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Director of Economics or Chief Accountant difference. Career ambitions of accountants. Who earns more

I have the following situation: 1. I am the chief accountant of the Management Company (subordinate to organization 22 - Construction).2. I report directly to the financial director.3. There are only two signatures on the bank card (1st General Director 2nd Mine)4. Payments are sent by an employee who does not report to me, but uses my electronic signature.5. I coordinate all payments, but there are cases when payment occurs first, and then I find out and have to coordinate. When I was on vacation, my electronic signature was used. This is the first time in my life that I will encounter such a situation.6. In fact, my electronic signature is used by a Finn. director.7. I also sign all financial and tax reporting (by proxy from the General Director).8. Essentially, I am exposed to serious risks (liability). Employees directly reporting to the General Director do not accept my demands. They say that you have a leader, contact him, and we will solve everything with him. The financial director does not know the requirements of accounting and tax legislation. My duties state that I do not have the right to demand anything from the organization’s employees. I can only ask. The Director General does not delve into accounting and tax accounting. Very often I have to resolve problems with concluded contracts that I did not approve (information hunger). With all this, the General Director appreciates me very much and very often sets tasks for me directly. I ask you provide assistance in the selection of legal documents to justify the removal from the subordination of the finance director to the subordination of the general director. Thank you.

If there are several general directors, the organization needs to independently determine on what issues the chief accountant should report to which of the managers. . In practice, two variants of structure are common, within each of which potential problems may arise. conflict situations:

In this case, the chief accountant reports to the financial director.

The chief accountant in this case reports directly to the general director.

For more details on the relationship between the parties, see below in Article No. 2.

It should also be taken into account that when using electronic signatures, participants in electronic interaction are obliged to ensure the confidentiality of electronic signature keys, in particular, to prevent the use of electronic signature keys belonging to them without their consent (in other words, just as in the case of a simple signature, to prevent the key into the wrong hands).

Formally, you cannot use someone else’s electronic signature.

Rationale
(Information that will help you make the right decision is highlighted in color)

What will change in your work due to large-scale amendments to the Civil Code

Two CEOs in one company

Why dual power is convenient: one director can sign financial documents without a power of attorney when the other is absent.

Important detail

From September 1, any company can have two general directors, three, etc. (Clause 3, Article 65.3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). They can act together or independently of each other. At the same time, the charter must clearly state how many directors there are in the organization and what competence each of them has.

On the one hand, it's convenient. After all, when one director is on vacation, another can sign an urgent document without a power of attorney. In addition, in large companies, in which, for example, there are several projects, each of them can be supervised by its own director.

On the other hand, there is a risk of abuse when, for example, in the absence of one director, another concludes some deal in his favor. In addition, the presence of dual power can confuse workers whose orders they must carry out. Let's take, for example, the chief accountant. With many general directors, there can still be only one chief accountant in the company. It turns out that the company needs to determine on what issues which manager should report.

Financial director and chief accountant: how to resolve conflicts

IGOR BASOV, managing partner of the company "Financial Standard"

Typically, in practice, both the financial director and the chief accountant have a great influence on the business processes of their company, so their interaction with each other is often associated with certain difficulties. However, if two specialists manage to successfully bypass sharp corners, then the company as a whole receives undeniable benefits from this. Let's take a closer look at what causes the most common problems in the relationships between these key figures and how you can really minimize the causes of their occurrence.

How finance structure affects relationships

From the place financial director and the chief accountant in the hierarchical structure of the company often depends not only on the microclimate in the department, but also on the successful functioning of the organization itself. But if the financial director always heads the financial service, then the role of the chief accountant may vary different companies. In practice, two structure options are common, within each of which potential conflict situations may arise.

Option 1. Accounting is part of the financial service. In this case, the chief accountant reports to the financial director, and the level of tension in the relationship between them is usually quite high. I will highlight two key critical points within this structure from the point of view of the chief accountant:

• he is forced to coordinate with the financial director all his fundamental initiatives relating to the main job responsibilities;
• he actually has double subordination and is forced to maneuver between the general and financial directors.

From the position of the financial director, a situation may become the basis for conflicts when, bypassing him, senior management will convey new information and give instructions directly to the chief accountant (see also the table). In the eyes of the general director, both specialists represent the financial service, so any financial issues can be addressed to each of them. And since he sometimes has to communicate with the chief accountant more often (when preparing tax reporting, agreeing on contracts, confirming current payments, etc.), he accepts more instructions and new input. This position cannot suit the CFO: having less necessary information, he becomes a less valuable employee for the company and the significance of his decisions decreases. He is forced to request data from the chief accountant, thereby receiving it in a distorted form and putting himself in a dependent position. A situation is possible when the presence of the financial director is no longer necessary: ​​he may be fired, and the chief accountant will take over his functions. To avoid this, it is important to very accurately describe the responsibilities of the chief accountant and clearly delimit areas of responsibility with him, and also convey this to the general director.

TABLE. Potentially conflicting issues between the financial director and the chief accountant

Potentially conflicting issues	CFO position	Position of chief accountant
Acceptance management decisions within the division	In the final instance, decides all personnel and organizational issues in an independent and functional accounting unit	It is not enough to have the authority to fire a subordinate, send him on vacation, allocate a bonus as part of the financial service’s incentive plan, etc.
Acceptance regulatory documents accounting nature (regulations on document flow, accounting policies, regulations on business trips and reporting documents, etc.)	Acting as the final authority, the financial director can make changes that are inconvenient for the chief accountant, exclude some provisions, or suspend approval of the document
Presentation of accounting and tax reporting	Does not formally participate in this process	The reporting is completely prepared in the accounting department, signed by the chief accountant and submitted to the general director for approval.
Accounting for current payments based on primary documents	When the payment function is assigned to the treasury, subordinate to the financial director, and the accounting department checks the primary documents that serve as the basis for the payment, misunderstandings may arise regarding the completeness of the submitted documents, as well as the urgency of the payment
Submission of primary accounting documents for previously made advance payments	Manages accounts receivable, so timely reflection of advances in costs is also important	It is critically important to have all primary documentation in a timely manner before submitting reports to regulatory authorities
Conducting advance reports and accountable amounts	Takes into account the essence of the expenses incurred, the order of their registration is secondary	There may be questions regarding the preparation of primary documentation

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Gayane Asatryan, financial director CSI Vostok company

Accounting should be part of the financial service. In my opinion, in this case there should be fewer conflict situations. Conflicts may arise when the financial director interferes excessively in the work of the chief accountant. It is necessary to set the general vector for the development of accounting and leave the resolution of operational issues at the level of the chief accountant.

Option 2. Accounting is separated into a separate division. The chief accountant in this case reports directly to the general director. The financial service retains the functions of planning and financial analysis. Financial responsibility in the company is distributed and blurred. Sometimes it is difficult to determine whose responsibility it is to solve a particular problem. This especially applies to issues of management accounting, automation of the financial function, the formation of long-term accounting policies and budgeting policies. In matters that require the mutual participation of financiers and accounting, a conflict of interest and misunderstanding of the importance of processes may arise. The head of the company assumes most of the control and interaction between financial departments and is forced to independently decide which specialist to give the appropriate financial assignment. Of course, the authority and weight of the financial director in such a structure is reduced.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Gayane Asatryan, financial director CSI Vostok company

When the chief accountant is directly subordinate to the general director, there is no proper control over the work of the accounting department, since no one understands anything about its work. The financial director is precisely the person who can provide this control. Let me give you an example from practice. The chief accountant did not use income tax benefits and did not apply increasing factors to the depreciation rate, so as not to have differences between accounting and tax accounting and not to count deferred taxes. Another example: the chief accountant preferred the advance payment scheme for income tax, since in this case tax reporting had to be submitted to the tax office once a quarter, and not every month. This led to significant overpayments of taxes to the budget.

I will also note this important point: The CFO does not bear any legal responsibility for decisions made, although often his position in the company is higher than the chief accountant. But the chief accountant bears legal responsibility for the correctness of accounting and timely submission of accounting and tax reporting. At the same time, his powers are often limited only to tax and accounting, and responsibility for the preparation of management reporting and IFRS lies with the financial director. But even in this case, it is the chief accountant who controls the correctness of recording primary documentation in accounting systems. He also determines the accounting policy, reporting forms, necessary analytics and principles for entering primary documentation. Although accounting legislation is gradually being brought into line with IFRS and, as a result, all more evaluative and forecast judgments, which forces the chief accountant to gradually move away from exclusively accounting and reporting functions towards forecasting indicators. And this has traditionally been the function of the CFO. Now this functionality increases the value of the chief accountant in the eyes of the company's senior management, since now, based on accurate accounting information, he will be able to form more accurate forecasts and budgets. This cannot but bring disagreement into their relationship.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

The author proceeds from the fact that the basis of the relationship between the financial director and the chief accountant is always competition, which gives rise to conflict. However, often the chief accountant is satisfied with his specialization and does not rush into the territory of the financial director. If both specialists understand the boundaries of their powers, they will interact constructively. The chief accountant, even if he is subordinate to the financial director, must be left with a certain autonomy, create comfort for his work, because he is also a manager and bears great responsibility.

Conclusions. In my experience, the most effective model is one in which accounting is included in the financial service, but the chief accountant is included in the structure of the board of directors in parallel with the financial director, and has the same right of independent opinion and vote in this board. In this case, subordination will be observed in resolving work issues. The financial director will act as a single leader and will bear full power and responsibility within the financial service. At the same time, the chief accountant will not lose the opportunity to express his own dissenting opinion on the most important issues within the board of directors. He will act as the main accounting ideologist in the company, thinking much broader than fiscal legislative restrictions and guided in his decisions not only by letters from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service, but primarily by the interests of the company itself. To minimize conflict situations, it is necessary to clearly describe the responsibilities and division of powers between the financial director and the chief accountant. This decision is becoming increasingly relevant as accounting legislation develops towards convergence with IFRS and, as a consequence, expansion of the functionality of the chief accountant. In a situation where he has to make assessments and forecasts more and more often, his role is seriously increasing. This is especially noticeable in large companies that prepare reports in accordance with international standards.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Gayane Asatryan, financial director CSI Vostok company

I consider it unnecessary to include the chief accountant on the board of directors: the presence of two department representatives on the board looks strange, especially when its representatives express diametrically opposed views on the same issue. In companies where this is practiced, there is likely to be a degree of distrust of the CFO on the part of the CEO and shareholders. You need to motivate and express respect for the work of the chief accountant in other ways.

Oleg Khoroshiy, Head of the Department of Profit Taxation of Organizations of the Department of Tax and Customs Tariff Policy of the Ministry of Finance of Russia

To whom the key can be issued electronic signature

An electronic signature key can be issued to an entrepreneur or a specific employee who has the right to sign paper documents on behalf of the organization (paragraph 4, clause 3.3. for the right to sign reports electronically.

Anastasia Vitkovskaya, MBA (SSE), Partner and Director open source software AMI business school, St. Petersburg

What we will tell you about in this article

• The feasibility of combining the positions of chief accountant and financial director
• Functions and responsibilities of the chief accountant and financial director
• 3 scenarios for effective combination of positions in the company
• Powers of the financial director and chief accountant

The feasibility of combining positions chief accountant and financial director determined based on the answers to the following questions:

• What functions do accounting and financial management perform in your company?
• Who works there?
• How is the structure of the financial department and accounting department organized in the company?
• And what kind of structure would you like to see?

Organizationally, the chief accountant and financial director in the company structure can be located at the same (Scheme 1) or at different (Scheme 2) levels. In the latter case, the financial director is at the head, to whom the financial department and the chief accountant report. A modification of the last scheme for small companies - the financial director carries out his functions alone, without a financial department, and the accounting department also reports to him.

Divisions on the same level

The chief accountant reports to the financial director

As for the hierarchy of managers, the chief accountant and financial director may report directly to the General, Executive or commercial director(this distribution of powers is not uncommon). Sometimes the financial director is subordinate to the General Director, and the chief accountant is subordinate to the executive (Diagram 3).

Power distribution option

A practitioner tells

Andrey Andryukhin,

In small companies, the business structure of which consists of one, maximum two links, the manager is responsible for planning and solving strategic issues, the chief accountant is responsible for financial and operational activities, and the need for a financial director disappears by itself.

When a company expands, the business structure becomes multidisciplinary and the staff increases, there is a need for a person who will be involved in financial planning, distribution of cash flows, and attraction of investments. It doesn’t matter what the title of this employee’s position is - deputy for economics and finance or financial director, the point is that the chief accountant alone cannot support the company. After the appearance of the financial director, the responsibility of the chief accountant becomes the protection of the rear - ensuring “crystal” accounting, tax and statistical reporting. And his interference in the affairs of the CFO would be more harmful to the business than useful.

Roles and Responsibilities

Accounting conducts operational and reporting work: serves the company’s interaction with government agencies, banks and clients. Its main functions:

Among the primary functions of the financial department are the following:

• cash flow management (planning, distribution, control);
• taking into account risks for the enterprise as a whole, individual divisions and specific products;
• development of proposals for tax optimization;
• managing departments and assisting them with budgeting;
• adjustment of cash flow and cost plans;
• ensuring financial operations are consistent with the company's strategy;
• determination of financial policies and rules for working with external and internal clients.

Based on the described functions, job responsibilities are distributed between the chief accountant and the financial director. It is obvious that their functions complement each other and partially overlap. The main differences and similarities between the job responsibilities of the financial director and the chief accountant are shown in the table below.

Job responsibilities of the financial director

1. Organizing and conducting regular financial analysis, planning and control.
2. Setting up and implementing management accounting.
3. Checking the compliance of financial planning with the company's strategy.
4. Regular budgeting.
5. Financial forecasting.
6. Rationale for pricing.
7. Attracting investments.
8. Work with credit institutions and banks.
9. Distribution of financial flows within the company.
10. Risk management.
11. Development of proposals to ensure the solvency of the enterprise.
12. Construction of internal financial reporting mechanisms.

Job responsibilities of the chief accountant

1. Organization of optimal maintenance and storage of accounting documentation.
2. Monitoring compliance with the legislation of accounting policies and accounting.
3. Organization of timely submission of accounting, tax and statistical reporting to the relevant authorities (for example, to the federal, regional and local budgets), insurance contributions to state extra-budgetary social funds, payments to banking institutions, etc.
4. Control over the economical use of material, labor and financial resources, and the safety of enterprise property.
5. Management of the preparation and adoption of the working chart of accounts, forms of primary accounting documents (if they are not in the package of standard documentation), development of forms of internal accounting documents, ensuring the procedure for conducting inventories.
6. Control over the processing of accounting information, document flow procedures, compliance with staffing, financial and cash discipline.
7. Providing complete, timely, reliable accounting information about the organization’s activities, its property status, income and expenses.
8. Control (together with the financial director or instead of him) over compliance with financial discipline.
9. Control of timely reflection in accounting accounts of transactions related to the movement of cash and fixed assets, inventory items.
10. Costing and calculation wages employees.
11. Participation in the analysis of the financial activities of the enterprise.

Effectively assigning the responsibilities of the chief accountant to the financial director

Let's consider three development scenarios using the example of companies successfully operating on the Russian market, in which there is or previously existed a combination of the positions of chief accountant and financial director.

Powers of the financial director and chief accountant

	Financial Director	Chief accountant
Differences	Planning, analysis of financial activities taking into account various factors, internal audit	Flow accounting and control cash
Similarities	Determining the company’s financial strategy, ensuring compliance with financial policies, pricing, budgeting, and financial flows of the company’s activities as a whole Strategic-tactical level of tasks to be solved	Providing the required documentation to various bodies, making payments to organizations, maintaining financial discipline. Costing. Payroll Operational and tactical level of tasks to be solved
	Knowledge of the legal framework, determination of financial policy for different levels, financial flow management

Scenario one

Company X has been on the market for 12 years. Turnover reaches 500 thousand euros per year. A team of 25 permanent employees serves about 40 clients. Until now, the functions of financial planning are performed by the chief accountant, who knows all the nuances of the company’s activities very well.

The chief accountant, although he has an assistant, basically does everything himself. Namely:

• is responsible for organizing the optimal maintenance and storage of accounting documentation, compliance of accounting policies and accounting with the legislation of the Russian Federation;
• organizes the timely submission of accounting, tax and statistical reporting to the relevant authorities;
• controls the use of material, labor and financial resources, as well as the safety of the enterprise’s property;
• manages costing and employee payroll;
• tracks debts to banks;
• participates in the analysis of the financial activities of the enterprise.

Resolving issues related to strategic planning and cash flow management are handled by the General Director. The chief accountant helps him with this.

• How to fire a CFO without financial consequences

A practitioner tells

Andrey Andryukhin, Financial Director of the Plavsk Machine-Building Plant “Smychka”, Plavsk (Tula Region)

For four years I combined the positions of chief accountant and financial director. The number of employees (about 530 people) and the business structure have not changed in the company for many years. After the 1998 default, when we, like many other domestic enterprises, found ourselves on the brink of an abyss, we had to cut staff and cut costs. The position of director of economics and finance was eliminated, and I, then still the chief accountant, was forced to deal with financial planning, distribution of cash flows, and attraction of investments. When we found a good chief accountant in 2002, I became financial director.

Scenario two

Company Y, with a turnover of 15 million euros (11 years on the market, 80 employees), introduced the position of financial director in the fifth year of its existence, when the turnover reached 3 million euros and the staff amounted to 20 people. The company is currently engaged in three different types activities and serves about 140 large clients. For efficient work a financial department (of three employees) and an accounting department (of five) were organized.

The main reason for hiring a CFO was the growth of the company. The chief accountant's workload increased and he needed new special knowledge. The introduction of the position of financial director made it possible to separate strategic and operational functions, while strengthening the planning and control of each type of company activity.

The Financial Director provides:

• organizing and performing regular financial management;
• financial analysis, planning and control;
• setting up and performing management accounting;
• checking the compliance of financial planning with the company’s strategy (in other words, he is involved in planning the business as a whole);
• regular budgeting;
• financial forecasting, discounting, pricing;
• attracting investments;
• work with credit institutions;
• distribution of financial flows within the company;
• working with banks;
• ensuring risks.

Recently, the owners discussed the possibility of selling part of the company's business and the CFO was asked to estimate its value. His responsibilities include developing proposals to ensure the solvency of the enterprise. It deals with cargo insurance and securities issues. And the CFO’s theoretical knowledge of mergers and acquisitions may be needed this year due to the fact that the company is actively “eating up” its competitors.

Obviously, combining the positions of chief accountant and financial director is impossible in this case, since the company is growing rapidly. Separation of functions is essential.

General Director speaks

Evgeny Kabanov, General Director of the Kubanyagroprod group of companies, Krasnodar region

Until 2003, at Soya Center LLC, our soybean processing enterprise in the Krasnodar Territory, there was no need for a financial director. The chief accountant handled accounting and tax reporting. And decisions on financial forecasting, issues related to financial discipline, planning, control and analysis of the enterprise’s activities were made at the Moscow head office.

Over the past two years, the company has been undergoing changes, the goal of which is to create a strong team at the enterprise in the Krasnodar region, capable of independently making strategically important decisions. Part of the operational and strategic functions of financial, production and marketing nature is located in Moscow management company gradually transfers to the region so that the control levers are in the hands of the managers of the enterprise in Krasnodar.

Thus, the center of responsibility is shifting from Moscow to the Krasnodar region and the chief accountant is assigned more and more responsibilities as a financial director. In this regard, two full-time positions of economists have appeared who are engaged in the collection, processing and analysis of financial and economic information. I think that for some time there will be no doubt about the effectiveness of combining the functions of the financial manager and chief accountant.

Scenario three

Company Z has been operating on the market for eight years, turnover is 3 million euros per year, 40 employees, three types of activities (the first - 650 clients per year, the second - 120-150, the third - 12-15). The position of financial director was introduced in the seventh year of the company's existence. Until this moment, the General Director himself conducted the financial analysis, and the chief accountant only prepared reports according to the requested schemes.

The growth of the company was the main reason for the emergence of a CFO. With his arrival, some negative aspects of combining the responsibilities of the chief accountant and financial director were revealed. As it turned out, due to the low qualifications of the chief accountant, the General Director, using distorted data, incorrectly calculated indirect costs and incorrectly implemented the pricing strategy. The company suffered losses that might not have happened. Another weak link was the insufficiently competent use of accounting programs, which did not allow combining data on Russian and Western financial statements.

The CFO introduced new rules for presenting financial statements and tasked programmers with correlating the data. Today the company has become attractive to investment funds, whereas previously the balance sheet prepared in accordance with Russian legislation did not create the prerequisites for such interest. In addition, the financial director conducted an internal audit and sent the chief accountant to advanced training courses, since new knowledge became necessary at the new stage of development of the company (and the country).

The main work of the financial director was:

• participation in strategy development;
• ensuring compliance of financial management (financial strategy) with the company's strategy;
• building mechanisms for internal financial reporting (personal, by division, by type of activity) and reporting to the owners of the company (once a quarter).

In this case, it is obvious that the company delayed the separation of the functions of the financial director and chief accountant. As a result of poor financial management, the company lost significantly more than it saved on costs associated with including the position of financial director in the staffing table.

Back in Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and then Medieval Western Europe there was the position of treasurer - a person in charge of the treasury (of a monarch, merchant or church). Apparently, even then our ancestors understood that it was easier to concentrate finances in one hand: so that they would have someone to ask for. Now, perhaps realizing that in some cases it is better to divide the “treasury”, leaders are introducing new financially responsible structures. But it is worth organizing them only in the case when the chief accountant and other directors cannot cope with the function of financial management, when they do not have enough knowledge and time.

There are several most universal recommendations. The separation of the positions of chief accountant and financial director is necessary in the following situations:

1. The company actively attracts financial resources (takes out loans, issues bonds, etc.). In this case, the financial director is needed for qualified work with external partners and preparation of the information they need.
2. One of the company's primary tasks is budgeting, financial planning and management accounting. To make management decisions, company management requires detailed financial and economic analysis in various areas. In such a situation, as a rule, the scale of tasks financial management does not allow combining them with accounting.

Is it enough for a chief accountant to master aspects of budgeting, learn how to manage financial assets, understand the features of a loan portfolio and other financial issues in order to take the post of financial director?

According to many TOPs, even an artist can become an accountant with great desire and hard work on himself. But he most likely will not receive satisfaction from such a transformation.

Career ambitions of accountants

For most people career growth- this is not a natural result of high-quality intensive work, but some kind of super idea. Specialists dream of taking the post of director in a year or two and sitting on comfortable chair all my life. However, they do not understand the full magnitude of responsibility that will fall on them after such a rapid career advancement. It’s better to calm down your career ambitions a little and gradually but confidently rise up.

First of all, you should take your assigned responsibilities as responsibly as possible. You need to engage in business not formally, but with interest. Then career growth will not be far off. The desire to become the biggest boss should not be an end in itself, but a global perspective.

It is much more interesting and useful for yourself and your career, including improving your skills, improving your qualifications, learning new things in your profession.

About this and we'll talk in this article.

Doctor - commodity specialist - financial director: what is the connection?

Anna Ivanova, director of a company in the field of consulting and outsourcing, wanted to become a doctor as a child and intensively studied biology, chemistry and physics. After graduating from school, she changed her mind about the profession and received an education as a merchandiser. The girl thought that she would do this business until she was old. However, at the age of 34, Anna opened a consulting company that provides services in outstaffing, accounting personnel, tax, and legal outsourcing. She went all the way from a commodity accountant to a financial director. It was findir, in whose company Anna initially worked, who gave her the right direction in professional development, which served as a good impetus for starting her own business.

According to Anna, a good chief accountant earns about $2,000. There are specialists who can work in one place with such a salary all their lives. But there are also those who want to grow further and become a financial director. The professions of an accountant and a strategist are radically different, and from the point of view of human physiology, the performance of duties in these positions affects different hemispheres of the brain.

There are various ways to achieve the position of financial director, but first a specialist must have an economic education and know management accounting. And it’s even better if the future findir steps over the chief accountant within himself.

Who is strong at what?

How long will it take to rebuild? Take the Financial Management Test to find out if you're a natural born CFO or chief accountant.

What is acceptable for a finder and prohibited for a chief accountant?

The main skill of the CFO profession is his speed and competence in decision making. Moreover, the financial condition of the company and its future as a whole depend on these decisions. Sometimes drastic steps lead to financial losses, and sometimes to big victories.

The main task of a financial director is to try, experiment, develop and not be afraid of mistakes. Because negative experience is valuable experience. And what should be punished is not mistakes made when trying to improve something, but inaction, indifference and negligence.

However, many finders reading this article will mentally disagree. Because there is a statement that even the best chief accountant cannot replace the financial director. Indeed, inventiveness and creative thinking can be traced in the actions of the findir. For the chief accountant, such an approach is taboo.

What are the strengths and prospects of the chief accountant?

The chief accountant is the company's chief digital specialist. A good specialist must have a high level of knowledge of the features of accounting and tax accounting, be able to correctly prepare financial statements and rebuff the tax authorities in a timely manner so that they do not encroach on the profit honestly earned by the enterprise. According to many company executives, a good accountant saves up to 40% of a company's profit. Because he adheres to the two rules of the famous billionaire Warren Buffett:

“Rule one: never lose money. Rule two: never forget rule one.”

The chief accountant has a phenomenal memory, speed reading, stress resistance and can always give an answer about the extra penny spent. An accountant who is interested and hungry for professional development and growth will find it quite easy to learn new knowledge and gain new skills to become a CFO. The future finder will be able to abstract himself in order to painlessly change his own psychology and methods of conducting the financial affairs of the enterprise. But if necessary, it activates its professional qualities chief accountant.

What is the power of the financial directorate?

The head of the financial service, in addition to masterful knowledge in the field of accounting, must also be a good manager. The financial director should not manage the process of preparing financial documents for external users, since this responsibility remains with the chief accountant. However, the head of the financial directorate must be able to manage subordinates and actively participate in the processes of financial and economic administration of the company, in particular in matters of budgeting.

The newly appointed head of the financial department may say that he does not manage the business processes of the enterprise, since this function lies with the company’s linear divisions. This statement is worth taking note of, as it may indicate an erroneous appointment to the post. For the benefit of the company, specialists should not occupy positions that do not suit their level of competence.

In any case, this employee is a valuable specialist who brings value by performing analytical functions, but he may not be able to cope with the work of a CFO. How can an employer objectively assess the level of influence of a finder on certain financial and economic processes and indicators? Such opportunities are few, but they do exist.

Check how well the CFO's competencies meet the company's requirements? Offer to get tested.

What does the findir control?

The financial director is responsible for almost all stages of budgeting:

• collection and analysis of information;
• coordination and approval of both operating and general budgets;
• validity of budget contents;
• compliance of indicators with the system of restrictions, etc.

One of the main functions of the financial director is execution control. What does this function mean? This means that all requests for payments, agreements for approval and other internal documentation must be meticulously checked for compliance with approved plans and budgets.

The stage of control and analysis involves searching and identifying the causes of significant plan-actual deviations. But the most important thing is to generate solutions to improve this situation.

The regulation stage is usually considered to be a generalization of the experience gained and the expression of projects to improve the current budgeting concept.

The important functions of the financial director also include the following:

• corporate strategy and planning aimed at maximizing company value;
• financial management (cash flows, accounts receivable and payable, ensuring the fulfillment of all obligations, safety of assets, etc.);
• tax planning.

In general, the goal of the work of a financial director is a high-quality result at any stage of the financial and economic functioning of an enterprise to ensure prosperity and long-term activity.

The chief accountant is responsible only for the digital reflection of the company’s activities. Managing people falls on the findir's shoulders.

Resume

The natural desire of many chief accountants is to take the post of financial director. However, there are many differences between the two professions, and most of which does not directly concern the characteristics of the professions themselves. Approach to work, specialist thinking and ways out difficult situations- main differences.

Findir is a key person in the life of every company. The chief representative of the financial directorate must have masterful accounting and tax knowledge, as well as be a structural, functional and project manager. Therefore, if you currently hold the position of chief accountant and want to rise to the position of head of the financial department, start with yourself. Delve into all the financial affairs of the enterprise, try to solve several at the same time complex tasks. Show management your desire for professional growth not for the sake of a high position, but for the sake of the prosperity of the company. Learn to think creatively, resort to solving difficult issues outside the box, using approaches from different angles.

You also need to be a leader and lead a team of specialists. In addition to being an accountant, you must be a coach, mentor and manager. Because you are responsible for managing not only numbers, but also people.

Who performs the function of financial manager in your company? Quite often, entrepreneurs answer this question in the same way: a person who previously held the position of chief accountant. In fact, many companies, especially those in the process of active development, faced with the need to have a financial manager, followed one path: they promoted chief accountants. And everyone was faced with the same problem - the manager still does not receive the full information required from the financial manager, and the latter is completely overloaded. Moreover, he is constantly in stressful situation, because it cannot provide the manager with what is expected of him. The problem arises mainly because entrepreneurs do not understand the differences between accounting and financial management. Their work is actually closely interrelated, however, these are completely different functions, and they must be performed absolutely different people.

By the way, the branching and increase in the scale of the functions of a financial manager occurred naturally, following the development of the economy itself. Thus, until the 1920s in the West, the function of a financial manager or director as such did not exist at all. There were unique financial and economic departments dealing with all matters related to finance. The separation of separate services: accounting, economic and financial began only in the 20s. Since the stock market began to develop quite actively at this time, the main job of financiers was to deal with securities. The crisis of the 1930s required new qualifications from financiers - people were needed who knew how to assess liquidity, the ability of enterprises to generate cash flows, and, of course, identify signs of bankruptcy of companies using a set of indicators. In the 40s, the functions of planning, budgeting, and cash flow assessment became in demand. Since America was at its best during this period - the country did not participate in the war and earned huge money from supplies to warring states - it required evaluators of the investment attractiveness of enterprises, specialists capable of predicting the future potential of the company.

The 50s, again, demanded new abilities from financiers. The number one task is the optimal use of resources. During this period, economic and mathematical methods for managing enterprise assets began to develop. And also in the 50s, the concept of the time value of money became especially popular.
60-70s became the period of management accounting. Information about enterprises for the market has already been unified and standardized, the main coefficients for assessing the state of businesses have been identified, and the need has arisen to understand the economics within companies. Models for optimizing cash and material reserves are beginning to develop.

The 80-90s were marked by a boom in investment markets. Accordingly, the functions of financial managers have expanded into this area. The area of ​​competence of financiers included the calculation and assessment of investment portfolios of enterprises.

Thus, a modern Western financial manager is a person who deals with all of the above issues. They plan future cash flows, assess the liquidity and investment attractiveness of the enterprise, analyze the state of financial and foreign exchange markets and monitor developments on stock exchanges.

In Ukraine, due to historical characteristics, the development of the functions of a financial manager, as well as, in fact, the emergence of such a position, occurred in a slightly different way. For the first ten years of the country's functioning in a market economy, accountants dealt with all financial issues. The main task of these specialists was to pay taxes, the rest came secondarily. But since economic development required enterprises to perform a number of other tasks efficiently, specialists had to urgently master the entire ladder of functions that the West had traversed over 80 years. It cannot be said that there were no professional financiers at all in those days - in economic universities and in Soviet era There were faculties of banking finance and enterprise finance. However, they did not provide the knowledge required from a specialist in a company operating in a market, rather than a planned, economy.

Ukraine actually skipped the period of the Western 20s - that is, the stage of development of securities. Currently, only the corporate rights departments of banks, investment companies and securities issuers work with shares. Financial managers of other enterprises did not have to face this task, and those who perform functions related to securities implement them in a rather truncated form due to the underdevelopment of the Ukrainian stock market. The current trend in Ukrainian business is the retraining of accountants into financial managers or directors. Formally, it looks something like this: after some time, an accountant is promoted to chief accountant, and even later to financial director. In practice, this means adding more and more new tasks to the latter’s track record. And this is where the problems begin.

Four differences

The financial activities of any enterprise can be divided into three main areas: accounting and taxes; management accounting and budgeting; analysis financial condition and financing of enterprise activities. So, an accountant, by definition, cannot coordinate three areas at once. He has a different education, different tasks and even a different type of thinking. And this moment should in no way be blamed on the latter. It’s just that a financial manager and an accountant are different people, different positions and different functions. This is an axiom, which, due to the same historical features of the development of our country, required proof. Let's look at the differences between a financial manager and an accountant in detail.

So, professional competence. An accountant is a specialist who works on an accounting system in accordance with current legislation. His tasks are to pay taxes on time and correctly, report to government agencies, clients and partners of the company on time and correctly, monitor the state of the company’s account and reduce the balance to a single indicator. This is far from simple work requiring serious vocational training and qualifications. Especially in Ukrainian conditions, when legislation changes with enviable regularity.

The financial manager, in turn, must manage the company’s working capital, plan the financial flows and budgets of the enterprise, develop financial strategies while constantly analyzing the real economic condition enterprises, comparing it with the national and even international market situation, and make certain financial decisions in a timely manner to optimize the situation. In addition to the above, the financial director is also required to provide reliable information about current state enterprise, a forecast of the future state of the enterprise and an action plan for further development enterprise to the head of the company. The accountant is simply unable to do this because he does not have the necessary information.

Information competence, can probably be identified as a separate point of difference between an accountant and a financial manager. The first one generates accounting and tax reports based on available primary data and tax legislation. These figures are the results of the enterprise’s activities for the period. That is, yesterday's numbers. Forecasting the future financial condition of a company based on such data requires additional processing and a special analysis technique, knowledge of which is not within the competence of an accountant.

The financial manager works with management accounting documents. That is, it has information about the cost result of the daily activities of the enterprise, about cash flow, sales, production and procurement, about the financial condition of the enterprise in the context individual species business, about the strategic position of the enterprise in the market and, most importantly, about the current value of the company for the founders and owners. This data forms the basis for forecasts, budgets and strategies of the enterprise. And it is this information that interests the head of the company.

A simple example: from a certain instruction, an accountant knows what to specific date the company is obliged to pay a certain amount. This is his main job: to know how much and when should be transferred so that the enterprise does not have problems with the law. The financial director, in turn, has information about the state of the enterprise at current moment, as well as about the company’s future plans, for example, to take out a loan. Based on this, he can decide whether it makes sense to pay the specified amount now, or whether there are options for extending the period to optimize the financial situation within the company. The latter, by the way, can also be attributed to the distinctive feature of the financial director: he is familiar with business law and can offer alternative options for working with financial reporting services, if necessary for the company.

Naturally, a person working as an accountant at an enterprise can also take on the collection and analysis of management data. But in this way he will be engaged in two large-scale and equally important types of activities. In addition to the need for new education, a person will also need a huge amount of additional time and energy. Specialists who cope with both functions equally well deserve respect, but, unfortunately, there are only a few of them.

Goals - third distinguishing feature accountants and financial managers. The goal of the accountant is transparent and obvious - compliance of the financial activities of the enterprise with tax legislation. Modern financial management, in turn, sets itself one global task - the financial manager must strive to maximize the market (economic) value of the company by increasing the return on capital of the enterprise. The business environment of the post-Soviet space, due to many factors, has not yet fully faced the need to prioritize this goal, but Western financial managers have been working in this direction for a long time. Development trend domestic economy also allows us to talk about the emergence of this goal of financiers’ work to the fore in the near future.

The difference in goals leads to another important point that distinguishes an accountant from a financial manager - type of thinking. A financial manager, as a person focused on financial results and maximizing the company's market value, is constantly faced with the need to evaluate alternative opportunities in the capital market. In order to direct the resources of an enterprise in the most profitable direction, it must make financial or investment decisions only taking into account all the risks and be sure to evaluate the potential profitability of all alternative options investments.

An accountant does not need to evaluate alternatives. Rather, pedantry and punctuality can be called important qualities for his work. Again, the fact that an accountant does not have alternative thinking is in no way a “minus” of him. People performing different tasks They think differently, which is absolutely normal.

Ideal scheme

So, the axiom is proven. The functions of a financial manager and an accountant in an enterprise operating in a dynamically developing market economy must be separated. One person can theoretically perform both jobs, but this will be associated with considerable difficulties for himself, and will not provide the manager with the opportunity to receive all the necessary information.

As mentioned above, the financial activities of an enterprise are divided into three areas: accounting and taxes; management accounting and budgeting; analysis of the financial condition and financing of the enterprise. So, the following scheme for managing these areas can be called ideal: the chief accountant deals with accounting and taxes; planning, accounting and control are undertaken by the financial manager, and the financial director manages the funds of the entire enterprise based on the analysis of data provided by the accounting department and the manager. Often in companies the function of a financial manager is not distinguished - the financial director is engaged in two areas. This is not as important as the separation of the functions of an accountant and a financier.

The separation of the two functions, in addition to the needs of the enterprise itself, is also required by the market. The importance of the functions performed by the financial director is great enough to state that the company’s position in the market depends on the quality of their performance. That is why financial directors are, in fact, the only ones among all functional heads of departments of the enterprise who are usually included in the board of directors. And for business owners who are not involved in managing the enterprise, the financial director is the main person responsible for the profitability of his company. That's why, better man, which performs such important functions, deal exclusively with them.

I am often asked: “Is it possible for an accountant to do the work, partially or completely?”, “Is it possible to appoint an accountant to this post, is he very efficient?”

In order to answer these questions, you need to decide what functions of the financial director. But first, let's look at the main actions of an accountant.

Mainly the accountant works with the fact - with what happened, he summarizes all the data in reports and makes sure that everything comes together. An accountant must be a Stradivarius in his field, not making a single mistake in his reports. An accountant manages numbers, those numbers that have already happened. It doesn't forecast, it simply pieces together the company's past in digital terms and reports on it in the present.

The chief accountant is a technical specialist who is not involved in raising income. It deals with the preservation and accounting of tangible assets and reserves. Its main task is to take into account all primary documentation - timely, completely and accurately - and turn it into reporting. His attention is directed mainly to the present and past. He assistant financial director in terms of providing management reporting (status of accounts, funds, accounts receivable, accounts payable), and also implements those expenses approved by the financial director. That is, it turns out that the accountant is a performer.

“The accountant mainly works with the fact - with what happened, he puts all the data into reports and makes sure that everything comes together.”

What should a CFO know?

Let's see if we need a financial director, perhaps even an excellent performer?

Let's talk first about functional responsibilities financial director. If we want, as a result, profits to grow, staff to receive a good salary, money to be invested correctly, then can a person do all this if he himself has no stake, no yard, no Motherland, no flag? Will he be able to feel comfortable and not be influenced by emotions if you put several millions in front of him - preferably not wooden ones, but green ones - and ask for advice on where to invest them? At this moment you need clear, analytical thinking, and not shifty eyes and cold sweat on your forehead. It is very important that your CFO feels comfortable with a lot of money passing through him and having to make decisions about it.

Also, the financial director must understand how to not only reduce each expense item, but also make it more efficient, and this is more important than saving! On the contrary, it is better to have high level need and plan to achieve it. And that is, they are very economical: they sit at the metro and ask for a bottle - they don’t need much! :)

Of course, you need to save, I would even say, you need to correctly prioritize your expenses. Since expense items are your investments in the future of your company. And we reach the level of necessity only if we agree with it. If we understand that the company needs at least 1 million, then believe me, we will make this million. And then, if we understand that we have 1 million, rest assured, we will adjust the expenses to this million, although 900,000 might be quite enough.

So, the task of the financial director is to manage the opinion of the organization in such a way that it understands that 1 million is needed and earns it, and also understands that there are 900 thousand for expenses and spends exactly 900.

When I say “organization,” of course, I mean the main resource of the organization - your staff. You will be surprised, but properly understanding the level of need of a company works wonders. Conduct an experiment: go around 10 employees and ask their opinion on how much the company should earn to be solvent. After listening to them, name your amount, a higher one, but at the same time justify it in such a way that it is clear to all staff.

Explain what this amount consists of. At the same time, if there are any reserves or ideas to put aside, disguise these items, for example, as return on investment, loans, leasing, taxes - under anything. Since the words “put aside in reserves, then life will be better” do not motivate employees, and this article automatically drops out of the level of necessity.

"You need clear, analytical thinking at this point, not darting eyes and cold sweat on your forehead. It is very important that your CFO feels comfortable when big money is passing through him and he needs to make decisions regarding it."

Now see what happens to your income during the month. I hope the result will please you. I will repeat: the level of necessity works wonders! And if a mother’s child falls under a beam weighing 300 kg, then she will lift this beam and get her child out to save his life. But if the same mother is asked to lift a 300 kg beam for 300,000 rubles, she is unlikely to lift it if there is no level of need, and these 300 thousand are not vital for her. So, the financial director must be able to convey to employees the level of need in such a way that, in their understanding, it is vital for the company. Of course, there are many nuances, such as the number of personnel, production capacity, etc., but I saw how in many companies there was enough of everything, but the necessary income was not achieved.

So, in the end, building on the actions that led to financial success in the past and getting rid of actions that led to financial failure, managing the opinions of employees, correctly investing your income in the future of the company, turning every expense item into a more efficient one, feeling comfortable Working with big money, your financial director will lead your company to prosperity.

P.S.: In fact, if your accountant has all these qualities, understands how to spend money to get more in all areas of the company, then I can safely answer - yes, you can transfer him to the post of financial director, since he manages not only numbers , but also with thoughts :) If not, then I assure you, a good accountant is worth his weight in gold! And when you have a reliable, proven, competent specialist next to you, then you really sleep peacefully.

Good luck and see you again!