Junior Accountant

Education and Training: Bachelor degree in commerce or business administration.
Average Salary: $41,000
Job Outlook: Good

Every company or big organization has daily financial transactions, so they need to do a lot of calculations and prepare lots of accounts and reports to calculate the overall profit and loss. For all these work junior accountants are required.
The junior accountant is an entry level position and they normally work under the direct supervision of the senior accountants. They are hired by senior accountants to assist and support in daily accounting operations of the organization. A junior accountant’s job is to help and assist the senior accountants so that they can save time and focus on important issues of the organization.
The junior accountant’s responsibilities include preparing the general entries, ledgers, trial balance, income statements, maintaining balance sheets, cash flow, and fund flow of the organization.

Following are some duties and responsibilities of the junior accountant:

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• Maintaining daily accounts.
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• Providing right accounting support to their seniors.
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• Suggesting better work performance ideas to their seniors.
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• Dealing with financial and accounting irregularities.
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• Preparing the required accounting reports and submitting them to concerned authorities.
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• Make sure all the records are up to date and given tasks are completed within financial deadlines.
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• Taking care of taxation issues and preparing taxation reports.
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• Taking care of the accuracy of the records and transactions.
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• To help with monthly closings and preparing monthly/annual financial statements

Education and Training requirements

To be a junior accountant the minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree in commerce or business administration. Individuals with a Master’s degree are preferred than bachelor degree holders. Training is normally given on the job and from time to time formal training sessions are also held in the company.
Along with education, they need to have good communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills. They should be attentive to details and accuracy.

Getting the Job

To get this job applicants should have the required qualification and minimum two to three year experience in the required field. They should have strong written and oral communication skills, numerical skills, skills to work in a team, and the efficiency to manage all the work in required time. To be successful in this field they need to have thorough knowledge of accounting process and accounting software.
Individuals, who have special skills like certified public accountants and certified management accountants, should get the job very easily.

Job Prospects, Employment Outlook and Career Development

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, junior accountant jobs are expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations between 2008 and 2018. The demand will increase as there will be new and changing laws which will increase the requirement for accountants; in addition, there will be more new private companies which will require accountants.
The junior accountants, who are specialized and experienced in this field, can get promoted to senior accountants. They can become future accounting supervisors or auditors.

Working Conditions and Environment

Most junior accountants work in comfortable offices. Most work about 40 hours a week, but at times have to work late evenings and weekends to meet deadlines. Deadlines and high expectations can create high levels of stress.

Salary and Benefits

The salary of junior accountants is dependent upon the location, size of the company, the tasks and their experience and qualification. As they gain more experience, their pay package will increase. The average salary for the junior accountant is $41,000 per annum. Junior accountants with less than one year of experience can get from $27,386 to $50,684 per annum and those with more than 20 years of experience can get from $35,000 to $70,206 per annum.
Benefits normally include paid vacations, health and life insurance, and pension plans.

Where to Go for More Information

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
(212) 596-6200
http://www.aicpa.org

National Association of State Boards Accountancy
150 4th Ave., Ste. 700
Nashville, TN 37219
(615) 880-4200
http://www.nasba.org

National Society of Accountants
1010 N Fairfax St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
(800) 966-6679
http://www.nsacct.org