Unlocking success as a technical accountant takes more than owning a Bachelor’s in accounting, having a certain set of technical skills, being mathematically inclined, and having a career in technical accounting.
Strategies
Some strategies for a technical accountant to not only become successful in their role, but maintain that success are to improve their accounting skills, stay informed of changes with accounting software and practices, and stay current with accounting trends.
Improve Accounting skills
One can grasp accounting and even be considered advanced in this topic, however, it’s important to brush up on accounting skills. It’s also important to continue education.
Some technical skills for accounting are;
• Software; AI-powered process automation software, financial software, and accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Excel spreadsheets.
• Technology
• Computer science
• Data analysis
• Statistical analysis
• Mathematics; statistics,
• Budgeting
• Billing
• Payroll
• Financial reporting
Other important skills a technical accountant should acquire and strengthen are communication skills, business and project management, strategic thinking, critical thinking, analytic thinking, attention to detail, organization skills, time management, and multitasking.
Stay Informed with Accounting Software
Besides staying informed with the constant changes and updates with existing accounting software, a technical accountant needs to be familiar with automation software.
Automation software is vastly growing as an accounting trend in 2023. Some examples of accounting automation software are; Intuit QuickBooks, Oracle NetSuite, Xero, ZarMoney, Freshbooks, Sage, Wave, Zoho Books, and Tipalti.
Stay Current with GAAP
Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are a set of accounting rules, procedures, and standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
GAAP has ten key principles that every accountant should know and follow. The ten GAAP principles set by the FASB are;
- Single entry principle
- Monetary unit principle
- Specific time period
- Recognition principle
- Going concern principle
- Full disclosure principle
- Matching principle
- Materiality principle
- Conservative principle
- Historical cost principle
Technical accountants need to stay informed about any changes to GAAP and can do so by visiting the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) website frequently.
Watch Current Accounting Trends
In 2023, technical accountants are expected to integrate sustainability and environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) into their accounting practices.
Also in 2023, accountants and technical accounts are expected to make room for AI-powered technologies and software, stay informed of tax policy changes, and integrate data analytics tools, forecasting tools, and automation software.
Next year, this will change, so it’s important to stay current with accounting trends and review each trend periodically in case that trend reemerges.