If you are looking for a career in finance, it is worth considering the different areas that can be found within the CFO office. Here, we will look at answering the question many of you have: how can I get a job in Finance? Most companies possess The two main areas of Financial Control and Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A). Most people looking for bookkeeping or accounting jobs will find their role within the Financial Control area. However, people looking more for business-facing business partnering roles will see their roles within FP&A.

What does Financial Control do?

Financial control is the area where the accounts are produced. If you were using a modern ERP system, your role would likely have to be within a sub-ledger system, such as accounts payable or accounts receivable. In these areas, you will be looking at invoicing either on the supplier or customer side. However, there are many other sub-ledger systems that you may find within accounts; AR and AP are just examples. In essence, your role would be to ensure that the data going into the finance account is correct so that any issues can be adjusted. You will investigate any errors and post journals with the ultimate aim of being able to produce the final financial reports.

The main system used by financial control is the general ledger. The general ledger produces major reports such as the trial balance, balance sheet, and profit and loss. This area has many jobs, particularly for qualified bookkeepers, accounts assistants, and other slightly more junior financial professionals.

Do I need to work in financial control?

You will need very strong Excel skills to analyse data, confirm errors, and produce the ideal correction for the data. You will also need double-entry accounting skills. This means that you will be able to post debit and credit into the general ledger; these postings are referred to as journals. This is a vital skill, and without this vocational skill, you will not be able to progress within an accounting but keeping or financial career.

Our website offers some courses that will help you develop these skills. We offer Excel and Bookkeeping courses. All of our courses are CPD credited.

What is FP & A?

Financial planning analysis is an American term adopted by many nationals and large companies worldwide. Some of you may also be familiar with the British term for this area, which is management accounting. This area fundamentally runs the business and comes up with ways to analyse the trends in the business plan for the future, and ultimately comes up with guidance for how the company should be run. This is where the CFO makes a big difference in the progress of a business. Standard reports in this area include budgeting, forecasting, business planning, strategic modelling, etc.

What do I need to work in financial planning analysis?

For example, in financial control, you will need to understand the financial process, which means you will need good Excel skills to work effectively with big data. You also potentially increasingly need Power BI skills; of course, one of the other important things is knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting. However, this also requires that you understand the business, so understanding the commercial concepts within the industry is also extremely important. You can find more details and align courses in our finance for non-financial managers, which focus on relating finance to business material concepts and budgeting courses.