Many

accountants An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certi ...

in the United States are not certified, particularly those who work in corporate America. Depending on their level in the management functions, and their level in the corporate hierarchy they can be referred to as bookkeepers, accountants, junior accountants, staff accountants, senior accountants, or accounting supervisors. An accountant is a generic term which can refer to any of the below classifications.

Controller

In a corporate environment, a controller supervises all other accounting staff and usually reports to a chief financial officer or director of finance.

Accounting Manager

A mid to upper-level manager and accounting professional who oversees staff accountants and/or accounting supervisors or junior accountants. They may or may not be a CPA, but are almost always required to have a bachelor's degree.

Accounting supervisor

An upper-level accounting professional who directly oversees one or more accounting specialists. Similar to an accounting manager, they are usually subordinate to the manager, or report directly to the controller or CFO. In addition to their supervisory role, they will be responsible for monitoring and approving the financial processes and reporting of their department.

Senior Accountant

An upper-level accounting professional who usually reports directly to a controller or assistant controller or, in the

public accounting An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certi ...

world, one of the partners. They will almost always have a bachelor's degree, and sometimes a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. They may even have their CPA, or be a CPA candidate. In addition to general accounting duties, they help company's management to analyze the economic health of the organization, usually through timely financial reports and counsel. They may or may not have supervisory responsibilities over junior accountants and/or clerical personnel.

Staff accountant

A mid-level accounting position between junior accountant and senior accountant. At public accounting firms, staff accountant may be an entry-level position. Staff accountants typically have

bachelor degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

s but are not necessarily

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

s. Typical duties of a staff accountant include preparing

journal entries A journal entry is the act of keeping or making records of any transactions either economic or non-economic. Transactions are listed in an accounting journal that shows a company's debit and credit balances. The journal entry can consist of s ...

and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedr ...

s. Staff accountants may also perform duties such as

accounts payable Accounts payable (AP) is money owed by a business to its suppliers shown as a liability on a company's balance sheet. It is distinct from notes payable liabilities, which are debts created by formal legal instrument documents. An accounts payable ...

and

accounts receivable Accounts receivable, abbreviated as AR or A/R, are legally enforceable claims for payment held by a business for goods supplied or services rendered that customers have ordered but not paid for. These are generally in the form of invoices raised b ...

. A corporate staff accountant typically reports to a controller or accounting manager.

Junior accountant

An entry-level accounting position, usually reporting to any of the higher level accounting positions, or in smaller companies, to the controller. They may or may not have a bachelor's degree, and their main responsibilities will usually include reconciling accounts and preparing preliminary reports.

Bookkeeper

References

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