This is written from an assurance perspective, but the same skills apply to tax and advisory.
1. Communication Skills – Verbal
By far the most important skill to have in public accounting. You will be speaking to the client CEO, COO, CFO, operations associates, staff accountants, and technology experts.
You will be speaking to the client’s clients – banks, vendors, administrators, investment partners, and third-party consultants.
Did I forget anyone? Oh yeah, your own team! You will be speaking to the intern, associate, senior associate, manager, experienced manager, senior manager, partner, offshore team, tax team, valuation team, and various other teams.
Every single person has his or her own communication style. Some prefer to talk in person, some want a phone call, and others want cameras turned on during a video call. Everyone has good days and bad days. It is up to you to figure out what makes each person tick. My advice? Start by getting to know the other person a little first.
2. Communication Skills – Written
This is also extremely important. If verbal communication skills were a 10/10, I’d rank written skills a 9.5/10. The ability to ask the client for something when you have no idea what you are asking for is an incredibly important skill. The trick to this is to think about what you need. Is it a specific piece of information? Then you should be as descriptive as possible when describing the request. Is it a more general item? Then be vague and the client might already know what you need.
Writing is also 90% of the job. Sorry for all those who thought accounting was math! Writing clear audit documentation, communicating instructions to team members, and conveying coherent PBC (abbreviation for provided by client) lists are critical areas to master.
3. Communication Skills – Interpersonal
Communication is so important that I gave it the top three spots in a ten-item list. I include emotional intelligence and self-confidence within this category. The most successful public accountant is a “people person.” They thrive in small and large group settings with team members and during client outings. One of their greatest traits is that they are motivational. Other team members want to work for them.
Self-confidence is also incredibly important. Clients can sense low confidence like a bloodhound can sniff a steak a mile away. The best way to be self-confident is to prepare and to speak with conviction. Remember that we all put our pants on the same way – from the highest CFO to the lowest intern.
4. Critical Thinker
A dangerous habit for new associates to fall into is to rely on “SALY” – same as last year. Obviously, companies will never have the exact same operations as the prior year. Opportunities change. Software systems change. Employees change. The key to avoid this is to have a critical mindset. More specifically, remember that you are auditing around the client’s schedules – not trying to fit everything into a box from the prior year.
5. Organization
You will be put on multiple clients. You will oversee multiple audit areas. You will be asked questions from work you completed months ago. You will have to reference emails from a year ago when the client asks what was provided in the prior year. To navigate this, you must stay organized electronically. I suggest saving files by audit area and client. Create separate Outlook folders for each client and flag to do items. Always have a notebook to write down notes during meetings (preferably one notebook per client).
6. Initiative
You get what you put into public accounting. No one is going to push you or hold your hand. Ask questions (there is no stupid question – trust me). Own your work and communicate your problems. Most importantly, if you find something you want to do, ask. Want to work in a different industry? Want to work on a public client? Want to work in a different service line? Ask! I have found most people want to help you. The hardest part is knowing what you want to do.
7. Team Player
Everything in public accounting is team based. It is impossible to complete an audit by yourself – both by regulation and sheer amount of work. Be cognizant with who you are working with and how that person likes to work. Think, before you ask the client for information, has a team member already asked? Have a team mindset and be aware of the progress of the audit as a whole – not just your own areas. Higher ups like it when you have a grasp of the bigger picture.
8. Adaptable
You will not always be assigned the most interesting tasks (looking at you FS tie-outs). There will be days when team members call in sick or are too busy to answer questions. There will be other days when the client makes a restatement and you will have to redo all your work. Try to have a positive attitude when this happens. Team members won’t want to work with you if you are always negative. This isn’t a matter of life or death. The audit will always get done.
9. Excel
It took nine spots, but finally something that isn’t a soft skill. You do not need to be some sort of Excel wizard. What you must be is efficient. Learning keyboard shortcuts, screen navigation, and basic functions like SUMIFS, VLOOKUP, (I’ll also add INDEX MATCH and XLOOKUP because I know someone will comment this), and filters will go a long way. Bonus if you are good with pivot tables. The trick to getting good with Excel is to start using the ALT key instead of the mouse. It will be painfully slow at first but is worth it in the end.
10. Accounting Skills
I seriously debated whether to include accounting skills on this list. You know. That thing you went to school for. Debits and credits. In all seriousness, what you need is a strong foundation. Clients can make whatever journal entry they want. They can be a lot more complicated than a debit to cash and a credit to revenue. You must analyze the reasonableness and impact of said journal entries. What financial statement does it hit – the income statement? The balance sheet? Both? None? How does the journal entry impact the client’s earnings? What about their cash flows? This ties into being a critical thinker above.