Advice on accounts department requirements

Advice on accounts department requirements

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I have been working with a growing recruitment consultancy for the past year. The accounts function was previously outsourced and my remit was to bring everything in house and therefore improve the level of management information available.

I am a qualified CA with a number of years post qualified experience and initially I found the role interesting as I was creating all the processes and implementing the accounting software. Now that everything is running smoothly I am no longer being challenged and so during the year I have also taken on responsibility for HR and IT. This has meant that the role is moving more towards a COO position rather than FD. This isn't the direction I want to be going in and so have decided to move on.

The MD knows this and so I am now working with him to create a job spec for my replacement. Our worry is that bringing in another qualified accountant they also won't be happy taking on the operational side of the role. We are therefore considering hiring a bookkeeper / management account to do the day to day accounting / credit control etc... and then hire a COO with a financial background or a good finance understanding who could then provide the analytics required and also provide some strategic assistance to the board as well as well as looking after ops (there are other areas that would keep them very busy).

Has anybody been involved in a similar situation and do you have any thoughts / recommendations on whether the bookkeeper/COO solution could work. Or perhaps you have experience of finance people who are happy to taken on more operational duties as well.

The company doesn't want to return to an outsourced solution as they want access to management information at all times.

Any advice gratefully received!
Angela

Replies (4)

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By User deleted
23rd Apr 2007 16:11

You might be surprised
Angela

As an accountant who has always worked in commerce i have found that doing HR, IT, Insurance etc has been part and parcel of the role and I am sure others out there would relish a role that offers Finance with COO duties, sounds like a good carrer path to me.

Perhaps you should hire for the role rather than create two roles.

Just a thought.

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By User deleted
23rd Apr 2007 17:40

Thanks!
Hi Liam,

If that's the case then we could go down that route, ensuring that candidates are fully aware of the level of COO work to be done. When I joined we didn't realise how much there would be and because of the size of the company some of it can be quite admin related.

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

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By refs8
23rd Apr 2007 20:15

Try these
www.people-share.co.uk

I run an accountancy practice and was looking for specialist in management accounts this company impressed me from the out set have not yet used them

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By AnonymousUser
07th Jul 2007 22:34

Outsorcing can still provide you with access to Management Infor
Hi,

Outsourcing doesnt necessarily mean that you will not have access to MI. I run an outsourced credit control agency and if anything we provide our clients with access to MI that they would not normally have access to in-house. I think the company you previously outsourced your accounts function to were not necessarily up to speed with the latest technology

In conjunction with a partner company, we are able to take on the complete management of your accounts function.

If you require any further info, please call me on 01797 361 627. or visit our website (www.ccssolutions.co.uk) and contact us through our on-line query tool.

Many Thanks

Jamie O'Connell
Credit Control Solutions Ltd

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