Chief Accountant

GENERAL MANAGER – ACCOUNTS

The General Manager – Accounts will have overall responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, compliance and timely functioning of the Company’s entire Accounts & Finance function.

This is a high-responsibility position requiring a combination of strong accounting knowledge, managerial ability, attention to detail, financial discipline and hands-on involvement. The role involves managing a large volume of daily financial transactions through the Accounts team while personally reviewing and taking ownership of critical accounting, financial, statutory and management matters.

Key Responsibilities1. Overall Accounts & Finance Management

• Take complete ownership of the Company’s day-to-day accounting and finance operations.
• Lead, supervise and develop the Accounts team and ensure that responsibilities are clearly assigned and properly executed.
• Ensure that all accounting entries and financial transactions are accurate, complete, properly authorized and recorded on a timely basis.
• Personally review important, unusual or high-value transactions rather than relying solely on team-level processing.
• Establish and maintain strong systems, processes and internal controls to minimize errors, leakages and financial risk.

2. Daily Transaction Management

• Supervise and ensure accurate processing of a large volume of daily transactions, including sales, purchases, receipts, payments, cash entries, banking, expenses, inventory-related transactions, customer/vendor accounts and inter-company transactions.
• Ensure timely cash flows, bank reconciliation, customer reconciliation, vendor reconciliation and other ledger reconciliations.
• Monitor outstanding receivables, payables, advances and other financial balances.
• Identify discrepancies, investigate their causes and ensure timely corrective action.

3. Monthly Financial Closing & Reporting

• Take ownership of the monthly closing process and ensure books are closed accurately and on time.
• Prepare and review monthly Profit & Loss Account, Balance Sheet, cash-flow position and other financial statements.
• Provide accurate and meaningful MIS and management reports to the management within defined timelines.
• Analyse financial performance, variances, expenses, margins, working capital and other key financial indicators.
• Highlight significant deviations, unusual transactions and financial risks to management proactively.

4. Statutory & Legal Compliance

• Ensure timely and accurate compliance with all applicable statutory and legal requirements relating to accounts and taxation.
• Supervise preparation and filing of GST, TDS, Income Tax, Professional Tax, PF/ESI and other applicable statutory returns and compliances.
• Coordinate effectively with statutory auditors, tax consultants, internal auditors and other professional advisors.
• Ensure that statutory records, supporting documentation and reconciliations are maintained properly and are audit-ready at all times.
• Track changes in applicable laws and ensure that the Company’s accounting and compliance processes are updated accordingly.

5. Annual Accounts & Audit

• Take complete responsibility for the annual closing of books and preparation of financial statements.
• Coordinate and manage statutory audit, tax audit and other applicable audits.
• Ensure audit schedules, confirmations, reconciliations and supporting documents are prepared accurately and submitted on time.
• Resolve audit queries and ensure timely closure of audit observations.

6. Cash Flow & Banking

• Monitor daily cash and bank positions and ensure adequate liquidity for business operations.
• Supervise banking transactions, fund transfers, collections and payments.
• Maintain proper banking controls, authorization systems and reconciliations.
• Assist management in cash-flow planning and working-capital management.

7. Internal Controls & Process Discipline

• Develop and continuously improve accounting systems, SOPs and internal financial controls.
• Ensure proper segregation of duties, authorization levels and documentation.
• Regularly review processes to identify opportunities for preventing errors, fraud, duplication or financial leakage.
• Ensure that the Accounts team follows established procedures consistently.

8. Inventory & Business Controls

• Ensure proper accounting and reconciliation of inventory and related transactions.
• Coordinate with operations, sales and other departments to resolve discrepancies between operational records and accounting records.
• Ensure that financial records accurately reflect the Company’s actual business position.

9. Management Support & Financial Analysis

• Act as a key financial advisor to the Managing Director and senior management.
• Provide timely financial information required for business decisions.
• Analyse profitability, expenses, margins, working capital and other business parameters.
• Assist management with budgeting, forecasting, financial planning and evaluation of new business initiatives.
• Be proactive in identifying financial risks, inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

Personal AccountabilityThe person appointed to this position will be expected to personally own the accuracy and integrity of the Company’s financial information.

The position requires a high degree of personal involvement and attention to detail. Delegation to the Accounts team is essential, but delegation does not remove accountability. The General Manager – Accounts must maintain sufficient hands-on involvement to ensure that critical transactions, reconciliations, reports, statutory compliances and financial controls are correct.

The successful candidate should be someone who is highly dependable, meticulous, commercially aware and comfortable taking complete ownership of the Accounts function.

In simple terms: the Accounts team may execute the work, but the General Manager – Accounts is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the numbers are right, the books are clean, the compliances are timely and management has complete confidence in the financial information being presented.