Junior Accountant Job Duties & Requirements

A junior accountant’s job requires one to compile monetary records following the rules and regulations set by the government. They delve into financial balancing sheets, thus auditing ledgers and general accounts of a business or a company. A junior accountant notes payrolls and maintains receivable as well as payable accounts. 

The future of a junior accountant and his prospects lie solely on their individual capabilities as an interested party in finance. The job of an accountant is befitting that of a candidate who enjoys mathematics and is keen on commerce and finance. A junior accountant job template states as much.

Under the tutelage and supervision of a senior auditor, a junior accountant is taught the intricacies of managing, calculating taxes, and handling the harrowing situations involved in dealing with difficult clients.

What Is a Junior Accountant?

As stipulated with blaring words in a junior accountant job description, a junior accountant is someone who looks into the financial aspects of an organization, crossing out payments already made and adding taxes within payroll ledgers, maintaining the equilibrium of asset sheets, cancelling liabilities, making yearly reports, calculating profits and losses garnered by the company. Senior accountants pass over the torch to their juniors, allowing them to be in charge of budgets and year-ending capital structures.

What Does a Junior Accountant Do?

A junior accountant has quite a number of tasks to perform. They are as follows:

• Creating and reviewing monetary statements of an organization
• Checking the legitimacy of such statements in compliance with federal laws
• Entering revenue-related data in the company’s ledger
• Making sure that bank books and statements are identical with respect to the organization’s accounting ledgers
• Noting down expenses, profits and losses
• Documenting the company’s assets and updating them daily
• In charge of depreciation, a decrease of an asset value is seen, hence the distribution of prior cost statements to hourly periods
• Interacting with vendors regarding billing.

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Junior Accountant Job Duties

• Helping with documenting budget statements and general finances of the organization
• Analysing statements by banks and comparing them to the company’s ledger
• Preparing and updating lists of acquired revenue and expenses
• Documenting and depreciating company assets that are kept fixed
• Writing records regarding federal compliances and filing complaints as and when required
• Documenting inventories and presenting account audits before law firms
• Entering yearly accounts in the company ledger
• Working closely with vendors with regards to monetary issues and interacting with them if any discrepancies are observed in bills.

Job Brief for Junior Accountants

According to brochures describing the benefits of a junior accountant job, recruiters seek enthusiastic candidates who possess great analysis skills and immense organizational capabilities. Furthermore, they must have an eye for minute details and should be capable of mitigating and salvaging damage as best as possible. They look for people who can work under tight schedules and do not crumble under harrowing pressure. Expected to be team players, candidates are selected based on their proficiency in preparing financial reports with a good comprehension of how accounting and auditing for a particular business or company works. Capable of thinking on the fly, candidates must be highly skilled at documentation and filing.

Responsibilities of a Junior Accountant

As any candidate will find in the junior accountant job description, they are meant to complete a certain set of tasks. These responsibilities are as follows:

• Analysing profits and losses accumulated by the company
• Tabulating balances with regards to the finances of the organization
• Working in close liaison with the management department of the company
• Working on budget-related issues
• Making sure that the company’s finances align with the laws set by the state and the federation
• Making sure that monetary transactions with respect to credit and debit cards are in order
• Filing and tallying
• Ensuring that bank cash reconciles with the organization’s records
• Performing well with respect to invoices
• Checking monetary statements so that they are in line with GAAP (‘Generally Accepted Accounting Principles’)
• Auditing taxes
• Checking the income of the company
• Making sure that there are no fraudulent practices
• Being present at monthly meetings discussing financial issues
• Checking the flow of finance and balancing profits and losses.

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Requirements for Junior Accountant Job

Should one wish to land a junior accountant job, certain criteria ought to be met. These eligibility criteria are as follows:

• An Honours graduate in the field of accountancy or something similar (economics, commerce, mathematics, statistics)
• A Masters degree in any of these fields adds value to a curriculum vitae
• A year of experience. A couple of years of experience as an accountant is preferable
• A solid comprehension of accounting and report-writing principles and techniques
• Highly logical
• Swift thinker
• Skilled in solving all sorts of problems
• A good understanding of IT
• Both a team-worker as well as a decent independent performer
• Proficient in mathematics
• Capable of allotting jobs to members of a team, distributing work efficiently
• Good at content writing 
• Good communication skills
• Well-versed in MS Word, MS Excel and other accounting-related software.

Average Salary of a Junior Accountant

The average salary for junior accountants in Singapore can vary based on experience, specific employer, and industry. Here’s an overview based on data from high-quality sources.

General Salary Overview

• Entry-Level (0-2 years of experience): Approximately S$30,000 - S$45,000 per annum.
• Mid-Level (3-5 years of experience): Approximately S$45,000 - S$65,000 per annum.
• Senior-Level (5+ years of experience): Approximately S$65,000 - S$90,000 per annum.

Salary by Industry

Salary by Top Employers

This overview indicates that junior accountants in Singapore can expect varying salaries based on their experience and the type of employer. The demand for skilled accountants is significant as businesses continue to focus on financial management and compliance.

Key Skills of a Junior Accountant

There are certain primary skills a recruiter looks for in someone applying for a junior accountant job. These skills are as follows:

• Ability to plan and strategize
• Ability to decide quickly with regards to financial outcomes of the company
• Understanding the end results and acting accordingly
• Working exceptionally well with figures
• A keen insight into businesses
• Ability to deliver on set deadlines
• Capable of leading an efficient team, making sure that each member does his or her share of the distributed work
• Ability to communicate well
• Highly logical, methodical, analytical and scientific in terms of approaching a problem
• Good leadership skills
• A fundamental comprehension of Information Technology

Why pursue a career in accounting?

One of the chief benefits of a junior accountant job is the greatly generous pay-scale entering the realm of lakhs. Those with a knack for finance and commerce may see this junior accountant job as an opportunity to channel their skills in a direction that they already possessed an interest in. With room for personal growth and learning, they can be of use to the chief domain of an organization: income. One can work with a lot of different people, there is great variety in this career, always progressing, never stagnating. Along with job-satisfaction, a junior accountant can make a name for themselves within the company if they work really hard. A junior accountant can take a company to massive heights.

How to become a junior accountant?

In order to bag a junior accountant job, there are some prior preparations. In the plus-two level of high school, you can opt for commerce if you so choose. However, this isn’t an imperative measure. What determines one’s future role as a junior accountant is the bachelor level subject they choose. One may select a bachelor (Honours) degree in commerce, that is, B. Com. Most junior accountants have a graduation-level college education. However, a Master’s degree in commerce or a diploma course in financing and accounting may be beneficial. Additionally, one must have at least a year of experience in some company. This is necessary to fully grasp the basics of auditing, report-writing, balancing liability and asset sheets.

Junior Accounting Interview Questions and answers

Each recruiter for a junior accountant job has a few questions in mind that they ask every candidate. Some of these questions are:

• You have a good eye for details. How do you think that will help you in your junior account job?
• Do you know how to audit expenses? If yes, then what procedures would you follow?
• Are you aware that you have to ensure that bank statements and a company’s ledgers must reconcile?
• Do you know how to align your choices with ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Practices’?
• How can you cut down on expenses and increase revenue?

A junior accounting job allows one to operate within a wide spectrum of experiences which can be quite fulfilling. One can be instrumental in a company’s success and can ensure that the organization is always at the top of the pyramid in terms of wealth and fame.

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