Corporate Accounting Job Market Analysis: Qualifications and Skills

This report analyzes job advertisements for corporate accountants in Australia, collected from various online portals. It examines the job descriptions, required qualifications (CA/CPA), and skills. The report identifies key roles, responsibilities, and attributes that employers seek, comparing them with theoretical knowledge from corporate accounting textbooks. It also explores academic and professional qualifications, job tasks, and responsibilities. The study includes a critical examination of the skills and experiences needed for a corporate accountant and offers insights into the current demands of the job market. The report comprises the analysis of 30 job advertisements with different organizations and industries. It also discusses the importance of interpersonal and communication skills, teamwork, and experience, concluding with a comparative analysis between theoretical and practical perspectives.

Running head: CORPORATE ACCOUNTING
Corporate Accounting
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1CORPORATE ACCOUNTING
Abstract
The paper encircles about the different job descriptions of corporate accountants in
Australian organisations. The job advertisements of the corporate accountants are
collected from the different job portals and the detailed description of these
advertisements are elaborated. The names of the companies as well as the titles of
the jobs mentioned in these job advertisements are listed down. Further the report
goes on to describe the necessary skillsets and attributes of the corporate
accountants and provides a comparative study regarding this between the theoretical
and practical perspectives. Finally, a critical examination is performed that talks
about the relevant skillsets and attributes of the corporate accountants in the
organisations of recent days.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................4
Response to Question 1...............................................................................................4
Response to Question 2...............................................................................................4
Response to Question 3...............................................................................................6
Response to Question 4...............................................................................................7
Response to Question 5...............................................................................................8
Response to Question 6...............................................................................................9
Response to Question 7.............................................................................................10
Response to Question 8.............................................................................................11
Response to Question 9.............................................................................................13
Conclusion..................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................16
Appendix.....................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to discuss about the relevant job advertisements
which are prevailing for the corporate accountants. In this regard the different
attributes, qualification and necessary skills which should be possessed by the
accountants are also stated and highlighted. Further, the report provides a general
description of the collected job advertisements of Australia. In this discussion, the
respective organisational details have been provided along with the breakdown of
the industry structure. All the listed job titles are also mentioned. The personal
attributes that the employers look in a corporate accountant are noted down and
explained. In the next section, the report focusses on the academic and professional
qualifications that are needed for the accountants of varied areas. The job tasks and
responsibilities are also discussed alongside.
After going through all the details of the job descriptions that are listed in the
job advertisements, the key roles, tasks as well as the responsibilities of the
accountants are compared with the general rules that are stated in the book of
corporate accounting. Based on the above factors, the different related roles,
responsibilities and tasks are noted down which are present in both the materials.
The additional topics, attributes or the learning outcomes which are observed from
the book are extracted and presented in this report. At the last part of the report, a
critical examination of the skills, experiences and the attributes of a corporate
accountant is done. The factors highlighted from this examination are then analysed
for their usefulness in gaining the necessary skills and attributes required to be a
corporate accountant.

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Discussion
Response to Question 1
For the purpose of this report, the number of job advertisements that are
collected is Thirty. For addressing the requirements of the report, the different search
portals have been used for the collection of job advertisements (Dunbar, Laing and
Wynder 2016). The search portal “seek” has been used for the collection of jobs
related to corporate accounting, corporate and management accounting.
Approximately eighteen advertisements have been collected from this portal. The
search portal “Jora” is used for searching jobs related to taxation, corporate financial
accounting and corporate financial and management accounting. Six jobs
advertisements have been collected from this source (Dunbar, Laing and Wynder
2016). “Indeed” has been used for collecting jobs related to financial accounting and
taxation with corporate reporting. Again six job advertisements have been collected
from this job portal.
Response to Question 2
The different organisations which are noted down suitably regarding the job
advertisements can be listed as follows.
1) Lawson Elliott Recruitment
2) Cummins Inc.
3) Private Advertiser
4) Engage Personnel
5) Cooper Business Services
6) TwoScots Recruitment
7) Profusion PAC Pty. Ltd

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8) Brook Recruitment
9) Robert Half Finance & Accounting
10) Envirobank Recycling
11)MMW3degrees
12)Manitou Australia
13)Central Coast Automotive Pty Ltd.
14)TPG Telecom Limited
15)Wallace Wilkinson & Webster
16)Lawson Elliott Recruitment
17)NSW Treasury
18)Hays Accountancy & Finance
19)Facilimate Hotels
20)Harrison Howard Chartered Accountants
21)Intuitive Recruitment (Jackson 2014).
22)Bauer Media
23)Orbital Australia
24)Sharp and Carter
25)Origin Energy
26) Parramatta City Council
27)City of Parramatta
28)Macquarie Group Limited
29)SafetyCulture
30)QuantamTSA
Some of the important industries in which the above mentioned companies
belong are legal advice and services industry, Accounting and finance Industry,

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Magazine brand Industry, Energy retail Industry and asset management Industry
(Jackson 2014).
Response to Question 3
All the job titles which have been observed from the collected job advertisements
can be listed (McArthur et al. 2017). Mostly all the jobs are related to corporate
accounting, corporate and management accounting and tax accounting.
1) Financial Accountant
2) Accountant
3) Senior Financial Systems Accountant
4) Associate Director, Financial Planning and Analysis
5) Finance Manager
6) Intermediate Accountant (McArthur et al. 2017)
7) Senior Accountant
8) Senior Corporate Financial & Management Accountant
9) Corporate Accountant
10)Senior Financial Accountant
11)Accounts Payable Officer or Assistant Accountant
12)Accounts Clerk
13)Accounts All rounder
14)Accounts Officer
15)Management Accountant
16)Accountant Administrator
17)Accounts receivable coordinator
18)Finance Officer
19)Tax Accountant

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20)Company Accountant
All the above mentioned jobs have been collected from the relevant job
portals such as “seek”, “Jora” and “Indeed”.
Response to Question 4
Different kinds of attributes have been observed which are needed to be
possessed by a corporate accountant for various kinds of job offers. Some of these
attributes are listed below.
1) The accountant having a qualification of CA or CPA and has a minimum of
six years of experience has a better opportunity (Ahadiat and Martin
2015). Some other job role required the accountant to have the necessary
attributes for presenting the financial report to the finance manager and
also for managing the distribution.
2) Another job role requires the accountant to have an excellent
communication and the interpersonal skills (Hambrick, Misangyi and Park
2015). The person should be CPA and CA qualified as well. The person
should have an excellent ability to interact with his peers.
3) Another job role requires the accountant to have qualifications in
accounting, commerce, economics and other finance related subjects (Lai,
Lionzo and Stacchezzini 2015). The candidates having professional
qualification will be highly preferred.
4) The accountant should have the ability to forecast, analyse and then report
the financials of the company. The candidates having experience in “Big-4”
accounting firms or within any finance department of a corporate would be
highly preferred (Ramanna 2015). The candidate should also be able to

8CORPORATE ACCOUNTING
fully utilise his financial as well as organisational skills and has the desire
to take up autonomous roles and responsibilities.
Response to Question 5
Considering the collected job advertisements, the important attributes that
could be detected are the qualification of CA or CPA as well as having good
interpersonal and communication skills. Including all the above mentioned attributes,
there are certain other attributes that could be important while a candidate is looking
for a job opportunity as a corporate accountant (Fajardo 2014). The candidate
should be highly supportive and should be capable of working in collaboration with
the team. The candidate should have access to the ongoing training and
development that would be carried out in the company.
The individual should also be flexible to working in different kinds of
environments. The candidate should be academically astute and must prove his
efficiency at the highest level. Sometimes the candidates are also required to have
exceptional communication skills as well as the ability of stakeholder management.
Along with all these factors, experience is always given the top priority while applying
for the senior positions within the corporations (Siriwardane and Durden 2014).
Some companies require technical accounting experience where the candidate is
required to have the technical expertise in handling the accounting software. It is
analysed whether the individual can drive the financial performance of the company
up to a maximum level.
From all the above stated attributes, the most important one is the
qualification. The candidates should be atleast CA/CPA qualified. CA refers to
chartered accountant where the candidate is required to have a certified course

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degree from an eminent institute. Additionally, CPA candidates are also preferred.
CPA refers to Certified Public Accountant (Lee and Parker 2014). The candidate
should complete a course on this type of accounting to get best suited for corporate
accounting jobs. Along with these two qualifications, the candidate is also supposed
to have excellent communication skills. The communication skills should be verbal
as well as written. The person should also stress upon his domain knowledge if he is
coming from a commerce or economics background (Wen, Hao and Bu 2015). The
individuals coming from a non-commerce background are usually not given much
preference. The person should also be able to accurately forecast the future
financials of the company and also be dynamically active in leading the company
forward in achieving those financial figures.
Some other important attributes could be leadership skills for presenting
himself as a prominent person in front of his team (Ahadiat and Martin 2015).
Working in a team, development in the collaborative function are some other
important qualities of a corporate accountant. Finally, the candidates would be sorted
according to their prior experiences. Candidates having good internships can also be
preferred in this phenomenon.
Response to Question 6
The different professional qualifications that have been highlighted in the job
descriptions of corporate accountants include the following points.
1) The candidate should have a bachelor degree of commerce, preferably in
accountancy or equivalent (Bayerlein 2015). Candidates having CPA
(Certified Public Accountant) degree are highly regarded.

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2) A minimum of 3 years in the role of corporate accounting is preferable and
desirable (Bayerlein 2015). Along with this the candidates should have the
necessary expertise in MS excel and should be able to use advanced
accounting formulae and pivot tables.
3) The candidates should be familiar with the accounting systems of Australia
(Malina 2017). Those individuals who prefer to work in the taxation
department should have sound and strong knowledge of the Australian
Taxation system and the different accounting standards related to taxation.
4) Some of the jobs require the candidates to have strong knowledge of
statutory financial reporting and the legal entities (Malina 2017). The
candidates should also have the ability to analyse the variances of the
results as well as the datasets.
5) The potential individual should possess sound knowledge of the
Accounting standards and the accounting policies and practices
constructed by the NSW government (Malina 2017). The accountants
having membership in a professional accounting body would be highly
preferred.
Response to Question 7
The different skillsets, roles and responsibilities that can be discovered from
the learnt units are accounting for the making decisions in business, learning finance
for business, managerial accounting, information systems concerning strategy used
in business and enterprise and many others (Scholes 2015). Other important
chapters related to the roles and responsibilities of the corporate accountants deal
with accounting theory and the recent issues of accounting, theory of taxation along
with tax laws and regulations, statistics and business research. This also includes

11CORPORATE ACCOUNTING
laws of business and corporates with economics and finance based subjects related
to businesses of the organisations.
Many of these can be related to the roles, duties and responsibilities which
are considered by the different job portals for assessing candidates of corporate
accounting. The taxation theory and the current issues of accounting can be related
to the skillsets of the job advertisements (Scholes 2015). Along with this, the
knowledge of finance and economics that are studied in the corporate accounting
are also required for the different job options as given in the advertisements. The
course involving accounting for taking relevant decisions in business is also
important for the candidates who want to desire for the job of corporate accountant.
The statistics that are practiced in relation to making valuable business
decisions are also required in order to apply for the jobs of corporate accounting.
The different skillsets which are observed to be taught in the accounting course
related to routine skills, analytical skills as well as designing skills, the skills of
appreciation, research based skills, interpersonal skills and other personal skills
(Bunney, Sharplin and Howitt 2015). Out of all these skills the two most relevant
skills that would be required in the jobs of corporate accountants are the analytical
skills and the interpersonal skills. The aspirants should have excellent
communication and interpersonal skillsets for carrying out the different jobs related to
corporate accounting.
Response to Question 8
The necessary qualifications, skillsets and attributes that have been observed
and detected in the job advertisements relate to many of the attributes studied in the
coursework. However, there are additional preferences which are stated in the job