Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Qualities That Small Business Accountants Need To Have

By Ladonna Chambers


Small business accountants can be said to be the backbone of financial success in the entities where they are employed. It is therefore necessary to ensure that only the right persons are entrusted with accounting jobs in these businesses. Here is a look at some of the qualities that an accountant should have.

It goes without saying that an accountant needs to have the required academic qualifications for the job. The minimum qualification for an accounting specialist should be a professional qualification such as the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants qualification. If the individual can get a specialist who has an undergraduate qualification, the better. There should not be any compromise on academic credentials when hiring accounting experts.

Apart from the academic qualifications needed or this job, an accountant needs to have certain person attributes that are important. Top on this list is the attribute of integrity. This is one attribute that all persons in this line of work need to have. These professionals handle huge sums of money in the line of duty. In most cases, this is far much more than what they earn. Persons who lack integrity cannot be trusted with such a huge responsibility. Such a person would most probably embezzle funds.

Accounting professionals should be able to keep time at all times. Some of the documents and transactions they handle have very strict deadlines which have to be met. If the deadlines are not met, the businesses suffer great penalties. The best example of these documents is tax return forms. Of course the professionals also have to keep time with regards to when they arrive at the office.

It would do well to hire an accountant who is able to keep a secret. It is understandable that employers are not psychic for them to know whether one can keep a secret by simply talking to them for the first time. After the right candidate has been gotten however, he or she can be groomed into a secretive person. Secretiveness is important in this line of work because accountants get access to extremely sensitive information about the establishments they work for. They should be able to keep this information secret in order to ensure that it does not end up in the wrong hands.

It is also important that an accountant to be someone who can relate well with others. Accounting professionals have to interact with persons from all other departments of the business to facilitate its smooth running. If they cannot relate well with persons from other departments, it will be very difficult for them to work together to achieve the goals of the establishment.

An accountant also needs to be alert at all times. Often, these individuals will have to handle hard cash in their transactions. They can easily give excess cash to someone or receive less cash from another. This can lead to great losses. Keenness is a must.

There are several other qualities that small business accountants should not lack. This is just a tip of the iceberg. It is up to the owner of the entity to ensure that he or she gets the right person for the job since these professionals have a very important place in the success of these businesses.




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