THE 7 KEY HABITS OF EXCEPTIONAL ACCOUNTANTS

By David Brightman, Director of Product Marketing at BlackLine

 

Traditional accounting has evolved substantially over the past few years; away from unsustainable manual processes to something much more suited to modern business needs. With new technology that could automatically discover errors, inaccuracies, and exceptions, accountants are given free time to focus on discrepancies instead of losing days just trying to find them in the first place. By only researching the anomalies, accounting and finance staff can refocus on providing strategic guidance to the business, such as improving internal processes or finding cost-saving opportunities.‍

These technological advancements have enabled accountants to invest not only in their knowledge and expertise, but also their nuanced creativity and intelligence. By focusing only on exceptions, you can be free to become an exceptional accountant.

The secret to this success lies within modern accounting. There needs to be a shift towards modern accounting by unifying new and existing data and processes, automating repetitive work, and driving accountability through visibility. This will enable organisations to break down business-driven silos, earn that win-win with auditors, while working smarter, faster, and better. While automation is the name of the game, here are seven key skills all modern accountants should have.

  1. Get organised

Developing detailed schedules adds discipline and structure to financial systems and ensures accounting stays on track. But when there are tens of thousands of accounts to reconcile, multiple checklists and calendars, with no idea about which tasks have already been completed —especially during the close—this is easier said than done. Automating the account reconciliation process improves organisation through easy access to data and workflow benefits. Implementing a task management solution provides visibility into what teams have on their plate, replacing the inefficient spreadsheet approval process, and managing the entire financial close with checklists, real-time dashboards, and structure to ensure compliance.

  1. Take control

To become exceptional, accountants must have controlled, well thought out processes. To ensure they’re done properly and accurately, controls need to be in place. A solid foundation with strong controls and processes allows for endless growth and expansion opportunities. But it is impossible to achieve this with traditional manual processes that limit the enforcement of controls and leave compliance gaps. Process automation enhances internal controls while enforcing standardisation to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data. No longer weighed down by the most time-consuming manual work, accountants are finally free to use their knowledge and expertise to instinctively discern mistakes and compliance issues, and detect the first indications of fraud.

  1. Document

Documentation is vital to accounting processes. Reconciliations, journal entries, and many other financial close tasks must be documented in such a way that a user can not only follow the logic, but also reach succinct conclusions. The individuals preparing and reviewing the task should have a basic understanding of the task purpose and methodologies. It’s also incredibly important to provide guidelines, an implementation plan, and training so that everyone is aligned with policies and processes.

  1. Seek growth

It’s easy to go to work each day and grind through everything on the ‘To Do’ list and get bogged down for hours. But getting comfortable with doing things the way they’ve always been done is limiting. Accountants are too highly skilled and too valuable to spend 40-80 hours of their week this way. Pursuing a continuous improvement mindset—looking for new and better ways of doing things—is much more rewarding and creates opportunities for you to impact the bottom line. Strive to exceed strategic and operational goals by contributing to the creation of a high-performing and sustainable organisation.

  1. Take ownership

Ownership comes with holding yourself and your co-workers accountable. Accountants should dedicate some time to perform post-mortem reviews to identify what went right and what went wrong. By seeking out root causes, and then incorporating new insights into a continuous improvement model, accountants can create new efficiencies that will highlight their value to the company. The best performing finance teams know that success means always adapting and innovating to create a culture of continuous improvement. Looking for new ways to use technology to parse and automate logic-based processes can help employees to feel more invested, as they are playing an essential part in meeting the evolving needs of the accounting and finance organisation both now and into the future.

  1. Challenge

Exceptional accountants look for a challenge, seeking to understand the entire process from end to end and then contest it, applying out-of-the-box thinking to uncover better operating models. It’s taken a long time for innovation to find its place within finance and accounting (F&A), and this is an opportunity for F&A teams to challenge company’s internal policies. This can result in streamlining processes to eliminate unnecessary steps, which reduces the amount of work and improves quality all around. This step is essential for being exceptional because the manager accepts the status quo. The leader challenges it.

  1. Automate

The most effective way to put the six previous habits into practice is to follow this principle: if you can’t eliminate it, automate it. Manual processes are time-consuming and responsible for the huge spike of work during the financial close. As organisations automate these processes, it will accelerate their close and free up time to focus on more value-adding activities. Automation increases accounting efficiency and transparency, and creates more satisfied and engaged finance and accounting teams. Better yet, you can trust the numbers again.

 

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