Financial Controller

A Financial Controller, or Comptroller handles all things pertaining to money within a business. This includes budgets and financial documents, and requires an obsessive knowledge of tax laws. As a Financial Controller, you research investments, complete reports, and advise the business about financial decisions. The job of a Financial Controller is similar to that of a Financial Manager, except that you usually work in large, high-speed, corporate environments.

Whether you work for a bank, non-profit organization, insurance company, or government institution, you spend your days creating and analyzing reports. Cash flow charts, balance sheets and income statements give you a complete picture of the business’s financial status.

You combine this information with your knowledge of legislation and regulation to formulate financial plans. With those plans, you aim to minimize costs and maximize benefits for the business.

Another step in the process is to create budgets. The budget helps all levels of the business see where the money is being spent and invested. It also highlights the goals of the company, which are things like paying higher dividends to stockholders or reinvesting in the business. To achieve all of this, you need a passion for numbers, an eye for detail, and an acute understanding of investments.

All this work can be geared towards internal improvements (like streamlining production efficiency) or improving external growth (like gaining a better return on investments). Either way, you monitor the financial health of a company, diagnose where you would like to improve that health, and design policies to make those improvements happen.