A Guide on How to Hire an Accounting Manager
Accounting managers oversee daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly accounting functions such as managing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll personnel. This makes them the most critical people in an organization. Due to the nature of their job, you need to be careful and do your due diligence before hiring one for your company. You need to ensure that the person you entrust with the job is reliable, trustworthy, educated, experienced, and can work with all accounting technologies and devices such as Сarnation money counters.
Benefits of Hiring an Accounting Manager
Before we outline some tips on how to hire an accounting manager, here are some of the benefits of hiring a good accounting manager:
- Oversees taxes and makes sure your business abides by state and federal regulations
- Create and maintain financial records
- Generate accurate financial reports in a timely fashion
Crucial factors you must consider when hiring an accounting manager
There is no one sure way to find and recruit the best personnel for your company. For the most part, it is a combination of different tact, as well as leaning toward instincts about the kind of people you are considering for a managerial position in the accounting department. While the list is not exhaustive, the following seven pointers will help you filter out your list of the most promising candidates to choose from for the new job position:
Establish the roles and responsibilities of the accounting manager
Accounting managers are in charge of overseeing the financial records of the company and maintaining them, as well as preparing the periodic reports of the organization. These tasks should be outlined clearly in the duties and responsibilities section of your job advertisement. The more detailed you can be about the responsibilities, the better chances you have at finding the right person for the job. By understanding exactly what the accounting manager will do in the company, you are now ready to continue with the rest of the hiring process.
Consider their educational background
When hiring an accounting manager, you must get someone who knows how to get the job done. He/she should have formal education in BS/BA in Finance, Accounting, Economics, and/or CPA. Having an MBA should be an added advantage. Also, don’t forget to check and ensure the person you hire has undergone training in an accredited and reputable institution.
Prioritize credibility
A large chunk of credibility comes from work experience. A reputable candidate for this managerial position should have at least 3 or 5 years of active accounting experience. Preferably, the experience should be from a busy organization. The work history of a person can tell you a thing or two about how credible they are. Consider the integrity and work ethic of the person before. As a rule of thumb, always hire a person you can rely on to deliver top-quality work that will eventually lead to business success.
Proficiency in Excel
Most of the responsibilities of an accounting manager have to be done and completed using Excel. Get a person who is proficient in advanced Excel, particularly V-Lookup and pivot tables.
Communication skills
Today, communication skills are irreducible minimums when it comes to hiring for any position. How the person you hire interacts with other people within the organization makes a big difference. Strong communication skills enhance productivity and lead to the creation of mutually beneficial working relationships. When hiring an accounts manager, check for both written and spoken communication. If you are running an international corporation,consider versatility in language use. Choose a candidate that can speak most, if not all, the languages that are crucial in the daily running of the organization.
Attention to detail
In the accounting field, the goal is to be productive while minimizing errors as much as possible. Keen attention to detail is a necessary skill for this position. Since the accounting manager you hire will be in charge of day-to-day activities that involve your company finances, check to ensure they have the highest attention to detail. This is something you can tell from how your candidates express themselves during an interview and how thorough they are with their resume.
Collaborative work style
An accounting manager cannot be acting on his/her own in the workplace. Hiring someone with a team spirit should be one of your primary goals. This will help ensure that the new employee blends well with your organizational culture and works with others to speed up the attainment of your business mission, vision, objectives, and goals.
In the end, your choice for the right accounting manager for your organization will depend on your individual preferences as well as your business goals and objectives. Consider also the size of your company, along with the budget allocations for the position you are filling. By doing this and following the above tips, you will doubtlessly find the best!