Recently I had the chance to address the students of Lincoln High School in Lake City, Minnesota about accounting careers. I’ve enjoyed speaking the students from my days in elementary school in which I taught models of rocketry. Students were curious about the skills required to succeed in the field of accounting. I explained that the skills of communication, organization, time management, as well as technological skills are crucial to working as an accountant for public companies.
Communication
It is essential to know accounting to become an effective accountant, but for a variety of reasons, it’s equally lean management crucial to communicate effectively both either in writing or verbally. A good communication skill allows accountants to communicate complicated concepts and tax information to clients and team members in an easy and understandable manner.
It is crucial to engage with customers in a professional way. Keep eye contact, comprehend the client’s perspective and respond with a credible manner, show confidence, be friendly and clearly convey your solution. When you talk to your client inquire about their concerns. The answers you receive will enable you to look deeper and provide solutions to the client’s issues, allowing you to suggest and offer helpful services.
Communication also encompasses keyboarding and computer (the process of writing and using on a keyboard) abilities. It involves writing data Word processing email writing making spreadsheets and editing them, as well as performing tax preparation. This is the most crucial technique I have learned to prepare me for a job as a public accountant. I utilized this knowledge in the preparation of this blog and I use keyboarding every day in my job. The speed at which I type and precisely enables me to complete my work quickly and efficiently.
Organization and Time Management
Being an accountant I take on many responsibilities and, as such, I have to be very busy. This is why organization and time management skills can be extremely useful and essential both are essential to have a successful career in accounting. Implementing a system to keep on top of deadlines, dates and transactions keeps me on the right track. Tools like organization applications as well as planners, calendars, and other tools can be very useful. A good time management skill goes along with great organizational lean portfolio management skills. An effective system for managing your work load is only efficient when you know how to manage your time. It is crucial to learn how to stay within deadlines and constantly revise your list of tasks. This helps me ensure that my day is productive and to manage multiple priorities.
Technology
Because of technological advancements the public accounting industry is set drastically change within the coming five to 10 years. The technology advancements comprise AI, artificial intelligence (AI) as well as Blockchain. Public accounting firms are investing millions dollars in training and software to develop the necessary new skills to offer services to businesses and customers.
AI is the concept and research into computers that can perform tasks that typically require human brains like speech recognition, visual perception and decision-making as well as translating between languages. AI also opens the doors to a new type of accountant. The modern accountant does more than just crunch numbers. In the near future, AI might do most of the work.
In contrast, accounting professionals are shifting towards a model of services that add value to clients, including strategies and advisory services.
Blockchain could increase the efficiency of accounting by reducing the cost of reconciling and maintaining ledgers while providing total assurance about the ownership and the history of assets. The advantages that come from Blockchain technology are a reduction in mistakes by increasing efficiency, decreasing costs, reducing fraud and speeding up the process.
In Reflection
My time with these students from high school was a blast! I enjoyed the interactions with them, as they were prepared for the ability to ask questions as well as provide feedback. It was great to observe that the majority of students were keen to learn what they could do today to build the necessary skills for a job as an accountant, to be prepared for a job in the field.
