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Role of the Management Accountant

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What Do Management Accountants Do?

Management accounting

Also known as corporate accountants, management accountants work within one specific company. They perform a series of tasks to ensure their company's financial security, handling essentially all financial matters and thus helping to drive the business's overall management and strategy.

A management accountant's responsibilities can range widely. Depending on the company, your level of experience, the time of year and the type of industry, you could find yourself doing anything from budgeting, handling taxes and managing assets to helping determine compensation and benefits packages and aiding in strategic planning.

Management accountants are essentially key figures in determining the status and success of a company. Some management accountants choose to become a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), a similar credential to CPA, but with a greater focus on cost accounting, financial planning, and management issues. To start working towards a management accounting career, find accounting bachelors, MBA, or MAcc degree programs.

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Management Accounting Career Path

Entry Level Mid Level Senior Level

Type of Roles

Staff accountant, cost accountant, junior internal auditor, tax accountant

Accounting manager or senior accountant, senior internal auditor

Controller, director of accounting or finance, CFO

Experience

0-3 years

4-8 years

10+ years

Getting There

  • Bachelor degree in finance or accounting
  • Strong technology skills (specifically in Microsoft Excel)
  • All mid-level requirements
  • Track record of excellence and leadership in the field
  • Solid management skills
  • Knowledge of the industry and US accounting principles
  • A graduate degree—MBA or MAcc—and/or CPA or CMA certification is desired

Salary*

$31,500 - $52,500

$43,250 - 67,250

$62,000 - $358,750

Description

  • Work under a senior accountant or manager
  • Do tasks involving receivables and payroll, financial statements and compliance audits
  • Help in the budget department
  • Prepare reports for the controller's department
  • Prepare financial statements
  • Assess internal controls
  • Analyze and/or prepare monthly financial information
  • Help create company budgets
  • Supervise accounting staff
  • Complete and review tax returns
  • Help manage the general ledger
  • Responsible for all or part of a company's financial status, actions and transactions
  • Coordinate accounting operations
  • Hire, train and oversee staff
  • Maintain budget
  • Perform financial analysis
  • Build business strategy
  • Manage relationships with investors and auditors

* Depends on company size, specific job and location
Sources: Robert Half International, Salary.com, Vault.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Monster.com

Management Accountants on TV: Profile

Ira Gilligan, Bluth Company Accountant, Fox's Arrested Development

Management Accountants on TV

Position: Corporate Accountant for the Bluth Company

Responsibilities: Ira maintains the Bluth Company's books, gives related financial advice, and informs Michael Bluth, acting president of the company, that money is both missing and in the wrong place. This comes as no surprise, as the various members of the Bluth family have been blithely using company money for their own purposes.

Ethical Dilemma: Although he is put under enormous pressure by George Sr., head of the Bluth Company and mastermind of its schemes, Ira states that he will not lie about what he has found.

Context: Critics have often mentioned Arrested Development's quirky brand of timely commentary, and this characteristic is evident in the parallels between the Bluth Company's flagrant accounting fraud and the accounting fraud that toppled companies like Enron, Tyco International and WorldCom in the few years preceding the show's airing.

Photo ©2003 Ausse/WireImage.com

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Spotlight Schools

Capella University - School of Business

Capella University offers students the opportunity to earn their degrees from an accredited university delivering the challenge of a traditional classroom with the flexibility to fit education into real life.

Select a Campus: Online

Strayer University

Strayer University is dedicated to helping busy, working adults achieve their educational goals with a valuable, real world education in a fast, convenient format offered online or at one of many campus locations.

Select a Campus: Online | North Charlotte, NC | Center City, PA | Greenville, SC | Alexandria, VA | Nashville, TN | Charleston, SC | Christiana, DE | Tampa Westshore, FL | Washington, DC | RTP Campus, NC | Anne Arundel, MD | South Charlotte, NC | Cobb County, GA | Roswell, GA

Walden University - School of Management

Walden University has unique and flexible online delivery models, world-class faculty and customizable programs which are all geared to help adult learners achieve their career goals.

Select a Campus: Online