Why Accounting is a Valuable Personal and Professional Development Skill


Accounting Skills

October 26, 2020

In today’s scenario, one of the most overlooked versatile skills in the business world is accounting. Accounting is frequently misunderstood by those looking at it. The field of work can be classified as a financial recordkeeping for a business.

Usually corporates rely on in-house or outsourced accountants to generate reports to emphasis on three main areas:

These three types of accounting help a business to run efficiently and profitably.

It takes the right mixture of hard and soft skills to succeed in a finance or accounting job, but the list of technical skills employers in this industry want to see from their top candidates being longer than most. Aside from having basic financial skills, you’ll need to be capable with spreadsheets and will be expected to have a working knowledge across a range of different business software.

Technical accounting skills support a variety of purposes for companies that are looking to fill open positions. Therefore, these skills ensure the precise recording of financial transactions and plan accurate prediction for the future. Without technology, critical business predictions like projected revenue growth or future labour needs would not be possible.

Technical finance skills are important for keeping business operations well-organized. With the report of organizations 50% of accounting tasks can be automated through currently available technology, while labour-intensive tasks like tax, payroll, and audits will have the potential to be fully automated by 2025. But automation doesn’t happen overnight. Employers need knowledgeable accountants and finance professionals who can hold automation tools in a strategic way. Even with the best technology, mistakes happen.

The benefits of the skills for the organization :

1. High level of proficiency in Microsoft Excel

Trying to get an accounting job without knowing Microsoft Excel is like trying to become a bus driver without a driver’s license. It’s an elementary job requirement. While not all accounting or finance professionals will work in Excel on a daily basis, spreadsheets are standard fare in the field, so it’s still essential to be able to read and analyse the data in them. And the organization will get the benefits of these skills

2. Knowledge of QuickBooks

QuickBooks is one of the most widely used pieces of accounting software among small businesses, with the online version this software offers a suite of financial features that are useful for growing organizations, like expense tracking, invoicing, and payroll. By these organizations get benefitted in many ways.

3. Understanding with business intelligence software

Accounting and finance professionals do much more than just track money in and money out. They play a critical role in guiding the financial direction of the organization. This requires the ability to make truthful predictions about what the future holds in terms of sales, inventory and labour, and use that data to make recommendations to the board of directors. And the organizations can enjoy the benefits of the various software.

4. Acquaintance of tax software

There’s an entire section of the accounting and finance industry dedicated to tax. If you work in this part of the field, you’ll obviously need deep knowledge of the software your organization uses for tax preparation.

But even if you don’t work specifically in tax, you’ll likely be keeping records and making documents for colleagues who do. So, having a working understanding of the platform your company uses for tax homework is helpful.

5. Expertise in preparing financial statements

Financial statements are the on-paper records of an organization’s business action and financial position. They’re used by many entities, including but not limited to the business itself, shareholders, and financial institutions, employees, potential investors, so these statements must be clear and informal to understand.

The three main documents you will need to be familiar with:

  • - The income statements
  • - The cash flow statement and
  • - The balance sheets.
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An income statement, also called a profit and loss or P&L report details the company’s incomes and various expenditures over a given period of time. A cash flow statement reports on the movement of a company’s cash, which should include investment activities, financing activities and operating costs. A balance sheet is a moment-in-time breakdown of a company’s assets, liabilities, and owners’ equity.

Taken together or independently, these statements serve as an at-a-glance-indicator of a company’s financial health. It’s up to you as a finance professional to ensure they’re prepared accurately.

Good accounting skills develop a person in many ways like:

  • - It increases the ability to think
  • - We can serve our clients in a better way
  • - We can take the opportunities of advancement
  • - Accountants have a better understanding of finance
  • - A good accountant creates many check points for accounts

 

Having good accounting skills in terms of personal and professional level is always helpful for the organization.