Are you interested in a career as a group accountant, either in Sydney CBD, somewhere else in NSW or in a different part of Australia altogether? If you are, you’ll stand a much better chance of succeeding in your goal if you do your homework first. You can make a great start by reading this article, to familiarise yourself with the skills and qualifications you’ll need, the roles and responsibilities you’ll be expected to assume and the experience you need to acquire as you work your way toward your ultimate goal of becoming a group accountant.
Once you have finished reading, don’t forget to check out the group accountant jobs on our site and contact us if you need further assistance. As group accountant recruitment specialists in Central Sydney, NSW, we have helped hundreds of people to land their dream positions in accountancy and would love to help you too.
Roles and responsibilities for group accountant jobs in Sydney
If you succeed in landing a job as a group accountant in Sydney, you can expect to assume the following roles and responsibilities in your new position:
- Preparation of monthly management reports.
- Preparation of group consolidated financial statements.
- Preparation of group consolidated budget forecasts.
- Preparation of reporting packs for senior group managers and directors.
- Overseeing all month-end group accounting procedures and practices.
- Preparation of monthly group financial performance commentaries.
- Preparation of monthly group corporate tax submissions.
- Preparation of ATO business activity statements on a quarterly basis.
- Overseeing monthly variance analyses.
- Supervision of junior group accounting staff.
- Liaising/cooperating with external auditing teams.
And any other tasks that may be assigned to you as a senior figure in the group accounts team.
Your path to the position of group accountant
In order to achieve your goal of becoming a group accountant, you will need to acquire the right qualifications and experience:
Qualifications
As specialists in group accountant recruitment for Sydney corporations, we can tell you that in order to reach your career goal, you will first need to obtain a relevant degree, such as a Bachelor of Accounting. After that, you will need to pass the necessary exams and complete the required on-the-job training to become either a certified practising accountant (CPA) or a chartered accountant (CA).
Once you have obtained all of the necessary qualifications, you may wish to consult a professional group accountant recruiter to find out what experience, skills and attributes Australian corporations are looking for in successful candidates today. If you can’t wait to find out, we have summarised the most important requirements for you below.
Experience
When applying for group accountant jobs in Sydney city or the surrounding area, you should ideally have the following experience:
- 10 years of commercial accounting experience, including assisting with the preparation of monthly financial statements, budget forecasts and tax submissions.
- Plenty of experience in the preparation of both statutory and consolidated reports for a large corporate organisation.
- Experience working as a chartered internal auditor for a corporation with a group structure.
Any additional experience that you may have in relevant fields will of course be welcomed by prospective employees, especially experience that is directly related to the key responsibilities we outlined earlier.
The main skills and abilities you will need
In addition to a solid background in technical accounting, a relevant degree and a professional qualification (CA or CPA), you will hopefully be able to demonstrate all of the following skills and abilities:
- Attention to detail – This may sound like a no-brainer for any accountancy position but we include it here because it is especially important when applying for group accountant jobs in Sydney, or any other location. You need to be able to complete complex tasks with a high degree of accuracy.
- Taking responsibility for your actions and those of others – As a senior member of the group accounts team, you will need to be able to accept responsibility for your actions, as well as the actions of more junior team members.
- Ability to work well in a team and alone – You will need to function well in both team and solo working environments in order to succeed as a group accountant.
- Ability to prioritise – With many responsibilities, you must be able to prioritise your workload effectively.
If you are ready to take the next step on the path to becoming a group accountant and would like a confidential accounting and finance career  conversation, please feel free to reach out our specialist accounting and finance  team at [axr].
