Challenges and Opportunities for Managerial Accountants

Managerial Accountants play a large role in the field of accounting. You’re not the CFO, but you’re also not an entry level accountant. You have the responsibility of processing payroll, oversight for AP and AR, building out financial statements and so much more. Therefore, you have to ensure essentially all processes are moving without any bumps in the road. This can bring many challenges as well as opportunities for an Accounting Manager. 

So here are the top Challenges and Opportunities every Managerial Accountants could face during their career. 

Opportunities:

Advanced technology

As a Managerial Accountant, advanced technology can help you and your team perform essential tasks. Now more than ever, technological advancements have significantly helped many businesses including those of financial institutions to perform more efficiently. Furthermore, working remotely has been a challenge, not only for your financial institutions, but all business. In fact, utilizing more advanced technology in the financial industry has been way overdue for many companies.

CFO role in innovation 

In trying times, such as the current pandemic we are experiencing, CFO’s are called upon to make many difficult decisions. Coming up with new and improved innovative ways to keep your company afloat is crucial. Though the CFO of course does not bear all the burden, this is in part the Managerial Accountant responsibility as well. Together both leaders within the company must act fast in times of uncertainty, innovative ideas go far beyond saving a company, it can increase the company’s revenue potential.   

Sustainability

Additionally, investments and business deals are evolving from having very consumable mindsets to having more sustainable mindsets. Now, companies that adopt ESG policies, are more likely to outperform their competitors.  Therefore, using a matched sample of 180 US-based companies, 90 of which were classified as high-sustainability and another 90 as low-sustainability, the study showed that over an 18-year period the high-sustainability companies dramatically outperformed the low-sustainability ones in terms of both stock market and accounting performance. It’s 2020, and time businesses do less taking from society and start giving back.

Challenges:

Cash is King

Ensuring your financial institution has Cash flow for at least 3-6 months is many companies’ lifeline. This is yet another Managerial Accountant responsibility to ensure if any emergency were to occur, the company could survive to get back on their feet financially. Making sure cash flow management issues are sufficiently understood for all stakeholders is crucial. 

Enterprise risk management 

In order for your Managerial Accountant to add true value to your business, they must be seen as true risk experts. Always able to analyze situations and report back with how much risk a certain situation holds. Not only must they be able to access risk, but they should have responses on how to eliminate those risks, respond to uncertainty and be able to achieve the company’s overall objectives. 

Ensuring Information Security and Data Protection

Managerial Accountants need to understand how their Information and security could be at risk now that operations are being managed remotely. In financial companies, it is crucial for Managerial Accountants to complete risk assessments of their employees. Furthermore, what type of computer are they using to complete work on, is it a family one or personal, does anyone in the family have a criminal record (for fraud)? These are all questions Managerial  Accountants must get answered and could cost the company a few extra dollars in an already penny pinching situation. 

Overall, there are many challenges that come with opportunities for our Managerial Accountants. At the end of the day, they are given many tasks from the CFO and expected to get everything done in a timely organized and efficient manner.