Accountants in Todays Organizations - Essay Example

Performance evaluation is one of the most important roles of an accountant which relates to the interpretation of sales and profit information to help the executives to take important decisions. 

Another well-known role of an accountant is cost and productivity management. They help in investigating various fixed and variable costs and thus avoiding any sort of wastage of resources. They help in the optimum utilization of money, machinery, men, and material. The information generated by accountants ensures increased productivity by maintaining acceptable levels of credit, stock, labor time, and material usage.  Accountants with the help of cost analysis not only help in controlling costs but also determine which operations are least or most profitable and take decisions regarding resource commitment.

They are increasingly involved in formulating policies for an organization that defines their responsibility in budgeting and planning. An accountant plays a significant role in product pricing decisions. (Saeed, 1999) Their contributions to taking decisions regarding techniques like just-in-time and total quality management are highly recognized. Management accountants now form part of teams involved in strategic planning or proposing budgets for the coming year. They are involved in deciding remedies in case of variances between actual and budgeted performance.

Accountants are increasingly acting as personal advisors or consultants. They help clients with legal and other regulatory compliance, personal finance, investment, and asset management. They have an important role in formulating new business plans, recommendations on sources of financing, and all kinds of other financial needs related to critical business decisions. With the development of accounting packages, accountants have an additional technical role of developing the system according to organizations' unique needs, implementing and controlling it.