A bank accountant's job

I. Read the dialogue in pairs. Be ready to dramatize it with your group mates.

Jennifer Williams wants to get a job in the accounting department of a bank. She is now at an interview with Sandy Dunbar, head of the accounting department of the Twin City Bank in Minnesota. She has always worked as an accountant, but never before in a bank.

Ms. D.: Well, Miss Williams, you certainly have a lot of experience in accounting. We'd like to have someone like you work with us. The job is yours, if you want it.

Miss W.: Marvellous. I think I'll find working in a bank very challenging. But I would like some information from you. Could you specify some of the differences between an accountant's job in a bank and an accountant's job in a business firm?

Ms. D.: There are, of course, both differences and similarities. As you know, accounting has changed a lot with the arrival of computers. Bank accountants, just like company accountants, do much more than just enter credits and debits in long black journals and ledgers! One of the most important things that we do in my department is preparing the balance sheet that determines the stockholders' equity and which appears in the bank's annual report.

Miss W.: Does a bank's balance sheet look like a corporation's balance sheet?

Ms. D.: Pretty much so. It lists assets and liabilities in the same way, although some of the items are different. Oh, and at a bank the balance sheet is usually called a "statement of condition".

Miss W.: How about profit and loss statements? I've prepared a lot of those during my work as an accountant.

Ms. D.: Our accounting department prepares one at the end of each fiscal period, although I don't know if you'll be directly involved in profit and loss statements. Let me also mention that one of the most important parts of our job here is assigning entries to the proper category. In other words, accountants in a bank have to decide whether a particular entry comes under the heading of loans, notes, commercial paper, occupancy, debentures, interest income and expense, and so forth.

Miss W.: Does this bank use a cash or an accrual basis for its accounts?

Ms. D.: That depends on each item of assets and liabilities. Some are recorded on the cash system, others on the accrual system. Oh, and before I forget, another important aspect of my department's work is figuring out depreciation of premises and equipment.

Miss W.: My goodness, and to think that most people think that a bank's activity consists only of what they can see in the lobby!

Ms. D.: That's true, but most of the complex financial operations are handled in offices away from the lobby, offices that our customers rarely get to see.

Comments

a head of department – начальник відділу

experience – досвід

marvellous – чудово

accounting has changed a lot with the arrival of computers – облік зазнав великих змін з появою комп’ютерів

stockholder’s equity – акціонерний (власний) капітал

the bank's annual report – річний звіт банку

fiscal year – фінансовий рік

fiscal period – податковий період

to assign – визначати; призначати; асигнувати

loan – позика; кредит

commercial paper (CP) – вексель

debenture – облігація, боргове зобов’язання

interest income – процентний прибуток

interest expense – проценти виплачені та подібні витрати

and so forth – та інше; і так далі

cash basis – касовий метод

accrual basis – метод нарахувань

premises – нерухомість будівля з прилеглими прибудовами та земельною ділянкою

depreciation of premices and equipment – амортизація (обезцінювання) нерухомості та обладнання