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Finance for Non-Financial Managers
6
Don’t Judge the Executive
Book by Its Cover
While we have tried to give you a general idea of what job titles might
do which jobs, these are generalizations that do not apply to every
company, and maybe not yours. Some companies are more liberal than
others in granting titles. Still others might employ little-used titles such
as “director of finance” or “vice president of administration” or even
“manager of accounting” to indicate the head financial executive in
their organization. It’s best to obtain an organization chart or ask
someone in Human Resources or the Finance Department when
determining exactly who does what. It could save you embarrassment
or, even worse, getting the wrong information.
responsibility. A company that decides to take its stock to the
public marketplace for the first time—in an initial public offering
(IPO)—will almost always place the coordination role for that
transaction in the hands of the Finance Department.
Accounting
The accounting job is typically done by the Accounting
Department, led by an accounting manager, controller, comp-
troller, or similar title. These folks record all the transactions that
occur as the company does its business and then prepare
reports that help them, company management, and outside con-
stituencies understand the financial impact of those transactions.
The accountants maintain the accounting software, process
all the paperwork that documents transactions that have
occurred, and record them into the company’s general ledger.
Most of these transactions are recorded in dollars and cents, or
the appropriate foreign currency for operations outside the U.S.
Some transactions keep track of other units of measure besides
currency, such as the number of pieces of inventory in the ware-
house, the number of vehicles in the company fleet, and so on.
Of course, keeping records of financial transactions tucked
away in some computer serves no one unless we can get
access to the information when we need it. So, from all those
transaction records the accountants are able to prepare a vari-