Banks are dynamic, but also complex organizations. As an (almost) graduate in Economics or Finance, you may have no idea exactly how things work within such a bank. Therefore, you may wonder: What departments are there within the bank? What functions are there? And which role suits my skills best? We explain it all to you!
To begin with, there is a dichotomy of the front and back of the bank. In the roles at the front of the bank, you interact with customers and are all about making money, managing portfolios and closing deals. Think private equity, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), investments and corporate finance. If you join a bank through us, chances are you'll be working at the back end of the bank, where money matters are controlled.
Accounting
As an accounting specialist, you are at the front end of the cash flow. It's all about balancing income and expenses. You answer questions like, Are we in control of our financial situation? And is the general ledger correct?
There are two directions within accounting:
If you are just starting out as an accounting specialist, it is important to understand complex data flows. Fortunately, much is automated, so you don't really have to do accounting yourself anymore. However, it is becoming increasingly important that you not only present a nice balance sheet, but also know where the data comes from and how to get it.
As a reporting specialist you determine with a critical eye whether the reports are correct and figure out how to get certain data into a specific report. Analytical skills are very important in this role.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the laws and regulations for banks have become much stricter and more dominant, making the correct delivery of data even more important. The ECB and DNB supervise and want to know how you are doing as a financial institution. This means not only producing a nice report, but also knowing where the data you supply comes from.
Within reporting you work cyclically: monthly, quarterly and annually. The last two weeks of the month you are busy and the first two weeks relatively quiet. In this quiet period you look at possible optimizations and improvements in the process.
Financial Control
To be successful as a financial controller you need to understand accounting. It is therefore not strange to move on from this. You deal with how the bank is doing and work with financial statements and balance sheets. It is a broad field of work, which makes it very dynamic. Based on the data you collect and analyze, you advise management in various areas. As a controller, you think about the challenges in the organization and respond to them with concrete solutions and implementations.
As a financial controller you are therefore also involved in business economics, whereas as an accounting specialist you only focus on the economic field.
To learn more about this position, Alexander works in the Control department at ABN AMRO.
Business Control
As a business controller you support the business with targeted analyses and reports of financial data and business information. You advise management and the board on strategic choices. Starting as a business controller immediately after graduating is quite unusual. You really need several years of experience, for example within financial control.
In this role you have a lot to do with stakeholder management. You must enjoy having conversations with different stakeholders. In addition, you need basic knowledge of finance to be able to have those conversations. Want to learn more about the role as a business analyst? Read more about working as a business analyst.
In positions at the beginning of finance, the focus is on your analytical skills, such as accounting and reporting. As you move toward control, stakeholder management becomes increasingly important.