🔍 Key Accounting Responsibilities Explained – A Beginner's Guide

If you are starting a career in accounting or want to understand the key responsibilities involved in the field, this blog will help you understand each task step-by-step in simple terms. We’ve also included the important tax compliances like GST, TDS, EPF, and their rates and filing deadlines.

📌 1. Preparing and Finalizing Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cost Sheets

These are the key financial reports used to evaluate a company’s financial health:

Profit & Loss Account: Shows income vs. expenses to determine profit or loss over a specific period.
Balance Sheet: Reflects the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time.
Cost Sheet: Breaks down the cost of producing a product or service.

📅 These are typically prepared monthly or quarterly and are crucial for management decisions and audits.

📌 2. Monthly MIS (Management Information System) Report Preparation

MIS reports provide a monthly overview of sales, expenses, profits, and cash flow.

📊 They are shared with the management to help monitor the performance and take business decisions accordingly.

📌 3. Timely Filing of GST, TDS, and TCS Returns

✅ GST (Goods & Services Tax):

Tax charged on sale and purchase of goods/services.

Rates: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, 28% (depends on item)
Filing Dates:
- GSTR-1 (Sales): 11th of every month
- GSTR-3B (Summary): 20th of every month

✅ TDS (Tax Deducted at Source):

A certain % of tax is deducted while making specific payments (salary, contractor, rent, etc.).

Rates: 1% to 10% depending on the nature of the payment
Filing Dates:
- Quarterly filing: 31st July, 31st October, 31st January, 31st May

✅ TCS (Tax Collected at Source):

Collected by the seller at the time of sale of certain items (like scrap, e-commerce).

📌 Timely filing of these returns is mandatory to avoid penalties and maintain statutory compliance.

📌 4. Bank Reconciliation and Fund Management

This involves matching the company’s books with the bank statement to ensure all transactions are recorded correctly.

💡 Helps identify errors, bounced cheques, or duplicate entries.

📌 5. Managing Accounts Payable (Vendors, Staff, Statutory Payments)

Accounts Payable means paying what the business owes to others like:

Vendors/Suppliers
Employees (Salaries)
Government (TDS, EPF, ESI, etc.)

✅ EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund):

A retirement benefit scheme where both employee and employer contribute.

Rate: 12% employee + 12% employer
Filing Date: 15th of every month

✅ ESI (Employee State Insurance):

A health insurance scheme for employees.

Rate: 0.75% employee + 3.25% employer
Filing Date: 15th of every month

📌 6. Reconciling Stock, Debtors & Creditors + Preparing Stock Audit Reports

Stock: Ensure actual stock = stock in books
Debtors: Customers who owe money
Creditors: Suppliers to whom money is due

📋 Stock audit helps verify the physical quantity and value of goods.

📌 7. Managing Inventory Funding Accounts and Daily Funding Reports

If the company receives loans or funds against inventory from banks, then daily reporting of stock value and usage is required.

📅 These reports are shared with the bank as per agreed terms.

📌 8. Payroll Processing, Salary Sheet & Incentive Report Preparation

This includes:

Calculating monthly salaries
Deducting TDS/EPF/ESI
Preparing bonus and incentive statements

💸 Ensures employees are paid correctly and statutory deductions are made.

📌 9. SOA and 26AS Reconciliation with Follow-ups

SOA (Statement of Accounts): Statement showing the opening balance, transactions, and closing balance with any customer/vendor.
Form 26AS: A tax credit statement available on the income tax portal showing the amount of TDS deducted and deposited by others on your behalf.

📞 Any mismatch is followed up with the party or department to correct the records.

📌 10. Inter-branch and Head Office Reconciliation

If a company has multiple branches or locations, transactions between them are reconciled to ensure books are balanced and transparent.

📌 11. Supporting Audit Processes

Auditors need several reports and proofs to check compliance and accuracy. Accounting staff prepares and provides:

Ledger statements
Invoices
Tax return copies
Reconciliations and more

📁 This ensures a smooth and clean audit.

📌 12. Accurate Voucher Entries and Routine Bookkeeping

Every transaction (income or expense) must be recorded with supporting documentation (voucher/invoice).

📚 Proper bookkeeping ensures the company’s books are audit-ready and legally compliant.

If you found this post helpful, do share it with your friends or colleagues in the accounting field. Let me know in the comments if you'd like a downloadable checklist version of these responsibilities! ✍️📄

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