Bank accountants, or an accountant for a bank, perform most of the same functions of an accountant for any other type of business. Accounting is the classifying and recording of financial transactions. This is always the purpose and responsibility of the accountant regardless of what type of company employs him. However, banks have small procedural differences that make them slightly different from other businesses.

Ledgers and Journals

Bank accountants have the same titles as accountants for other kinds of businesses, such as: accountant I, accountant II, staff accountant and senior accountant, among other. The accountant is responsible for preparing journal entries, posting the journal entries, and posting to the general ledger. This position also requires posting to the subsidiary ledgers and reconciling the ledger accounts.

Cash Position

The bank accountant is responsible for preparing the cash position of his organization on a daily, weekly and monthly frequency. This differs slightly from an accountant for another industry, due to the cash-intense requirements that banks have. They need to ensure that their branch or branches will have the cash necessary to make day-to-day transactions. The accountant prepares the cash reports and provides them to management for review.

Financial Statements

The bank accountant is responsible for preparing or assisting in the preparation of financial statements at the end of each month and quarter. The financial statements that are prepared usually include an income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and the statement of retained earnings. However, banks also must prepare the statement of changes in equity. This statement is different from the one usually prepared for another type of company in that this statement shows the bank's equity that has been gained or lost since the previous statement. This allows an investor to follow the bank's lending and investing activities a little more easily.

Month-End Close

The month-end close is the responsibility of generally accounting. The bank accountant is responsible for closing the branch or branches' books at the end of each month. This is the time when the previous accounting period is ended and the results are tallied. Once an accounting period has been closed, it cannot be reopened. If mistakes are detected, then adjusting entries are required to correct them. The bank accountant is responsible for preparing and posting adjusting entries.

Compliance

The bank accountant is responsible for ensuring that the bank's accounting practices, classifications and reporting adheres to compliance and regulatory standards. He must ensure compliance with outside auditors and government regulators. The bank accountant is responsible for writing reports and providing communications in regards to the health of the bank's finances to management group.