Management Accountant

Description:

Management accountants provide accounting information to help managers make decisions to manage the business. They are mainly concerned with the collection, comparison and interpretation of a large variety of information and advice with regard to costs and cost trends, levels of performance and budgets.

Facts:

Management accountants provide more in-depth information required by management for better planning, development and control. Organisations in every field make use of the knowledge of the management accountant in matters such as budget control, labour compensation, expense calculation, price determination, management guidance and many other fields where analysis and control of expenditure are necessary. This makes them vital members of any management team.

Personal Qualities:

• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Good mathematical and computer skills
• Have dependability and integrity
• Organisational and time management skills.

A Typical Day:

A typical day for a Management Accountant might include

• Monitoring spending, costs and budgets
• Forecasting and planning future spending and profits
• Preparing regular financial statements and accounts
• Recommending ways to reduce costs and increase profits

Entry Requirements

To become a qualified management accountant, you must complete the required training with the management accountancy bodies in your countries

• For the UK, associations include Certified Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).Although CIMA is a worldwide recognised accounting body, various countries have their own management accounting bodies.
• In the US, associations include Institute of Management Accountants(IMA)
• In Africa, examples of accounting associations for countries such as Nigeria include Institute of Cost and Management accountants (CICMA)
• In Canada and the Caribbean Islands, associations include the Certified Management Accountants of Canada

For more information on entry requirements, you will need to contact the associations that you are interested in.

Source: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk and http://careerplanning.about.com