Why You Need Soft and Hard Skills as an Accountant | Mercer Bradley (2024)

FAQs

Why is it important to have both hard and soft skills? ›

Hard skills help you identify candidates who are good on paper, whereas soft skills indicate which of these candidates are good in person, too. This means that you need a good mix of hard and soft skills in every employee so that they can be successful in their role.

It's through soft skills that accounting firms can develop true relationships with clients and become an indispensable part of their team. Businesses are not looking for just someone to keep them compliant. Business owners are people with real goals and fears.

Accounting skills are abilities that allow you to accurately and ethically manage financial transactions, analyze financial data and generate financial reports. They include hard skills such as understanding generally accepted accounting principles, mathematical comprehension and data analysis.

Given the frequent interaction with other departments, today's accounting professionals need sound decision-making, negotiation and strategic-thinking skills. It's also important to be able to see the big picture and understand how your accounting role impacts the overall organization.

While hard skills are necessary to successfully perform technical tasks in a job, soft skills are necessary to create a positive and functional work environment. For this reason, employers often seek individuals who possess proven soft and hard skills.

Employees who have a good mix of soft and hard skills are more likely to succeed in their chosen fields. Not only are they capable of demonstrating their professional skills, but they also can work well with others.

Basic Soft Skills for Accountants

Strong written and oral communication. Organization and attention to detail. Analytical and problem solving skills. Time management.

Soft skills are more intangible, but no less important. These professional skills can help accountants navigate the workplace with success. Decision making: Companies want people who can drive business value by making suggestions that will increase its success.

In addition to being able to use financial data effectively, one of the most important skills for accounting professionals is the ability to interpret that financial data, and analyze the interplay between that information, the overall organization, and various individual departments within it.

You Have a Passion for Problem-Solving.

If you love figuring out puzzles and challenging your brain in other ways, accounting is a great fit for you. Accountants should have a strong desire to learn and excel at solving problems. As an accountant, you might face complex problems that need to be carefully sorted out.

How to be a perfect accountant? ›

A good accountant must have great analytical capabilities, which can help them understand and interpret financial data quickly and pick out trends and patterns in order to make recommendations to clients or management.

You'll be expected to analyze information, keeping track of the story your money tells and providing guidance on what to do next. No matter the case, critical thinking is essential. While math skills are helpful, data and systems analysis are keys to success in this role. An accountant is often an investigator.

This involves understanding three important financial reports: profit and loss statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows. The profit and loss statement and statement of cash flows cover a particular time period, such as a quarter or a calendar year.

“My greatest strength is my attention to detail and accuracy. I have a meticulous approach to analyzing financial data and ensuring precision in my work, and I strive to maintain the highest level of accuracy and quality in financial reporting.

To get hired and be successful in the workplace, you'll need a combination of hard and soft skills, both of which you can continually build on and develop.

Soft skills help in managing and working with people, ensuring customer satisfaction and creating a favorable atmosphere for the project team. Hard skills, on the other hand, involve processes, tools, and techniques applied to projects.

Hiring managers often consider soft skills (like teamwork, communication, time management, and leadership) to be just as important as hard skills, if not more so. That said, these skills are not often included in a separate skills section since they are usually intangible and harder to evaluate.

Soft skills are those skills that come naturally and uniquely to everyone. These include leadership, effective communication, teamwork, time management, motivation and adaptability. On the other hand, hard skills are those that are gained through hands-on experience, training, or education.