lilla, thank you! This is what I was thinking, but one of the recruiter asked me to specify number transactions, but this is not how we measured amount of work for staff accountant. so I don't know how to improve resume…

FAR - 11/28/2015 (fail)
AUD - ???
REG - ???
BEC - ???

[Mehow]

That just doesn't make sense. Even if you did less transactions, you'll simply adjust to more work. What industry are you looking at?

FAR = 86 4/22/16
BEC = 80 6/01/16
REG = 07/26/16
AUD = ?

[Anonymous]

@Zolushka Sounds like a) the recruiter didn't know what s/he was talking about, b) the recruiter was trying to match you to an entirely different job, or c) the recruiter didn't really ask for what they meant to ask for. A or B there's nothing we can do to help you 😛 so I'll go with C. Maybe what the recruiter was trying to get to (but didn't know enough about accounting to know how it would be done) was trying to find a way for you to list your experience in more of a “I accomplished this” type way instead of a “my duties were this”.

In my experience, resumes for management level positions and above usually have accomplishment-focused job descriptions on them (ex: a former job might list “Increased revenues by 20%, Implemented time-saving innovations which allowed workforce to be reduced by 15%, Improved safety measures resulting in 1000 accident-free days”, etc.), and entry-level positions have more duties-focused job descriptions (ex: “Resolved customer concerns, Provided analysis to management, Organized and filed records”, etc.). Between management-level and entry-level, if the individual has accomplishments that can be listed, then that's more valuable to a future employer than just a list of duties.

So, maybe this recruiter was trying to find a way for you to change your job descriptions for your past jobs to list more of what you did and less of what your duties were. Since the recruiter isn't an accountant, perhaps the recruiter thinks accounting is basically just transactions data entry, so thought that having you list number of transactions would be a way to list what you did/what you accomplished, instead of just what you were supposed to do. In actual practice, number of transactions would be pointless. I entered, golly, probably 400 transactions in 2 hours from home on Saturday, and probably just 2 transactions in 2 full work days (and they've been long ones, so around 20 hours of work) so far this week, but that doesn't mean I worked any harder or was any better employee on Saturday than I was Monday and Tuesday of this week! However, like I said, the recruiter isn't an accountant, and doesn't know this. But maybe try to re-think your past jobs and see if there's any sort of “what I got done that was awesome” that you could list, instead of just “what my job duties were”.

All that being said, you often have to have some management/supervisory “rights” before you can really make things happen that you can list on a resume, so I don't know if there would be much to list from a Staff Accountant job or not. It would depend on how large the organization was and how much they welcomed input from various levels of the organization. I've worked in some that if you didn't have “Manager” in your title, you weren't able to make suggestions or give input (not officially disallowed, but practically, it didn't do any good), and others that you could be an Accounting Clerk and actually make positive changes. So, there might not be any way to change your job descriptions to have more of what the recruiter is looking for, and this might not be what the recruiter is looking for anyway, but it's the only idea I have for his/her bizarre request!

[Zolushka]

Lilla!!!!Thank you a lot for so detailed answer! I learned a lot from it and it was really easy talk to those recruiters using your arguments!

You are totally right they just don't clearly understand what they are talking about. I have very negative experience with them.
But I applied on my own and I got 3 offers i need to chose from!!!
What do you think about project accountant – construction position? For me it sounds a little more administrative that accounting.
Another option I have is Senior Accountant in startup company. I like it much more!!!! the only concern is longer commute.
Also Controller Assistant in a small company – I don't see any room to grow even its just 8 min from my house.
I have to decide this week…

FAR - 11/28/2015 (fail)
AUD - ???
REG - ???
BEC - ???

[Anonymous]

Which one is best will depend a lot on what the job duties entail, more than the job title. I have seen Assistant Controller jobs that were really glorified AP clerks, and I've seen Accounting Clerk jobs that were really Staff or Senior Accountant jobs. So, there's a range, regardless of title.

That being said…

It sounds like the Project Accountant – Construction sounds like work that doesn't interest you, so I'd rule that one out.

Between the Senior Accountant and the Controller Assistant, it looks like you're choosing between growth potential and a shorter commute. I'm a fan of a short commute, so if it was me, I'd go for the Controller Assistant and just plan to move on after a couple years if the growth potential isn't there. However, you didn't say how long the longer commute is, so I don't really know enough to compare. Also, startups seem like they often promise the moon then offer a pile of dust, so I'd be somewhat skeptical of the growth options they promise.

All that being said, I have total of 44 words to go off of describing both jobs, so I don't really know enough to tell you. 🙂 Weigh the pros and cons of both, and how much weight they have to you, then go with the one that you think will be best for you. Both the Senior Accountant and the Controller Assistant sound like very solid options, so both could be very good choices. The Project Accountant – Construction might be good, too – only reason I'm not including it is because you said it sounded more administrative than accounting.

[Mae]

I'm in agreement here. ‘Staff Accountant' is a very broad term and depends on the industry and company you are working in. I'm a staff accountant in a manufacturing company and have a wide range of tasks like journal entries, account analysis, reconciliations, control evaluations and reporting.

The amount of transactions I actually do: minimal.

The best thing to add on the resume would be stating an ability to adapt. A company can hire anyone to do transactions and data input but they value someone who can think things through and apply their skills to the job that needs to get done.

AUD - PASSED MAR '15
REG - STUDYING SEP '16
FAR - PASSED MAY '16
BEC - PENDING JUL '16

[leglock]

@Mae,

I'm in manufacturing too. Those keywords you listed are exactly what I do.

Does your company use a mainframe with an old 1980's interface to process all transactions, inventory and monthly data? If not, can you expound on what software/systems your company uses to enable you to perform your accounting functions.

[Mae]

@leglock

I work for our HQ office, so our divisions handle operations, we take care of the ‘everything else'. We have a basic software system for HQ-specific G/L transactions (accts payable, intercompany transactions, payroll, accruals, etc) but the major bulk of what I work with is our consolidation/reporting software.

AUD - PASSED MAR '15
REG - STUDYING SEP '16
FAR - PASSED MAY '16
BEC - PENDING JUL '16

[Zolushka]

Senior accountant position is 1 hr drive from my house, and its always traffic. The office location is really bad, it means I would never have a walk there outside.

Controller assistant – just 8 min drive. Very nice location and super nice people working there. And its also 5 mid drive from my kids school (I have 3 kids). I am going to meet controller there on Tuesday and I will ask all questions about duties and responsibilities.

Here is project accountant job description:

Provide administrative, logistical, and analytical support to the project management staff including Project Managers, Project and Field Engineers, and the Superintendents o Maintain and enter data entries of key processes, logs, and reports o Research, prepare, and distribute important project accounting documentation and reports o Manage various project files and records o Communicate and coordinate with project team meetings with third party subcontractors, suppliers, architects, and owner’s representatives  Administer accounting related services such as data entry and report analysis to project team o Process Payroll for the jobsite employees o Enter and code various job cost invoices entry into the Viewpoint accounting software o Reconcile monthly client billings and generate periodic project cost reports  Assist with operations support to the jobsite project team o Update the labor projection spreadsheets as needed o Represent company as liaison with clients on billings substantiations  Track, process, and report various project job cost processes by producing and maintaining Excel spreadsheets  Manage and organize contracts, subcontracts, and other project-related documentation  Other related duties as required and assigned.

For me its sounds more administrative????
Thanks Lilla for all your inputs!! really appreciate it!!

FAR - 11/28/2015 (fail)
AUD - ???
REG - ???
BEC - ???

[Author]

Replies