KEY ACCOUNTING SKILLS
Key Accounting Skills that an Accountant should Possess
Analyzing and preparing financial reports for the company and the stakeholders is among the job scopes of the accountants. They play an important role in the company because the financial reports and the analytical skill allow assessing the company’s current position and performance. Thus, this role requires a high level of analytical skill, precision of work and strong ethics.
Accounting is not an easy job such as completing a tax form, balance sheet or other financial documents required to prepare for the company. Most people think everyone can do an accounting job because of the recurring nature of the activities for the accounting process. However, a professional accountant requires different types of soft skills that assist in the decision-making process, providing advice and strategy which are advantageous to the company.
A professional accountant will use these soft skills which are essential to enhance the process of achieving specific goals of the business. These skills allow a professional accountant to improve the work place communication and lead a team to achieve business success. All of these skills are unable to be replaced by the AI or computer system or automation. It portrays that a professional accountant is unable to be replaced by any AI or automation applications.
This article will outline the key accounting skills that accountants should possess which allow them to improve their efficiency at work. It allows you to hire or outsource to a good accountant or good accounting firm.
Accountant jobs will always be available in the market. Even currently there are trends of AI, robotics or automation taking over the manual or human action for the business activities, accounting will always remain as a human’s job. The innovation which is the reason why accounting will always be a human’s job.
How is innovation being one of the important soft skills that an accountant should have? This is because an accountant should not always stand in the comfort zone or remain on the same point. In this evolving business world, the accounting requirement and standard will keep going with it. So, an accountant should move forward to learn the new ideas and methods to tackle the new accounting terms.
Commercial awareness is about how the accountant is made aware of how and where the business works in the current market. Accountants should not only know how to do and understand what information provided by financial statements, but also think about how this information will affect the business, and how much impact they would bring to the companies.
Accountant needs to interpret the financial statement into useful information to help drive the business growth; thus, an accountant should always be aware about the external factors of the business such as economical and political changes. It allows the business to take action immediately if something disastrous happens.
Accountants need to have initiative to know what to do next in face of some unique or unexpected circumstances, although the accounting process is a recurring process. Accountants need to be able to work on their own and be trusted by others for the responsibilities given. It gives trust and confidence to others who are willing to assign jobs or outsource the services to you.
Integrity is one of the most important skills that accountants should have. This is because the accountant is dealing with the companies’ money, resources and records which require honesty and competence to handle it. Also, if the accountant is dishonest, it will affect all the stakeholders such as supplier, buyer and investor. Accountant’s main goal is to produce and analyze the financial information and advice to help the business. How will the company perform if the accountant wish to do something malicious which affects the company?
There are a lot of financial scandals which commonly happened and reported in the past few years. And the most common type is fraudulent financial statements. The financial statement does not show exactly what is happening in the company and current company position, which results in bad decisions and large losses, in the serious cases, may result in liquidation of the company. Therefore, the industry needs an accountant with high integrity to maintain their morals and code of ethics to do the job with honesty.
The rapid development of information and communication technology begins to alter how accountants conduct their daily tasks. Technology advancements have an impact on financial reporting, accounting information automation, and audit procedures and systems. These changes in the accounting standard had resulted in several employees being laid off. Hence, a professional and modern accountants should be very flexible to follow up with all these modern changes and apply them in his/her job.
As with any job, enthusiasm is a key characteristic that employers will look for. This is because it shows the responsibility of a person and how it will perform in this work. An enthusiastic person in the company will bring positive energy to the team which brings motivation to others. It allows an accountant to believe that what you are working on is essential and crucial.
Resilience is one of the key accounting skills that an accountant needs to have. You will begin in an entry-level position, as with any career, and most likely desire to go ahead. It would not always be a simple journey. You need to handle a lot of heavy tasks. Resilience will serve you well throughout your career as it is the capacity to operate under pressure, manage the requirements of several clients, and remain optimism in the face of difficulties.
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