What Makes and Effective Accountant?

Being associated with the accounting and auditing profession for more than a decade, I have had the chance to work and interact with various accountants, firms, and students. It’s incredible to see how each of these individuals and organizations although belonging to the same profession, with the same qualification are yet so different, some being more effective than the rest while some firms possessing the collective capabilities and personality of a single accountant.

Effectiveness, over a decade ago perhaps simply meant having financial prowess or savvy accounting skills, however, the world is evolving so much more faster now and accountants need to evolve right along with it, so as this dawned upon me, I decided to recollect and reflect, focusing on traits and habits that I have had a chance to experience and see in accountants, isolating some pertinent ones that I feel make an effective accountant.

Soft Skills:

Now is more than ever that having soft skills matter the most, the time for the back-office accountant is long gone, as business and organizational dynamics have changed an accountant now is accessible by everyone in their organization, and every department needs to interact with the accounting department. Soft skills allow you to relate, interact and understand better, your conversations with different teams and your understanding of people can be a whole lot easier if your soft skills in conversing, social inclusion, organizational harmony are on point.

Proactiveness:

Being proactive is about taking responsibility. Many people associate being proactive only with a select audience in order to get things done, this however limits you. An effective accountant needs to be proactive with all the departments, and colleagues including the management, to get the information they want, understand others better and be able to provide solutions better.?

An accountant must take control and responsibility of numerous tasks, such as providing timely financial information, safeguarding assets and preventing fraud.?

Being proactive can be highly beneficial for an accountant as to deliver the financial results ahead of the due date, as well ask management hard-hitting questions, perform critical data analysis for management, and provide management with dynamic reporting.

Have the end in mind

“Having the end in mind or looking at the end game “means to begin each day, task with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.

An accountant has many tasks to complete during the day, and all of those tasks should have a thoughtful path laid out in how to accomplish them. Whether these tasks have written policies and procedures in place or just informal steps to complete, it is critical that the desired goal has been evaluated.?

A highly effective accountant, when performing their work duties, should assess the timing of each deliverable and work backwards to determine the steps required to successfully reach the desired goal.?

Eating the frog

It is important to prioritize things and get done with the more important ones first, the “eat the biggest frog” concept says if all your work tasks are like “frogs” eat or be done with the “biggest frog” first so that the rest don’t seem hard. This means, organizing and executing around your most important priorities first.?

Because an accountant must prioritize on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis and be able to line up their critical action items, this routine is filled with both expected and unexpected “to-do’s”. Managing your schedule and workload to focus on those important priorities is vital for working effectively.?

?Win/Win mindset

An accountant works with many different people both within and outside of the organization, and these relationships are integral to maintaining effectiveness. Accountants may collaborate with various other departments, including management, sales, operations, payroll, information technology and others — sharing information and knowledge can be valuable to both parties.?

While and effective accountant may also have important relationships outside of the organization with customers, vendors, bankers, attorneys or other third parties, where maintaining a solid relationship builds a foundation of trust and interdependence.?This way an effective accountant will understand the importance of requests that come to him internally and externally and will be in a better position to accommodate them, as a result this ends up benefiting both parties.

First Understand, Then Make Them Understand

This simply means putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening emphatically for both feelings and meaning.?

An effective accountant must use communication and the component of listening in everyday duties, as they must obtain information by communicating with various parties to perform almost all duties. While the information can be obtained in different forms, the accountant listening, and understanding is vital in how they will utilize and complete a final deliverable.?

Creating Synergy

Synergizing means innovating and problem solving with those who have a different point of view. Practicing the “two heads are better than one” philosophy and creative cooperation.

An effective accountant just doesn’t stop after cooperating with their own team but also create synergy with all departments of an organization to be successful. As an accountant knows that a successful management team at an organization has dynamic leaders from all departments who communicate regularly with each other and can help in bringing a better perspective to the table.

A Constant state of improvement

This means to seek continuous improvement and renewal professionally and personally.?

An accountant should continually find ways to improve and educate themselves on all of their functions and responsibilities. Because the accounting industry is ever changing, it requires them to be current on their discipline.

Effective accountants are always on the lookout for shadowing on-the-job training with peers and mentors, researching on their own in the industry, practices, and the business environment, actively attending continuing professional education trainings and more.

As we progress forward, we can see that the world around us is changing at an exponential pace, what might be effective today might be obsolete tomorrow, so the most important trait of an highly effective accountant in my view is that his/her will to push forward, keep sharpening the saw, be aware of what is happening in surroundings and display that adaptability, so that he/she is prepared at all times.

What do you think?