How to Hire Controllers in Seattle
Current Environment
Hiring a controller is an important strategic decision. According to Forbes, “controllers keep the company’s financial planning, debt financing, and budget management organized.”
The controller position is a high-profile position. To fulfill the role’s responsibilities, the controller often spends time with employees to find ground-level details in processes and operations that could help optimize the business. Being a very critical role, the eligibility standards for being a controller are very high.
The controller typically reports to the CFO; the roles differ mainly based on perspective, in addition to hierarchical reporting structure. The controller is mainly focused on compliance and historical record-keeping—in other words, their focus is on tactics. Controllers help the CFO plan for the future by way of reporting on performance, past and present.
History
The history of the field of finance and the recording and management of financial activities dates back to the dawn of civilization. While fiance has roots in scientific fields, such as statistics, economics, and mathematics, it also includes some non-scientific elements that liken it to art.
As the complexity of financial instruments, transactions, stock markets, reporting requirements, and regulation has increased, the need for specialized roles in finance, including the position of controller, has grown.
How will Hiring controllers Help Your Company?
The fact that a company is considering the hiring of a controller is a good sign as it shows that revenue is up and the organization’s financial matrices are sophisticated enough to need a high-level money manager.
Hiring a competent controller will literally change your company for the better. A controller is not a bookkeeper or accounting manager, though he or she knows how to do the work required for both roles. Beyond these roles, a controller owns the accounting system of an organization and is responsible for every data point.
The controller knows every number going through an organization’s accounting system and will take ownership of everything on the financial statements. They will know why some expenses increased and why some fell. They know if something’s gone missing. The controller will be part of every big decision because these decisions affect the company’s financial statements. Controllers will impact the organization simply by being all about the numbers – controllers love numbers!
controller Details
Responsibilities
Controllers keep the company’s financial planning, debt financing and budget management organized. They set financial rules, including choosing accounting methods and making sure that generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are followed. Team members in this role are generally responsible for motivating their teams, and ensuring the team produces quality work within set time periods.
Before we get to exactly how to recruit the best controller in Seattle, here are some of the responsibilities of the job.
- Monitoring the organization’s overall financial health
- Managing the finance team
- Collecting and compiling financial information
- Establishing corporate bank accounts and credit cards
- Liaising with certified public accountants (CPAs) outside the organization
- Developing, implementing, and maintaining internal financial controls
- Monitoring financial transactions and transaction processing
- Maintaining the general ledger and providing oversight for company balance sheets
- Invoice approval
- Preparing and filing tax returns
- Preparing forecasts and budgets
- Overseeing the preparation of monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial statements
- Overseeing financial reporting
Looking for another position? View other positions we place in Seattle, Washington.
Education
Most positions require a Bachelor’s degree, and some require additional credentials, such as a CPA, CFA, and/or an MBA and significant experience in the financial industry (5+ years). Some may be able to use their years of experience to replace the degree requirement. While candidates can complete a degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, or Accounting, a wide variety of degrees may qualify someone for the role, depending on their previous experience.
Top Schools – According to US News & World Report rankings.
Top Schools
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University of Texas at Austin
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BYU-Provo
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign