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What is Management Accounting?

Published on: 2 Feb 2017

Looking to make an impact with your accountancy skills? Management accounting is number crunching with commercial clout. You’ll provide the financial information that drives business and shapes critical decisions, advising managers and leadership teams on company performance, investments, risk and spend.

Analysing financial data and pinpointing past and emerging trends, Management Accountants play a central role in a company’s growth, profitability and productivity from intelligently cutting operational costs and streamlining processes to engineering competitive business strategies. Day to day, you’ll be responsible for budget planning, risk management, financial strategy, accounts preparation, audit, data analysis and team leadership. You’ll also win over the C-suite with charisma, creativity and first-class communication skills.

So you’ll need a head for figures, a flair for business and the fire to succeed at every level. Here’s where to start:

Assistant Management Accountant

While a degree isn’t necessarily a deal breaker when launching your management accounting career, part qualification or CIMA, ACCA or ACA study is a must. Fundamental accountancy and business experience, razor sharp Excel skills and a strong academic record will also give you an edge.

As an Assistant Management Accountant, you’ll typically report to the Financial Controller or (Senior) Management Accountant and cut your teeth with bedrock duties like:

  • Preparing management accounts to tight deadlines
  • Supporting and streamlining month end processes such as managing accruals, monitoring prepayments and reviewing costs to budget
  • Posting month end journals with commentaries
  • Reconciling balance sheets
  • Analysing budget variance
  • Preparing P&L reports
  • Contributing to ad hoc project work

You’ll also enjoy stacks of development opportunities and plot a potential career path leading all the way to the CFO’s office.

Ready to see how it works in the real world? Check out GAAPweb’s Assistant Management Accountant opportunities.


Graduate Management Accountant

A degree demands passion, precision and perseverance – attributes hiring managers hunger for. So if you’ve earned a 2.1 or higher in Finance, Accounting, Maths or Business Studies, have CIMA, ACCA or ACA qualification on your career plan, and can back up your book smarts with relevant job experience, you may have your pick of graduate positions.   As a Graduate Management Accountant, you’ll work closely with more senior Management Accountants, the Financial Controller or Finance Director. They’ll rely on you for fundamental finance and accountancy support – and stretch your skills with higher-level tasks including:

  • Financial performance analysis
  • Cash control, bank reconciliation and associated ledger postings
  • Management accounts consolidation
  • Fixed asset register management
  • Group treasury support

Looking for your next role in finance? Browse GAAPweb’s Graduate Management Accountant roles.


Group Management Accountant

Making the leap to a Group Management Accountant role requires CIMA, ACCA or ACA qualification, solid business experience and the skills - hard and soft - to take on a pivotal, multi-faceted position. You’ll be practised in producing and presenting management and financial information to top-level execs, building gainful business relationships and transforming functional data into inventive, forward-looking strategies.

Often reporting to the Finance Director, Head of Finance or Chief Financial Officer, Group Management Accountants are responsible for:

  • Developing new reporting processes and internal controls
  • Consolidated management accounting – from reporting results and investigating variance to providing analysis and presenting findings
  • Reporting actual results for P&L and balance sheet against budget and forecasts
  • Assisting with year end audits
  • Budgeting, forecasting, modelling and providing ad hoc project management
  • Preparing group annual financial statements

Plan your next move with GAAPweb’s Group Management Accountant opportunities.