What is a Management Accountant?
Chartered or Certified?
A question I am often asked is whether I am a chartered or certified accountant. The simple answer is in the choice of qualification the accountant has taken, and therefore the accounting body to which the accountant is affiliated. A certified accountant may have chosen the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) route to qualification. Charted accountants will have taken a different route. The ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales) is one route. Another is the CIMA route (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). I am a Chartered Management Accountant.
So what is so different about a Management Accountant?
Whilst there will be large areas of expertise that both certified and chartered accountants will be able to assist any client with, one significant difference can be the direction in which a Chartered Management Accountant looks. Many Certified and Chartered accountants look back at historical data that has already been produced. For larger companies, this data will be audited before the completion of the accounts. For smaller companies, financial data will be analysed and interpreted before a set of financial accounts is produced and filed.
Management Accountants are much more forward thinking. Rather than just concentrating on the past, a good management accountant can transform your business by offering some of the following services in addition to filing of your accounts:
Pro-active Understanding
Management accountants have a deep understanding of presenting financial information quickly, and in a way that makes sense to you, allowing you to make the right decisions which can lead to increased profitability. Relying on your end of year statutory accounts means you are always making decisions based on historical, out-of-date information. Being pro-active rather than reactive can be the difference between success and failure.
Control of Cash and Profitability
A management accountant is so much more than a bean counter – they can make and save you money. Cash management is the key area for many businesses, and making use of the budgeting and forecasting skills of a management accountant will mean you have more money available when you need it. They also have the ability to inteprete and analyse data so you know which of the products or services you provide are the most profitable and efficient – and therefore give you a clear path to make improvements.
New Ideas
A management accountant is trained as a problem solver. They will bring new, creative ideas to the table which can overcome problems in your business, even ones that have seemed impossible to resolve in the past. Having someone on board with this can-do attitude can be invaluable.
Security
Another area every management accountant is trained for is being able to spot financial inconsistencies. Fraud costs companies millions of pounds every year, and being able to analyse and reconcile financial data quickly and effectively can mean fraud being detected quickly. New procedures can then be implemented to improve your companies security in the future.
To see how I, as a top quality Management Accountant, can do so much more for your business than your current accountant can, give me a call on 07921 331192 or send me an e-mail: dennis@dmfaccountancy.co.uk
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