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Accounting Department Structure


24 Minute Accounting

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Unit Video

Unit Summary

A typical Accounting Department can be structured as:
  • CFO or Chief Financial Officer
  • Chief Accountant
  • Management Accountant
  • Payroll & Fixed Assets Accountant
  • Accounts Payable (AP) Officer
  • Accounts Receivable (AR) Officer
  • Assistant Accountants

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Hi, in this video you will learn about the organisational structure of a typical Accounting Department.
The Accounting Department is an integral department of any business or organization.
With a proper structure in place, everyone within the department would have a set of roles & duties that are under their responsibility. In smaller companies all the below functions could be handled by one person
A typical Accounting Department can be structured around the following functions:
  • CFO or Chief Financial Officer –is responsible for the financial planning, record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management. The CFO is also referred to as “the right hand of the CEO”.
  • Chief Accountant – The Chief Accountant has many duties & responsibilities, namely managing his accounting team, and generating financial statements.
  • Management accountants are risk managers, budgeters, planners, strategists and decision makers. They do the work that helps the company's owner, manager or board of directors make better decisions. They are also responsible for cost accounting functions in organizations that manufacture products.
  • Payroll & Fixed Assets Accountants looks after the processing of all the organization’s payroll, paying taxes on salaries, deductions for pensions, social security subscriptions etc. Depending on the size of the department, they could also be responsible for managing & registering the organization’s fixed assets.
  • Accounts Payable (AP) Officer responsible for managing the accounts payable for the company. They reconcile suppliers’ statements, verify that Purchase Orders are available, and prepare the payments for the suppliers.
  • Accounts Receivable (AR) Officer responsible for managing the debtors (or accounts receivables) of the organization. They invoice their customers and follow up for payment. Their role is very important, as the quicker invoices are settled, the healthier the company will be, as there would be more funds to use in the operations.
  • Assistant Accountants –generally looks after petty cash, deposits daily cash and cheque collections, as well as processing other journal entries.
When the structure is clear, duties are well known and you have the right people with the right qualifications & experiences, then you will be able to “Count” on your department to manage your organization’s funds.

Welcome to the Accounting Department, where everyone Counts. Anonymous