Qualifications and Experiences of Corporate Accountants: HI5020 Report

This report, prepared for Holmes Institute's HI5020 Corporate Accounting unit, investigates the qualifications and experiences employers seek from corporate accountants. The study involved analyzing thirty job advertisements from online platforms like Indeed and Seek, focusing on roles such as tax accountant, financial accountant, senior financial accountant, and senior corporate reporting accountant, all sourced in Australia. The report examines the personal characteristics, academic credentials, and professional qualifications that employers prioritize. It explores the job advertisement details, industry breakdowns, and specific job titles to provide a comprehensive understanding of the requirements for various corporate accounting positions. The analysis covers essential skills like continuous learning, honesty, organizational skills, creativity, and communication, as well as strong management skills, ethics, and business awareness. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of academic and professional qualifications for securing a corporate accounting position and offers insights into the expectations of employers in the field. The report aims to provide candidates with a clear understanding of the required experience and qualifications for various corporate accounting positions.

Running head: QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Qualification and experiences that employers seek from corporate accountants
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
Course ID:

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Executive Summary
The report aimed to provide a clear understanding of what experience and qualifications a
candidate may possess to become a corporate accountant. In general, the report helped
the candidates to understand the recruiters view on recruiting for the position of different
corporate accountant oriented jobs. Hence, to study the objective, a theoretical analysis
was done by collecting data from the thirty-job advertisement. These job advertisements
were gathered from Indeed and Seek job sites in Australia. These jobs were selected
based on the position like a tax accountant, financial accountant, senior financial
accountant and senior corporate reporting accountant. The paper discussed various
personal characteristics a corporate accountant possess after analyzing those jobs. The
paper concluded that academic, as well as professional qualifications, are also needed to
gain a post as a corporate accountant.

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Table of Contents
Introduction:...........................................................................................................................2
Discussion:............................................................................................................................2
Answer to question 1:............................................................................................................2
Answer to question 2:............................................................................................................3
Answer to question 3:............................................................................................................4
Answer to question 4:............................................................................................................4
Answer to question 7:............................................................................................................6
Answer to question 8:............................................................................................................7
Answer to question 9:............................................................................................................7
Conclusion:............................................................................................................................8

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Introduction:
The report focusses on a brief understanding of how a corporate accountant helps
an employer to gain knowledge on qualification as well as experiences. Earlier the
employees used to seek job opportunities by visiting every single office. Hence, this
helped them in analyzing suitable career for themselves. Nowadays, this process is done
by online job sites. After the introduction of job searches online, the employees are,
therefore searching for suitable jobs in online job sites. In Australia, there are many online
portals regarding jobs, which provide job prospects in public or government based jobs as
well as in private companies. In order to name a few online job portals that offer jobs to
the employees in Australia are Jora, Seek and Indeed job portals. The job portals are
designed in such a way that they provide many relevant jobs, which offer jobs to the
employees, according to their requirements.
Accounting related job openings are also found in these online job sites. To name a
few positions, the employees are offered through online job portals are senior accountant,
corporate financial accountant, corporate and management accountant, corporate
accountant, corporate finance and management accountant, tax accountant, senior
financial accountant, a senior accountant in the field of corporate and tax reporting. The
jobs sites online like Indeed, Seek and Jora provide opportunities to select job positions
according to their choice as well as per their experience. Even the recruiters get the
chance in connecting with the job seekers as per their requirement (Lepistö and Ihantola
2018). Hence, online job portals provide beneficial in both cases.
If an individual wants to take up corporate accounting as their occupation, then they
need to have a minimum qualification of a bachelor's degree in accounting or else in
finance. Few of the employers willing to work under this position need to have an
additional diploma in a certified course in Public Accountant. While, those individuals who
want to work under the position of a tax accountant, they have to have an in-depth
understanding of different types of tax as well as tax structures (Osisioma 2013). They
should at least have a bachelor’s degree in the field of accounting. The individuals who
have a minimum bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance can opt for the position of
accounting corporate finance. These individuals should also have experience in their job
in the field of finance as well as accounting.
This report aims to provide a detailed knowledge about how corporate accountant
helps employers to develop an understanding related to their experience and qualification.
The analysis will be based on the collected information that is relevant to various job
advertisements. The employers generally post these advertisements on the job portals. To
study the report, the data from July 22, 2019, regarding the mentioned positions of
corporate jobs have been collected. These kinds of jobs are opted mainly by individuals
who pursued post-graduation as well as graduation in commerce field from the online job
portals.
Discussion:
Answer to question 1:
The advertisement related to the job is mainly done for the position in the field of a
tax accountant, corporate accountant, corporate accounting finance and corporate finance
accountant. These job advertisements are sourced from Indeed as well as Seek (SEEK,
2019). From the two mentioned sources, 30 job advertisements were gathered, in order to
analyze the job advertisements. These jobs were mainly for the position of corporate
accountants’. While, 15 other job advertisement related to the position of a senior tax

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
accountant, tax accountant, senior finance accountant and corporate finance accountant
were also collected from two online job sites, which were Seek and Indeed.
Answer to question 2:
As per the requirement to study the report, job advertisement posted by the
organizations are listed below. Furthermore, the organizations' industry breakdown has
also been portrayed.
1. "Accenture"- "Communications, media and technology industry."
2. “Air Liquide”-“Industrial Manufacturing industry.”
3. "Allianz Australia Insurance Limited"- "Insurance industry."
4. “Australian Unity”-“Health Care industry”
5. "Bunzl"- "Consumer goods and service industry."
6. "Charterhouse"- Human resources and staffing industry."
7. “Corporate Services”-“Finance and Banking industry.”
8. “Google”- “Internet and Software industry.”
9. “Grant Thornton, Australia"- "Consulting and business services industry."
10. "Hays accountancy and finance"- "Accounting and finance industry."
11. “Hitachi Construction Machinery”-“Construction industry.”
12. “Kone”- “Industrial Manufacturing industry.”
13. "Kraft Heinz Company"- "Food and beverages industry."
14. “Lawson Elliott”- “Accounting and Finance industry.”
15. “Maersk Line”-“Transport and Freight industry.”
16. “ME Bank”- “Banks and Financial Services industry.”
17. "Michael page accounting finance"- "Accounting and finance industry."
18. “Moorey Stephens"-"Accounting and advisory industry."
19. "National Group"- "Mining, resource, logistics and personnel suppliers industry."
20. “Oracle”- “Internet and Software industry.”
21. “Orica”- “Agriculture and Extraction industry.”
22. “Redpath Partners Pty Limited"- "Recruitment industry."
23. “Rexel”-“Energy and Utilities industry.”
24. “Robert Half”- “Human Resources and Staffing industry.”
25. "Scott Associates Pty Limited"- "Motor trade and other industries."
26. “Sentinel Property Group”-“Property Investment industry.”
27. “Slater and Gordon Lawyer”-“Consulting and Business Services”
28. “Watson and Hegarty"- "Accountants and advisers industry."
29. "Worley"-Insurance industry."
30. “WSP”- “Consulting and Business Services industry.”
Answer to question 3:
From the above list, it is seen that the companies have posted job advertisement
for various positions like a tax accountant, senior financial accountants, senior corporate
reporting accountant and financial accountant. The division is shown below in the form of
a table.
Job Title Company’s Name
Tax accountant i. “Allianz Australia Insurance Limited”
ii. “Bunzl”
iii. “Moorey Stephens”
iv. “Oracle”
v. “Scott Associates Pty Limited”
vi. “Watson and Hegarty”

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
vii. Air Liquide”
Financial accountant i. “Google”
ii. “Kraft Heinz Company”
iii. “Lawson Elliott”
iv. “Maersk”
v. “Michael Page Accounting”
vi. “Redpath Partners Pty Limited”
vii. “Sentinel Property Group”
viii. “WSP”
Senior Corporate reporting accountant i. “Accenture”
ii. “Charterhouse”
iii. “Corporate Services”
iv. "Hays accountancy and finance."
v. “Kone”
vi. “ME
vii. “Rexel”
viii. “Robert Half”
ix. “Slater and Gordon Lawyer”
Senior financial accountant i. “Australian Unity”
ii. “Grant Thornton, Australia”
iii. “Hitachi Construction Machinery"
iv. "National group."
v. “Orica”
vi. “Sharp and Carter”
vii. “Worley”( Au.indeed.com 2019)
Answer to question 4:
This question will deal in listing as well pointing out corporate accountant’s
characteristics, by studying the collected job advertisements. As per the expectation of an
employer, the corporate accountant should have proper organizational knowledge. Thus,
this will benefit from enhancing the accuracy in the production of the company. The
company, which have high performance, hire talent accountant. While to give support to
the financial controller as well as senior management accountant by providing them with a
variety of functions related to accounting, senior financial accountants are employed. In
order to lead a technical group, the talent accountant should hold strong expertise in both
professional as well as a commercial field along with that they should have great
knowledge of financial accounting. Furthermore, they should know using secure business
experience. The personal characteristics of corporates accountants are stated in a brief
below:
Continuous Learning: The corporate accountant should consistently gain
knowledge about the changes taking place when innovative principles, taxes and laws are
being proposed to enhance their skills.
Honesty and Morals: This is one of the crucial characteristics of a corporate
accountant. As per their morals, they should know correct and incorrect information as
well as they should hold honesty in their assigned work (Taylor 2013).
Organizational Skills: Since a corporate accountant have to handle a bunch of
paperwork, data as well as numbers regularly, therefore need to have proper
organizational skills.

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Creativity: This type of characteristics states that corporate accountant should have
the ability to develop innovative strategies in solving any unique and challenging issues
(Klibi and Oussii 2013).
Consistency: The accountant should possess integrity as well as flexibility in the
confidentiality of data.
Communication skills: For a corporate accountant, communication skill is much
needed to communicate with the team members and other employees from other
departments (Siriwardane and Durden 2014).
Teamwork: A corporate accountant should possess this critical attribute as it helps
them to handle in bookkeeping and accounting.
Flexibility: Corporate accountant are flexible as they take up challenges or they are
ready to face them.
Managing time: They are excellent in managing time as they to handle several
additional works with efficiency.
Answer to question 5:
Strong Management Skills: This is known to be an essential feature a corporate
accountant should possess. A corporate accountant is considered the best only if they
have full knowledge about the data, paperwork and figures related to the work in a
company (Tan and Laswad 2018). They work in an organized and productive way in order
to maximize the company’s productivity as a whole. They manage times in an organized
way for various types of task accordingly.
Ethics and honesty: In order to be the best corporate accountant, one should
follow ethics and should be honest to the organization. The corporate accountant who is
working for the organization keeps the company's confidential information private. They try
to make sure all the clients of them are following the significant laws correctly related to
the operations of accounting and business (Thomas 2018).
Creativeness: To enhance the business, it is necessary to bring innovation to the
work process related to accounting. Hence, the recruiters while recruiting try to recruit
those candidates who can bring changes to the companies. As a result of it, there can be
an impact on the business in a positive way shortly.
Systemized: This is one of the essential features, a corporate accountant should
possess. If corporate accountants want to contribute positively to an organization, then
they should work in a well structured and in an organized way. In the field of corporate
accountant tasks, there can be numerous repetitive tasks as well as can include many
strict procedures. Thus, the corporate accountant should have the quality to keep pace
with the deadlines of the projects and to cope up with challenging projects. They should
manage time according to the priorities (Caglio and Cameran 2017).
Business Awareness: This is considered a significant characteristic of a corporate
accountant. An excellent corporate accountant should be aware of current changes in
laws whenever taking place. The accountant should be an expert in this case because of
continuous changes going in the economy.
Professional Development Commitments: A corporate accountant should
always be committed towards professional development. This will enhance their skills and
gain additional qualification inside the industry in order to attain professional development.

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Hence, this is known to be an important feature, as it will help to develop their skills
continually (Tan 2016).
Answer to question 6:
The minimum criteria to become a corporate accountant is to acquire a basic
understanding of subject and rules related to accounting and few accounting skills. The
candidate should have an academic qualification in the field of a corporate accountant.
This is because it provides them gaining professional accounting expertise and
knowledge. They need to have a bachelor's degree in accountancy and a certificate
earned from a renowned certified organization. Moreover, to this, they should possess
some characteristics, which are creativity, business awareness, honesty and morals,
innovation to rules and regulations (Bennett, Schaltegger and Zvezdov 2013).
In some of the cases, the corporate accountants hold few specialized
qualifications. These qualifications are mainly pursuing a degree from the chartered
organization of management accountants and certified chartered accountants. Influential
organizations generally train those candidates who have additionally qualified as well as a
certified degree as financial experts (Bruna et al. 2017). The corporate accountant can
also have additional qualifications who acquire degree certified from AAT qualification,
CFAB qualification and ATT qualification. The minimum experience a corporate
accountant should have before applying for the positions mentioned previously are of four
years. They should have a clear knowledge regarding a certain number of softwares like
MYOB, SAP and XERO, which are preferred by the organizations.
If a corporate accountant wants to secure a higher position as a senior financial
accountant, then the employer needs to have a qualification of a chartered accountant.
Even they should have a three years minimum experience in their previous positions, from
the start of their careers in accounting institutes (Ahadiat and Martin 2015). Addition to
this, a candidate who is willing to join as a corporate accountant should have excellent
communication skills as well as proficient skills (Hakim 2016).
Answer to question 7:
The theoretical structure, as well as practical procedures, are discussed in MPA
unit HI 5020 Corporate accounting. The unit includes the establishment of the company,
capital reformation, and distribution in profit, liquidation and merged accounts preparation,
which are related to accounting standards along with regulations. While pointing out the
requirements which deal with the above subjects, the role, undertaking and responsibility
of corporate accountant plays an important role (McManus and Subramaniam 2014). The
corporate accountants’ commitment towards the development in professional fields helps
them to improvise and use them practically.
The features of a corporate accountant who helps to increase their efficiency will
also help in studying the operations related to the industry with the help of evaluating the
information related to accounting (Eisenberg 2017). This information is collected from the
business owners. Hence, results in effectiveness as well as the productivity of the
business. Adding to this, the corporate accountants’ ability that is predicted helps in
detecting future trends with the help of examining the sales as well as analyzing the past
values.
The innovativeness of the corporate accountant is that they handle the account by
innovating strategies in business. They make their innovation by studying past figures and
trying to figure out the possible future outcomes. This process is evaluated based on
reliable and robust foundations.

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QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK FROM
CORPORATE ACCOUNTANTS
Both personal characteristics of a corporate accountant, which are studied by 30
job advertisements and MPA unit HI 5020 corporate accounting, indicate that corporate
accountant commits the business, which helps to achieve the aim of the industry with the
help of honesty, innovativeness and commitment (Dunbar, Laing and Wynder 2016).
When the accountants do tasks related to accounts, then they have to follow some basic
rules. To recruit a candidate as a corporate accountant, they have to have the ability to
perform every given task with efficiency (Mohd Ghazali and Ismail 2013). These features
are incorporated in the MPA unit HI 5020.
Answer to question 8:
Different tasks related to accounting are mentioned in MPA unit HI 5020. Those
include profit distribution, merged financial statements, capital reformation and company
development. In this unit, many features possessed by corporate accountant while
performing any tasks are not mentioned. However, the job advertisement online regarding
corporate accountant searches for a candidate who meets the qualification requirement so
that they contribute to developing the business by enhancing financial support opposite to
those existing employers who are performing tasks at lower levels like clerks (Ştefan,
Marian and Mădălina 2013). With the purpose of advancing the company, a corporate
accountant must merge with different industries' leaders. Since the concerned unit did not
mention any requirements of the corporate accountant, therefore it can be concluded that
corporate accountants' features are absent. Even this unit does not include the discussion
about technical expertise and clear understanding of the technology that is used by the
mentioned type of accountants. This type of attribute helps in developing the financial
system procedure. Thus, this MPA unit HI 5020 does not discuss few understanding and
requirements corporate accountants should possess.
Answer to question 9:
In order to be a team leader and to reduce operational intricacies to develop the
organization or to enhance the working process, a corporate accountant should have
mentioned characteristics. They should have the ability to maintain the process as well as
have the capability to develop the team as a whole. To increase the learning procedure of
corporate accountant, the MPA unit of HI 5020 corporate accounting is used. This makes
them capable of dealing with accounting-related business desires. To prepare merged
financial statements, the necessity a corporate accountant should hold are mentioned in
the unit. Hence, it helps in improving accounting expertise along with enhancing business
aims (Bennett, Schaltegger and Zvezdov 2013). The accountants should have a clear
understanding of the principles related to accounting in order to prepare financial
statements of the particular organization.
Conclusion:
Hence, to conclude, the report helped in gaining a clear view of the corporate
accountants' experience as well as requirement. The report dealt with the understanding
of how the recruiters of the organization recruit corporate accountants. The study was
based on the information gathered from thirty-job advertisement, which was chosen from
Indeed and Seeks job portals. The analysis was done to know the relevant criteria in
recruiting corporate accountant by studying them based on 30-job advertisement. The
report also presented a brief understanding about the personal characteristics of the
corporate accountant. Other than this, the report gives a clear view of academic as well as
professional qualifications an individual should possess in order to be a corporate
accountant.

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