Top Accounting Skills for Success

Accountants create and maintain financial documents and records for their employers and clients. They also apply targeted accounting skills to analyze and interpret those records, and to ensure their compliance with legal regulations.

Multiple accounting specializations operate within this framework. Major examples include auditing, forensic accounting, and managerial accounting.

Despite wide variation in their respective duties, successful accounting professionals all possess the same main skills. Key examples include financial analysis, critical thinking, collaboration, and confidence with specialized financial software platforms.

While some accountants have natural aptitudes in these and other areas, all the skills essential to their professional success can be acquired. Explore this resource to uncover the accounting skills you will need in your future career.

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Adapting

Like the frameworks guiding taxes and financial reporting, the accounting profession constantly changes and evolves. Accountants should always be prepared to adapt to changing standards and protocols, as well as technological advances, workplace dynamics, and new platforms for client interaction. According to Kyle Bryant, CPA, change is particularly common in the public accounting profession.

"New clients come on board regularly, and new projects spring up left and right," he says. "Rules and laws change at what can seem like a dizzying pace. Being able to adapt and be comfortable with change is incredibly important."

Analyzing

Accounting work requires a meticulous, detail-oriented eye. Accountants must sift through financial records to ensure that every detail is accurate and current. Otherwise, their analysis may yield inconsistent results.

According to Bob Prather — the former general manager of accounting and finance recruiting for Lucas Group — the best accountants can look at an analysis report and quickly determine whether or not the facts and figures compute.

"Good accountants are able to pull the analysis together," he says. "Great accountants look at the output and judge whether it is reasonable so as not to waste everyone's time on an analysis that makes no sense when you take a step back and look at it from a common sense standpoint."

Collaborating

Contrary to the stereotype of accountants working alone, many accounting professionals work in teams. By participating in collaborative projects, accountants can generate positive results for their organizations and pave the way for valuable advancement opportunities.

"Being a team player and learning from others is a must in the accounting world," Bryant says. "Bouncing ideas off one another and thinking through ideas in a collaborative environment help provide the best outcomes possible and ensure every option possible has been considered."

Communicating

Accountants must explain their findings to colleagues and clients, many of whom do not have a strong understanding of complex financial concepts.

For this reason, accountants essentially serve as data interpreters. Prather says strong communication skills can strengthen these interactions.

"One of the most important skills the best accountants possess is the ability to transform numbers, charts, and tables into a story the average person can understand," he says. "Top accountants use their communication skills to simplify the vast amount of data at their disposal. This helps weed out the unnecessary details that make a presentation less accessible."

Critical Thinking

Accountants constantly encounter errors, discrepancies, and inaccuracies. If not detected and addressed, these mistakes can have serious ramifications for employers and clients. To solve these complex problems, accountants must approach situations critically by considering all variables and risks.

Bryant notes that critical thinking is an "invaluable skill" in the accounting profession. "Much of the day-to-day accounting can be fairly cut and dry," he says. "But the accountants that can think through financial strategy and plan for the future are the ones that become viewed as true assets by their business partners."

Knowing the Industry

According to Prather, accountants should have extensive knowledge about financial statements and how they work. Technical expertise in specific areas of accounting can shed light on different topics. For example, ledger skills are key for understanding credits and debits, while standard reconciliation skills help accountants differentiate between ledgers and trial balances.

Furthermore, Prather urges accountants to sharpen their understanding of generally accepted accounting principles, Securities and Exchanges Commission reporting, and initial public offerings. He adds that most prominent accounting firms offer skills training in different competency areas.

Managing Time

Many accountants work on multiple projects at once. The ability to multitask and effectively manage time ensures that accountants can meet deadlines and provide satisfactory results for their clients. Bryant agrees that time management is essential for successful accounting careers.

"Working on different projects and being able to manage deadlines is a trait that separates passable accountants from their top-shelf peers," he says. Bryant adds that this attribute is particularly valuable during tax season when many accountants are overloaded with clients and bound to inflexible deadlines.

Organizing

Accountants must be highly organized to juggle clients, meet deadlines, and follow proper reporting guidelines. Each assignment presents a significant amount of documentation, and disorganized accountants may struggle to keep track of important paperwork.

"The best way to stay on top of deadlines is by getting organized," says Logan Allec, who works as a CPA. He explains that prospective accountants should hone their organizational skills before entering the profession. "Landing an accounting gig won't magically make you more organized," Allec says. "If you want to be an organizational master when embarking on your accounting career, you'll need to start working on organizing your life and responsibilities now."

Using Spreadsheets

Today's accountants rely on several software programs to complete different tasks.

"No matter what kind of accounting you're going to pursue," Allec says, "spreadsheets will be an intimate part of your everyday life, and your ability to prepare them efficiently and accurately will set you apart from other new hires."

Additionally, he encourages accounting students to take a Microsoft Excel course and create spreadsheets in their spare time to track personal budgeting or investments.

Writing

Despite the numbers-driven nature of accounting work, Allec says most accountants devote a substantial amount of time to writing emails and other correspondence for non-accounting professionals.

Accountants must explain complicated ideas and concepts in layman's terms. Additionally, they draft memos that take positions on financial statements or tax returns, and they write instructions and guidelines for improving on-the-job efficiency for team members.

"As an accountant, you will likely have many writing tasks to do on a daily basis," Allec says. "Most accountants do more writing than the general public probably thinks, so it may be worth your while to brush up on your writing skills before starting your accounting career."

About the Accountants

Logan Allec

Logan Allec is a CPA who holds a master's degree in taxation from the University of Southern California. He has previously worked for Big 4 and local firms.

He also owns the financial website Money Done Right, where he helps people lead happier lives by giving them actionable ideas on building, growing, and maintaining wealth.

Kyle Bryant

Kyle Bryant is a founding partner at Market Street Partners, PLLC — a multi-market CPA firm headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Bob Prather

Bob Prather is the former general manager of the accounting and finance recruiting practice for Lucas Group. Prather holds a BBA and master of accountancy and has led a nationwide team of nearly 100 recruiters who place top talent throughout the industry.

Common Questions About Accounting Skills

What are five basic accounting skills?

Accountants rely heavily on organization, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and technical skills. Important technical skills include deep knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles, the ability to prepare financial documents, and proficiency with accounting information systems and software tools.

What is accounting in simple words?

Accounting is the practice of tracking money, recording financial activity, and preparing documents that describe a person or company's financial standing. In other words, accountants monitor all the money that moves in and out of a business or an individual's financial accounts.

What are the golden rules of accounting?

Professional resources commonly describe three golden rules of accounting: (1) Debit money coming in and credit money going out; (2) Credit the giver and debit the receiver; (3) Credit financial gains and income, and debit financial losses and expenses.

What are the three most important financial statements?

Businesses use balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements to track their financial health. Accounting professionals widely consider these three documents to be the most important types of financial statements.