No doubt, the world of professional bookkeeping and accounting can be filled with plenty of jargon, technical terms, and complicated formulas. So, to qualify as a professional bookkeeper or accountant, an individual should be good at numbers, analytics, and be well-versed in tax laws. Of course, they should also know accounting and bookkeeping software. When the staff handling your finances have these characteristics, you’ll be confident that this area of your business is in good hands.
However, in a sea of applicants who may have all these qualifications ticked, having soft skills makes a difference. But what soft skills should you look for, and why are they essential for bookkeepers and accountants? Read on!
Critical Thinking
After organizing and categorizing the numbers, accounts give advice and suggestions. Critical thinking will help an accountant create sound financial suggestions for a small business owner. Meanwhile, critical thinking is essential for bookkeepers’ services too, especially when double checking the books. They should easily notice discrepancies and pinpoint the root cause of the inaccuracies because of critical thinking.
Communication
Bookkeepers and accountants do not only handle accounting software, receipts, documents, and invoices. They are also very much concerned with everybody in the company. To get all the financial records they need, they’ll have to coordinate with the different departments. And when report days come, they’ll need to effectively communicate the company's financial status by turning technical terms into language that’s easy to digest.
Leadership
Do you see your company growing months or years from now? If the answer is yes, hire individuals you see your company growing with. Hire bookkeepers and accountants with great potential to become team leaders, supervisors, and managers. Visualize them handling their own team of accountants and bookkeepers. When you grow your business, they’ll be the ones to train and handle the junior staff who will manage your books and accounts.
Teamwork
Though they may be your financial management team’s future leaders, your bookkeepers and accountants should be team players first. Working with the team begins between a certified bookkeeper and accountant, who must always work together. The bookkeeper ensures everything on the books is accurate. At the same time, the accountant relies on the bookkeeper's data and is responsible for turning the numbers into understandable financial statements, cash flow, payroll, expense, income statement, taxes, and revenue.
Self-Supervising
As a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. It is okay for a new bookkeeper or accountant to need supervision in their first weeks, but as they progress in their tenure, they should know how to self-supervise. This soft skill is especially important if you hire a freelancer or outsource your work to agencies. Despite the distance, you should be confident that your accounting team can get the work done with minimal supervision.
Decision-Making
Your accounting team gives suggestions, but you always get the last say on your business finances. Nevertheless, bookkeepers and accountants still need decision-making skills, especially regarding same-level accountability. When you hire individuals with these skills, you won’t get those who ask you for your opinions and decisions again and again. Instead, they will report high-level decisions to you; all you need to do is sign!
Customer Service
This skill is especially important for freelancers and agency staff. Since they will handle your books and accounts remotely, communication will be challenging. Their customer service skills ensure that they will always keep you updated about your books. They should keep their lines open anytime you have inquiries. And of course, they should be attentive to your requests and feedback. Despite not working in-house, they should know your company and operations very well.
Composure
Finances aren’t an easy business area to handle. There are tons of numbers, categories, integrations, sources, and other details that need to be organized. On top of these, bookkeepers and accountants also face company reports, tax preparation deadlines, and tax filing. To make error-free reports and to always submit what is needed from them in advance, accountants and bookkeepers should be composed, even despite the stress.
Unloop’s Professional Bookkeeping Services
Soft skills are essential in the professional bookkeeping and tax service industry. When your staff have these characteristics, you will be sure that you have a team that can help your company grow.
That’s why we ensure our staff at Unloop have all these skills to thrive in any situation. Our team of experts is here to help you with your bookkeeping needs so that you can focus on what you do best: running your small business.
Have you used professional accountants and bookkeepers? If not, we highly recommend giving us a try. Call us now. You won’t be disappointed.