How to get an accounting job in banking and finance

byKen Abbott & Zeno Toulon

10 hours ago

8 minute read

How to get an accounting job in banking and finance

Accounting and finance jobs involve keeping a bank’s own financial pipes flowing nice and smoothly.
Roles and responsibilities can vary significantly from one another in accounting and finance.
Although banks have special rules they need to follow, they are, at the end of the day, also very large companies that have the typical demands that large companies have.
Even though accounting and finance roles can be very lucrative and can offer great work-life balance, they’re not considered among the best compensated in the industry.

The finance and accounting teams in a bank fulfill four discrete purposes. They are:

Commentators: Commentators explain the numbers. They describe what took place during an accounting period and why.

Business partners: Business partners work closely with the business on value creation and the planning process. They also ensure the completeness and accuracy of transaction reporting and the accuracy of P&L (profit and loss reporting).

Scorekeepers: Scorekeepers maintain the firm’s books and records for investors and regulators. In this way, they provide investors and other external people a method by which to assess the bank’s performance.

Custodians: Custodians are about governance. They ensure that policies, procedures and regulations are strictly adhered to with respect to financial reporting.

These are the broad functions. If you’re joining as a trainee, you’ll likely get an opportunity to rotate between different jobs in accounting and finance, but it’s good to have an idea of what might suit you best from the outset.

Jobs available in accounting and finance

There are a variety of jobs available in accounting and finance.

Financial control: Financial controllers are responsible for the accounting processes within a firm. They produce financial reports and maintain official books and records. They establish controls to reduce risk and enhance the accuracy of reported financials. They make sure the bank complies with accounting regulations like GAAP. The duties of a controller involve ensuring the business operates efficiently and records its transactions accurately. Financial controller responsibilities often also include reporting and payments to taxing authorities.

Financial reporting: The financial reporting function is responsible for the disclosure of financial information to stakeholders (such as shareholders) about the financial performance and overall financial position of the firm. The reporting function provides regular information about the firm’s position and performance to a broad array of users. It provides information to management for the purpose of planning, benchmarking and decision making. It provides information to investors, and to creditors about the financial condition of the company as well as information to shareholders and the public.

Product control: Product control is responsible for keeping track of daily profit and loss (P&L), along with its explanation and attribution for a particular area. They also monitor transactions to ensure they are within specified size and risk limits. They are also responsible for ensuring that traders in investment banks mark their trading books to fair value prices. If you have a job in product control, you can therefore expect to produce, analyze, explain, and validate daily P&L for trading books. You will also need to ensure the appropriate establishment, classification, and maintenance of books according to GAAP and regulatory requirements.

Business planning and analysis: BP&A develops and implements business plans. These are strategic jobs within the accounting and finance division: you’ll be defining business strategy to meet performance objectives. The people in BP&A identify and propose solutions for business needs, analyze complex risk and mitigation procedures, and keep an eye out for potential issues for which they develop solutions.

Tax: The people in the tax department are responsible for ensuring that tax returns and financial records are prepared and reported in compliance with tax law. Their job is to minimize tax liabilities within the rules established by tax authorities. They consult with the business on structuring issues as well as maintain a tax-efficient booking model.

Accounting policy: The accounting policy team is responsible for maintaining the principles, rules and procedures that are chosen and followed by management in creating and reporting financial statements. They look at issues like the consolidation of accounts, impairment, revenue recognition, depreciation methods, goodwill, fair value principles, disclosure, and pricing.

Investor relations: Investor relations are for multi-talented people. They require knowledge of finance plus communication, marketing, and compliance. Investor relations is all about enabling clear and effective communication between a company, its shareholders, and the investing community. IR coordinates meetings for shareholders and the press, releases financial information, and provides financial briefings.

Office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO): The office of the CFO develops financial strategies at the enterprise level (i.e. the level of the whole bank) by combining financial and accounting information with analysis to manage the strategic direction of the firm. The CFO advises management on issues regarding performance, forecasting and budgeting, headcount and compensation levels, balance sheet management, and profitability.

Treasury: The primary purpose of the treasury team is to ensure the prudent management of cash in line with board approved directives and strategies, as well as managing the bank’s regulatory capital position. The treasury function spans asset/liability management (ensuring that liabilities can be paid off with assets) and capital management (overseeing the issuance of debt and equity to maintain an appropriate capital position).

Which skills do I need for a career in accounting and finance in a bank?

People in finance roles tend to be very analytical, process-oriented and inclined to pay great attention to detail. A company’s books and records are the primary vehicle through which it presents itself to the public, so accuracy is paramount. Regulatory authorities are stringent about the accuracy of corporate disclosure, and there’s little room for mistakes.

If you work in accounting and finance, you’ll also need to be intrigued by the management of process and inclined towards problem solving. There are often many ways of addressing complex pricing and accounting issues, from which product controllers must choose. This must be done carefully and with an eye towards accuracy and transparency. Most of all, though, you’ll need to care a great deal about detail.

How AI is changing accounting jobs in finance

AI is changing accounting roles substantially. Juniors at Deloitte will start doing their exams earlier, for one: 12 out of 14 in the first year, when they were previously spread over the course of three years. The goal of this is to encourage “communication, teamwork and problem solving” skills rather than focusing just on “old-school accounting”, such as performing cash reconciliation.

AI can perform high-quality work for high-quality accountants. But bad accountants, unable to prompt and unable to correct AI mistakes, will suffer poorer output. The former will become much more productive in the future; the latter will not.

However, AI doesn't remove the need for the qualification altogether. The Financial Reporting Council said in March guidance that "the human auditor is always accountable" for audit outputs, no matter much of the work the tools perform. UK company law still requires a named senior statutory auditor to sign the report in their own name.

Education & qualifications for accounting and finance jobs in a bank

Your university degree is important but not critical for an accounting role. When we took a look at Bank of America’s accounting and finance juniors, for example, most graduates are in economics, finance, and mathematics.

Accountants take professional qualifications as they train. The relevant qualifications include the Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) in the UK, as well as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), or the Chartered Public Accountant (CPA) in the US. The exact qualification depends on the accounting role you do and its location.

Salaries and bonuses in accounting and finance jobs

Accounting & finance compensation in banks is on par with other middle- and back-office support roles such as compliance, risk, or operations. In our 2026 Compensation & Lifestyle Report, we found that support function professionals in financial services reported salaries between $40k and $300k on average a year depending on seniority, and bonuses between $10k and $110k on average, depending on seniority.

The big benefit of working in support roles is the work-life balance. Our report also found that finance professionals worked just 42 hours a week on average – well below their peers in investment banking, for example, who worked for 62 hours a week on average.

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