Professional roles in finance, IT, human resources, legal and marketing share one feature: the duties are defined as much by professional standards and regulation as by the employer. An internal auditor and a bookkeeper both work with the same ledgers, but their obligations, independence and reporting lines are entirely different. This hub groups every professional role covered on Duties.co.za so you can find the correct guide quickly.
Each entry links to a dedicated page with full duties, daily tasks and CV wording. Use this page to route yourself to the right role, then read the detail there. For the framework behind all workplace roles, start with the parent job duties guide.
Browse IT, Finance, HR & Professional Job Duties by Role
Professional job titles are unusually inconsistent between employers, so browse by function rather than by title.
Accounting, Bookkeeping and Finance Operations
These roles record, reconcile and report on money. The dividing line between them is who may prepare accounts, who may only capture transactions, and who signs off.
- Accountant duties and responsibilities
- Bookkeeper duties and responsibilities
- Bookkeeping duties and responsibilities
- Accounting Officer duties and responsibilities
- Finance Officer duties and responsibilities
- Finance Intern duties and responsibilities
- Payroll duties and responsibilities
- Credit Controller duties and responsibilities
- Debt Collector duties and responsibilities
- Night Auditor duties and responsibilities
- Financial Management duties and responsibilities
Audit, Risk and Compliance
Assurance roles exist to check the work of others, so independence is part of the duty rather than a nice-to-have. Where a role sits in the organisation matters as much as what it does.
- Internal Auditor duties and responsibilities
- Compliance Officer duties and responsibilities
- Risk Management Officer duties and responsibilities
- Quality Controller duties and responsibilities
- Segregation of duties in finance and operations
Data, Analysis and IT Support
Analysis roles turn business questions into data work. The titles overlap heavily, and the practical difference is usually whether the role owns the requirement or the query.
- Business Analyst duties and responsibilities
- Data analyst duties and responsibilities
Human Resources
HR duties in South Africa are shaped by the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Employment Equity Act. Administrative HR roles execute process; officer-level roles advise on and apply that legislation.
- Human Resources duties and responsibilities
- HR Officer duties and responsibilities
- HR Assistant duties and responsibilities
- HR Intern duties and responsibilities
Legal, Procurement, Advisory and Marketing
These are the client-facing and specialist professional roles, where duties are defined partly by a professional body and partly by the contract with the client.
- Procurement Officer duties and responsibilities
- Procurement duties and responsibilities
- Lawyer duties and responsibilities
- Paralegal duties and responsibilities
- Financial Advisor duties and responsibilities
- Consultant duties and responsibilities
- Service Consultant duties and responsibilities
- Service Advisor duties and responsibilities
- Marketing duties and responsibilities
- Marketing Assistant duties and responsibilities
Common Duties Across IT, Finance, HR & Professional Roles
Whatever the discipline, professional roles are built from a similar set of accountabilities.
- Accurate record keeping: maintaining records that will stand up to audit, review or a dispute months later.
- Analysis and recommendation: turning raw information into a written position that someone else can act on.
- Regulatory compliance: applying the legislation, professional standard or company policy that governs the work.
- Confidentiality: handling salary, personal, client and commercial information under a clear duty of care.
- Stakeholder advice: explaining a technical position to managers and colleagues who are not specialists.
- Deadline management: working to statutory, reporting or month-end deadlines that do not move.
How Duties Change by Seniority and Workplace
Seniority Changes Who Signs
Junior professional roles prepare; senior roles review and sign. A finance intern may reconcile a bank account, but the accountant signs off the reconciliation and carries the consequence if it is wrong. When describing your duties, say clearly whether you prepared, reviewed or approved.
Practice Versus In-House
An accountant in an audit or accounting practice serves many clients and works to engagement standards. The same title in a company means owning one set of books end to end. Neither is more senior, but the duties barely overlap, and recruiters read them differently.
Regulated Sectors Add Duties
Financial services, medical schemes and legal practice all add licensing, fit-and-proper and record-retention duties on top of the ordinary job. If your role is regulated, the governing statute or professional body, not a job description, is the authority on what you must do.
Popular Role Guides
- Accountant duties and responsibilities: preparation of financial statements, reconciliations, tax submissions and management reporting.
- Bookkeeper duties and responsibilities: transaction capture, creditor and debtor control and trial balance to handover stage.
- Business Analyst duties and responsibilities: requirements gathering, process mapping and specification of change for delivery teams.
- Procurement Officer duties and responsibilities: sourcing, supplier evaluation, purchase order control and contract compliance.
Duties for CVs
Professional CVs are read for scope and system exposure. Name the volume you handled, the systems you used and the standard you worked to. The duties for a CV guide covers the method; the wording below shows the level of detail that works.
- Processed a creditors ledger of 180 suppliers on Sage, completing reconciliations within three working days of month end.
- Prepared monthly management accounts and variance commentary for four cost centres.
- Administered the full recruitment cycle for 60 appointments a year, maintaining Employment Equity records and reporting.
- Documented as-is and to-be processes for a billing system replacement affecting 12 000 customer accounts.
Job Description and Employer Guidance
Professional job descriptions should state the reporting line, the approval limit and the professional registration required, if any. Vague wording here creates two problems: unqualified applicants apply in volume, and an appointed employee can reasonably refuse work that was never specified. Segregation of duties matters as well, particularly in finance: the same person should not both capture and approve payments.
Use the job description duties and responsibilities guide for structure, then take role-specific content from the pages above. Duties vary by employer, and regulated roles should always be checked against the governing legislation.
Related Work Areas
- Admin and office duties: for clerical and support roles that feed professional teams.
- Retail, sales and customer service duties: for consultant and client-facing sales roles.
- Job duties: the parent guide to duties, responsibilities and job descriptions.
How to Use These Duties Guides
Locate your function in the directory above, open the role page and read it in full. If your title is not listed, pick the role that matches your actual accountability: “finance officer” and “accounting officer” mean different things in different organisations, and the duties tell you more than the label does.
Duties vary by employer, sector and organisation size. Where a role is regulated or professionally registered, confirm the detail against the relevant statute or professional body before relying on it.
Last reviewed: 1 September 2026