What Is General Accounting? Is It Difficult, and What Does the Job Require?

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

General accounting is a key function in every business. Because a general accountant's work covers the full breadth of financial and accounting data, it is safe to say this is a highly valued role. To serve those new to the accounting profession as well as recent graduates, this article brings together the fundamentals of general accounting, along with the responsibilities of the job, typical salary levels, and the requirements in practice.

What Is General Accounting?

General accounting, as the name suggests, is the function that takes an overarching view and bears overall responsibility for the figures relating to a company's finances and books. These figures range from the detailed balances of individual accounts to the aggregated totals in ledgers and financial statements. Precisely because of that breadth, general accounting has never been a simple job — but it comes with good compensation and strong recognition from businesses and companies.

What Does a General Accountant Do?

The work of a general accountant varies with the nature of the company or industry (for example, general accounting at a construction firm differs somewhat from that at a services company) and covers different processes and areas (materials accounting, production cost accounting, and so on).

To give readers an overview of the job, this article compiles the common duties of a general accountant that can be applied broadly. The content below details what general accounting involves, in chronological order.

Daily tasks

• The general accountant guides other accountants by answering their questions and coordinating resources according to activity levels.

• Collecting, consolidating, and processing data and accounting documents arising from economic transactions — for example, purchases and sales of goods, fixed assets, production and business operations — and controlling receipts and payments.

• Recording income and expenses, as well as depreciation, receivables, other economic transactions, and VAT.

• Monitoring receivables and planning the management and allocation of resources so that debt remains under control.

• Calculating the actual cost of the company's products, taking into account loss rates for raw materials and accompanying supplies.

• Checking the movement of inventory (in–out–stock) and monitoring the situation through warehouse general accounting.

Monthly tasks

• Periodic monthly monitoring of inventory figures and product norms

• Recording employee payroll and the related payroll deductions

• Consolidating and preparing allocation schedules for short- and long-term prepaid expenses, and recording those allocations

• Reconciling allocation and prepaid figures each month

• Consolidating and calculating fixed asset depreciation and recording it

• Carrying out closing entries

• Preparing tax returns as required, such as VAT declarations

• Supervising the preparation of listing sheets and VAT invoices for output and input transactions

• The accountant also prepares internal reports — financial statements, revenue, total costs, and so on — according to management's requirements

Quarterly tasks

• Beyond monthly tax reporting, the accountant must also prepare quarterly VAT and PIT declarations where the business qualifies to file these taxes quarterly

• For corporate income tax (CIT), the accountant does not need to submit a declaration, but must file the quarterly provisional tax return and, if tax arises, pay the CIT due

• Preparing the quarterly report on invoice usage

• Consolidating data from expenses, revenues, and the other sub-functions — tax accounting, cost accounting, warehouse accounting, payment accounting, and so on — and preparing the trial balance of account movements

• Reconciling and re-checking each detailed section against the general ledger

Annual tasks

Beginning of year:

• Pay the business license tax along with the tax return (note that both the filing and payment deadline is January 31; for a newly established business, this tax must be paid within 30 days of receiving the business registration certificate)

• Perform opening entries such as closing out profit or loss, distributing prior-year retained earnings, or recording business license tax expenses in the new fiscal year.

End of year:

• Re-check the balance between detailed figures and general accounting figures

• Closing balances must be reasonable and match the other detailed reports

• Prepare the annual trial balance of account movements

• Prepare the CIT and PIT declarations (December or Q4)

• Prepare financial statements and management reports if requested

• Print the ledgers — bank book, cash book, detailed ledgers, inventory movement reports, and so on

Other things a general accountant needs to watch

• Coordinating inspections across departments and grassroots units

• Being able to propose solutions for the company's errors in finance and accounting. Alongside clearing backlogs, proactively recommend methods, tools, and so on to support and optimize accounting operations.

• Adjusting entries after the tax authority's final audit requires the company to pay tax penalties.

• Establishing and maintaining relationships with the parties critical to the company's finance and accounting work — the tax authority, banks, customers, suppliers, and so on.

With such a detailed list, we hope you now have an answer to the question of what a general accountant does. In short, someone in general accounting needs a thorough command of the entire process — from processing day-to-day data and figures to consolidating and analyzing them into financial statements and tax reports for longer periods such as months, quarters, and years.

>> See also: What Is Internal Accounting? Concept, Duties, How to Manage It, and Supporting Software

Requirements for Becoming a General Accountant

Given the description above, many readers may think the requirements for general accounting are very demanding. So what does a general accountant actually need to know to do the job well, and is it difficult? It depends on the accountant's perspective and abilities; this article offers an objective view based on the typical requirements of the general accountant position.

To become a general accountant, you need a set of professional skills, including:

Professional knowledge

• For specialist work like accounting, this is the prerequisite, foundational skill for starting the job and advancing later on.

• To rise to the general accountant position, the requirements — especially for professional knowledge — are more stringent than when working in a single accounting area, for example general accounting at a construction, tourism, or manufacturing company.

Computer skills

Given how much of the job involves working with and analyzing numbers, an accountant needs solid experience with office software. Beyond basic computer skills like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, accountants should also know dedicated accounting software such as SimERP.

Foreign language skills

Leaving aside multinational and foreign companies, an accountant working in any corporate environment needs a foreign language, because documents, company reports, and learning materials often contain a great deal of foreign-language content.

A careful, meticulous character

• This is a profession that works heavily with figures and demands a high degree of accuracy, so accountants — especially general accountants — need to cultivate meticulousness to avoid avoidable errors and significant discrepancies that affect the company's financial reporting.

• External-facing ability: because general accountants deal with many external parties — the tax authority, customers, colleagues, and so on — it is a plus if the candidate knows how to build relationships.

Compensation for General Accountants

As you can clearly see, for the general accountant position businesses demand more from candidates than for accounting roles confined to smaller functions. Along with those demands, the salary, benefits, and overall package are worth discussing when choosing this career path.

How much does a general accountant earn?

A general accountant's salary depends on many factors — the candidate's ability and experience, the nature of the work, and the company's size and financial situation. It is hard to give an exact figure, but looking at the market average, there are ballpark salary levels by experience:

For fresh graduates with little experience, an accountant's salary at this stage is roughly 5–7 million VND/month at large companies. At smaller businesses it may range from 4–6 million VND.

Those with 1–2 years of experience typically earn 6–8 million VND/month.

Salaries rise with experience. With 3–5 years of experience, the range is around 7–12 million VND. Generally, general accountants in southern Vietnam earn slightly more than those in the north.

With 5 or more years of experience, a candidate may be offered around 15 million VND.

A chief accountant's salary varies considerably with company size and location, but on average ranges from 15 to 30 million VND at small companies. At large, multinational, and FDI enterprises it can reach 80–100 million VND/month.

We hope this article has given you a complete and concrete picture of the path to becoming a general accountant. Demanding jobs come with corresponding salaries and benefits, but you need to know and understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as your fit for the profession, in order to choose the career path that suits you best over the long term.

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