Accounting Specialist Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides exhaustive information on the job description of an accounting specialist, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that they commonly perform.

What Does an Accounting Specialist Do?

An accounting specialist is a professional employed to help a business record all financial transactions carried out in the company.

The accounting specialist job description entails maintaining all accounting records in the organization and preparing financial records for the organization.

The services rendered by accounting specialists are required by a number of business organizations, like accounting companies, banks, and other related business institutions.

Accounting or payroll departments are places where their services are required mostly in such organizations.

The accounting specialist is usually required to handle tasks like accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll tasks, general ledger bookkeeping, bank statement reconciliation, and lots more.

His/her role also includes preparing all relevant accounting reports of financial activities carried out in the institution.

He/she is expected to employ his/her accounting skills to solve problems as they arise in the course of duty.

The work description of accounting specialists may also includes duties such as budget analysis, tax collection, financial clerkship, and cost estimation.

Some organizations may also require accounting specialists to function in specific departments of the company, like the payroll department, billing, collection, or accounting department.

They can equally function as the administrative specialist or as an office assistant, depending on where their expertise is required in the organization.

Other responsibilities an accounting specialist may be saddled with include receiving invoices of business transactions and processing them.

He/she is expected to follow this up with organizing how payment can be delivered to vendors, and to report payment progress to the appropriate authority in the organization.

He/she is trusted to collect payment on behalf of the company and get such money deposited in the company’s bank account.

As hinted earlier, the accounting specialist is in control of the payroll system of the company. His/her task in this regard involves entering payment details of employees as well as their benefits and salaries.

He/she is expected to regularly update the payroll system of the organization.

The timesheets and contracts of the employees require regular review and the accounting specialist is responsible for this task.

He/she equally prepares payroll system reports, like federal report, state report, and compensation reports of the workers.

He/she is also equally required to manage financial records of the business organization and to review balance sheets, profit and loss statements, financial statements, ledgers, and other such financial documents. He/she should ensure these documents are accurate.

He/she is expected to also oversee the record management system of the company to ensure they are up to date.

Accounting Specialist Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Here is an example of accounting specialist job description, detailing major duties, tasks, and responsibilities of the role in most departments where they work:

• Ensure accurate and timely payment processing through frequent account processing
• Support payables work by entering debit and credit information into the accounting system
• Build and maintain files and reports on the company’s Accounts Payable processing
• Update entries into the general ledger to cater for account changes
• Build and maintain files and reports on liability and assets account balances
• Provide perfect balancing from a corporate point of view
• Prepare and submit reports regularly to be recorded in the accounting system of the company
• Carry out duties assigned by departmental managers and supervisors
• Review and code invoices for the company
• Enter payments into the accounting system
• Balance the company’s credit card statements
• Make periodic reimbursements in accordance to procedures and policies outlined by the credit union
• Record and verify reports on daily work of employees
• Complete all related results by organizing and accomplishing set missions
• Participate in educational opportunities and update acquired job knowledge
• File and microfilm documents to maintain historical records
• Follow all procedures relating to internal accounting in order to maintain the company’s financial security.

Accounting Specialist Job Description for Resume

It is a fact that searching for a new job as accounting specialist will bring you in competition with several other applicants for the job. To have an edge therefore, you need to ensure you are presenting a great resume to employers.

To assist you in writing a resume for the position, the sample job description provided above captures the duties, and responsibilities of most accounting specialists, which can be adopted in making the work experience part of the resume, which seeks to convince the employer of your ability to do the job effectively.

Accounting Specialist Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

The following are major qualities, including abilities, knowledge, and skills usually required that accounting specialists should possess to improve their performance on the job:

• Educational qualification: B Sc. In Finance or Accounting
• Years of experience in accounts payable desk or accounting is an advantage
• Good knowledge of accounting procedures, policies, regulations and rules
• Ability to manage time
• Possess top notch thoroughness
• Possess research skills
• Ability to meet deadline
• Possess PC proficiency, especially in Excel
• Good understanding of automated accounting systems
• Ability to organize and work with others along with team leadership ability
• Possess general mathematics skills
• Ability to report accurately
• Ability to analyze information
• Possess attention to details.

Accounting Specialist Skills for Resume

Are you writing a resume for seeking the job of accounting specialist? If you are, it is important to note that most employers and hiring managers look at the skills or competence section of the resume very thoroughly.

This helps them to determine if the applicant has the relevant skill set that would enable them to excel on the job.

And that is why you should make sure you write this section with the skills and other qualities the employer is interested in, such as the ones provided above, which you must have of course developed or acquired.