Virtually all businesses in every city in the UK require and seek the services of professional financial advisers to help them with their book keeping and other finance dealings. On this page we will explain the role of Birmingham accountants and what financial services they offer to their clients. You will also get general information about the daily duties of accountants and advice and tips on finding professional accountants in Birmingham.

Accountants job description
An accountant deals with financial information on behalf of their clients, who could typically be wealthy individuals or businesses. Their daily duties will include offering a bookkeeping services and therefore there is a lot of number crunching involved.

So any one thinking about it as a career should be good at maths and with figures.

On a daily basis accountants help to develop raw data in the form of figures from a companies trading transactions and transform it into financial reports like a profit and loss sheet. These reports can then be used by senior managers in the company to assess their financial position and plan their companies future direction.

There are some accountants who are self employed and focus on private practise work while others are working for large corporations or in the public sector. At the end of the day no matter where they are employed their main goal is to help their clients or colleagues make good sound financial decisions.

Many local Birmingham accounting firms work closely with clerks and bookkeepers in going over a businesses invoices, or preparing their tax returns as well as helping with issues like budget controls, etc.

They can also do valuations on companies by looking at the value of assets of a company like its premises, the company budget, the stock in its warehouse or the value of its contracts and transactions.

An example of an accountancy firm’s work
If say a medium sized company in Birmingham that employed 20 staff wanted to raise capital from local banks, they would first of all employ local Birmingham accountants to value their business. This accountancy firm would inspect the companies books of account which are also known as ledgers. From this they would be able to see the sales figures and other income and revenue streams. They would also realise the expenses and outgoings and be able to draw a conclusion as to whether the business in trading profitably. Typically the Birmingham chartered accountants firm would have upto 3 staff working on a project of this size.

By being independent, recognised and trusted professionals the banks are more likely to take the financial report of the accountant more seriously than one that say the directors of the business have produced themselves.

Sometimes groups of accountants combine their skills and specialities to form accountancy firms. Some of these grown in to huge businesses of their own and then just focus on just a few clients like multi national companies or public sector organisations.

There are different sectors they can work in as well for instance some can be specialists in tax affairs and dealing with the HMRC. Whilst others are auditors who evaluate an enterprise by looking at statistical information from the trading and financial statements of a company. Financial audits usually end with a report written with a conclusion for the business owners or managers.

Information about the City of Birmingham
It is often referred to as the second city of England, primarily because of its size and also its population. According to the last census taken in 2006 the population of the city was estimated at over 1 million inhabitants. In one recent poll it came third in the UK as the best location to set up a business. Due to these facts there are many Birmingham accountant firms located in the city offering their accountancy skills to the large civilian population and financial services industries based there.

Birmingham is situated in the midlands near the centre of England, and developed rapidly during the previous industrial revolution, and became an important manufacturing centre. Birmingham City Council has the distinction of being the largest council in Europe and also the biggest local authority in the whole of the United Kingdom.

 

Relevant links:
Accountancy degree courses
Accounting and finance degree
Accounting short courses London