What are the roles and responsibilities of an accountant?

An accountant is an extremely part of any business. Often overlooked however they play a critical role in the successful operation of a company. They take care of everything from filing taxes to managing discounting bills. However, most people think they can run a business without an accountant mainly because they are unaware of what all things an accountant does. So today we are going to explain to you the roles and responsibilities of an accountant in detail:

1. Contents

   1 Prepare budget forecasts

   2 Ensure timely bank payments

   3 File income tax returns

   4 Audit internal financial documents

   Prepare budget forecasts

The budget forecast is the key to the success of any organization. Budgeting involves setting out your financial targets and then projecting them forward into the future, based on market conditions and your own assumptions about the economy. Preparing reports that help in making forecasts is the main responsibility of accountants.

Accountants are responsible for analysing and summarising financial information, preparing annual reports and providing advice on how to improve the financial performance of the company. Hence in a way, they are responsible for helping their clients make informed decisions, while they also ensure that the financial statements add up to what they represent.

2. Ensure timely bank payments

Successful businesses are those that do not just survive but thrive, and they do so by ensuring they pay their bills on time, every time. This is why accounting is vital to all businesses: it ensures accurate financial information is available to managers at all times, enabling them to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions. The role of an accountant is to make sure that the company is on track with its financial obligations. This requires a lot of planning and attention to detail. 

3. File income tax returns

The accountant is responsible for preparing all the necessary documents and making sure that they are accurate and complete. These documents must be filed by the end of each year. While computing taxes accountants are expected to know all the government regulations related to taxes. They should have knowledge about things like discount bills, GST and tax receipts. In addition to filing income tax returns, accountants they may also be called on by other professionals (such as lawyers) to help with the preparation of such documents. Accountants are responsible for ensuring that all taxes are paid on time and that any penalties or interest owed are paid along with the taxes. They must also ensure that all payroll taxes, sales taxes and other obligations are paid in a timely manner.

4. Audit internal financial documents

Accountants must be able to read and understand financial statements, which may include those prepared by other professionals such as management or investors. The scope of auditing depends on the type of organization as sometimes it may just be limited to reading profit loss statements whereas in other cases like an eCommerce business, they may have to analyse all the invoices and even ensure that delivery challan format is correct and uniform for all transactions. In case there are any minor issues they may need to sort them out themselves. For instance, if they find that the delivery challan format being followed in the company is not uniform and varies in different transactions they may need to prepare the right delivery challan format in excel and mail it across the organization for uniformity. They also need to understand how a company’s finances work and what types of transactions are being made on a regular basis. This allows them to spot any irregularities in accounting practices before they become problems for the business or its owners.