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Accountancy jobs brief - financial controller

As a financial controller you'll work directly with the finance director.

It's a hands on role and you'll head up the day to day financial activities for your company, including; financial strategy, analysis of the books, reporting back to management on the state of the company's finances, cash flow, producing accounts, setting and checking targets, monitoring the performance of each department, auditing and overseeing all tax and regulatory/compliance issues.

It's a very senior and important role and a stepping stone to progress to finance director level. You'll be using your professional skills to the max and learning from the management team on a daily basis. This means you'll be in on any potential acquisitions the business is going to make and all important business decisions.

Although you'll need to have an accountancy background you'll probably manage a team of ledger clerks who will look after the more traditional accountancy and administrative side of things for you.

Hours and environment

You'll be scheduled to work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, although you should be prepared to put in some extra time when there are big projects on the go or deadlines to be met.

You'll spend a lot of time in meetings, and if you work for a bigger company, then you should expect to travel around to the various office sites as needed.

There are not many part-time options but you could go freelance if you want more control over your workload and time.

Skills and interests

Much of your day will be spent meeting with people or presenting complex financial information to them in a clear and simple way. Other skills that will help you get on in your career include:

Lots of energy and motivation
An ability to multitask
Good attention to detail
Good understanding of business as well as financial issues
Good interpersonal skills
Sound decision making
An ability to work to tight deadlines

Entry

You'll need experience in financial and management accounting to win a job as a financial controller. Most people in the industry find themselves in the role after being assigned on a project or from a related, complementary accountancy position.

The chances are you'll have started on a trainee scheme and have completed your professional exams so employers will expect that you are a fully qualified accountant (go to the training section for more on qualifications) and will be looking for up to date knowledge of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accountancy Practice), IFRS (International Finance Reporting Standards), budgeting and financial modelling.

To get on a trainee scheme you'll usually need a degree, preferably in maths, economics, business or a similar subject.

Training

You'll already have spent a lot of time studying to make it as a financial controller. You will probably be fully qualified or part qualified as an essential pre-requisite to getting your job.

You should be qualified with one of the six major accountancy bodies in the UK:

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)
Sound decision making
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)

Once you've qualified it's important you keep your skills up to date by attending short courses run by all the accountancy bodies and by attending networking events.

Opportunities

The natural progression path for a financial controller is promotion to finance director. With more strategic business experience you could even go on to become a managing director or chief executive officer.

Your years of studying will have prepared you with a bank of transferrable skills that will ensure you're in hot demand not just in the finance industry. It's quite common for senior financial managers like controllers to move into more general management, into a new industry entirely or even to set up their own business.

Annual income

As a trainee you'll probably earn around £17,000 to £25,000. Once you've qualified this usually jumps up to between £28,000 and £45,000.

With several years experience you could be on as much as £50,000 to £100,000, sometimes more depending on your organisation and responsibilities.

London based companies tend to pay more generous salaries as do the bigger companies turning over more than £100million.