Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a comptroller/controller and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A Comptroller/Controller is in charge of overseeing the daily accounting operations in an organization by preparing information to help with strategic financial planning. The controller looks for helpful ways to help organizations reduce costs while evaluating new opportunities and possible acquisitions.

Other primary responsibilities includes overseeing the preparations of financial statements that includes balance sheets, income statements, revenue and expenses projections and auditing, guiding financial decisions through authorizing, monitoring and enforcing policies and procedures, protecting the company's assets by establishing and enforcing internal controls, maximizing returns while limiting risks on cash by minimizing bank balances, preparing budgets by developing schedules as well as consolidating the financial data.

Core Skills Required to be a Comptroller/Controller

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A comptroller/controller should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Innovation:

Innovation is the process of translating new invention into a service that creates value or brings better solutions that meet the requirements.

A Comptroller/Controller ought to introduce innovation in their business to help save time and money giving a competitive advantage to grow and adapt the business in today's marketplace as well as creating more efficient processes and ideas with a likelihood for your business to succeed.

Accuracy:

Accuracy refers to the closeness of a measured value to a known value or standard that is passed by the governing laws.

A Comptroller/Controller has to always be accurate with figures and data used and required in the office without any guesswork or estimations to facilitate precise and correct information in every department creating an authentic environment that will be respected by the workers.

Multi-Tasking:

Multi-Tasking allows one to juggle and perform more than one task at a time without losing track of what you are working on or dropping the ball.

A Comptroller/Controller must learn the trick of multitasking and help the staff balance the competing demands of their time and energy that they are expected to handle multiple priorities every day without compromising on the effectiveness of the work done.

Flexibility:

Flexibility is an important skill that allows employers and employees to make an arrangement about working on maintaining a work/life balance to help organizations improve the productivity and efficiency of their balance.

A Comptroller/Controller needs creative ideas on how to plan flexible schedules for all his employees by incorporating flexible working arrangements and individual flexibility agreements that allow negotiation to change how certain agreements apply to them and how they can be adjusted.

Initiative:

An initiative is the ability to assess and initiate things independently often done without any managerial influence offered.

A Comptroller/Controller must train his workers to take up tasks without being asked to and work on them without being supervised to a quality that is accepted by the company, therefore nurturing a skill that grows the individual and the group as well.

Orientation to Work:

Orientation to Work is the introduction that is given to a new worker whereby he is introduced to coworkers and given relevant information like schedules, performance standards, benefits and facilities, names of the supervisors, etc.

A Comptroller/Controller must ensure that all new employees go through an orientation process to assimilate into the workplace and become familiar with what is expected of them.

Self Confidence:

Self Confidence is the ability to know who you are and what you are capable of doing which shows in your behavior, your body language, how you speak, etc.

A Comptroller/Controller must be confident enough to inspire confidence in others while encouraging them to handle daily tasks and their personal lives with self-confidence that will, in turn, produce a well-rounded individual.

Financial Management:

Financial Management is the skill of learning how to handle accounting, finance, and organizational management through providing daily data on the operations that take place every day.

A Comptroller/Controller ought to be highly effective in planning and organization, controlling and management of the financial resources to achieve the company's organizational objectives that are laid down to see the growth of the enterprise.

Time Management:

Time Management is the capacity for an individual to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance and urgency to make the best possible use of time.

A Comptroller/Controller must schedule each task within a stipulated period for each employee and ensure all the tasks are completed promptly thus actually teaching the staff the value of time and how to utilize it for the interest of the business and their growth.

Scheduling:

Scheduling is creating daily workflow charts that the employees are supposed to follow when working and submitting their projects.

A Comptroller/Controller must be dedicated to establishing and maintaining the schedule using either manual or technology methods to ensure it is always updated according to the tasks, the employees responsible or the time allocated to each task without fail or delay.

Hard Skills Required to be a Comptroller/Controller

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A comptroller/controller should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Comptroller/Controller: Hard skills list

Account Analysis
Account Reconciliation
Accounting Information Systems
Accounting Software
Accounts Payable
Accounting Processes
Accounting Principles
Accounts Receivable
Accuracy
ADP
Aging Reports
Analytical
Analysis
Annual Reports
Asset Management
Attention to Detail
Audits
Audit Schedules
Balance Sheets
Banking
Bank Deposits
Bank Reconciliations
Bill Payment
Bookkeeping
Budgets
Business Awareness
Cash Receipts
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Chart of Accounts
Check Runs
Collections
Commitment
Communication
Compliance
Computer
Corporate Reports
Corporate Tax
Cost Accounting
Credit Management
Credits
Crystal Reports
Debt Management
Depreciation
Detail Orientation
Federal Tax Law
Finance
Financial Analysis
Financial Reporting
Financial Software
Financial Statements
Financial Statement Analysis
Fixed Assets
Forecasts
Forecasting
Full Charge Bookkeeping
Full Cycle Month-End Close
Full Cycle Year-end Close
GAAP
General Ledger
Great Plains Accounting
Great Plains Dynamics
Income Tax
Interest Calculations
Interpersonal Skills
Invoices
IT Knowledge
Job Cost Reports
Journal Entry Preparation/Posting
Mathematical
Microsoft Office
Monthly Closes
Motivation
Multitasking
MS Access
MS Excel
MS Word
Numerical Competence
Oracle
Organization
Paychex
Payroll
Payroll Liabilities
Payroll Taxes
Peachtree
Personal Tax
Petty Cash
Platinum
Prepaid Income/Expenses
Problem Solving
Profit and Loss
Professionalism
QuickBooks
Reconciliation
Regulatory Filings
Reporting
Revenue Projections
Revenue Recognition
Sales Receipts
SAP
Special Projects
State Tax Law
Tax Analysis
Tax Compliance
Tax Filing
Tax Law
Tax Liabilities
Tax Reporting
Tax Returns
Tax Software
Technology
Teamwork
Time Management
Training
Trial Balance
Vouchers
Writing
Written Communication
Year End Reporting

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