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Secrets to a Successful
Accounting Career
Fall 2011
IMA, the association for accountants and financial professionals in business, is pleased to release a
compilation of career-focused Strategic Finance articles, Secrets to a Successful Accounting Career.
IMA is your one-stop source for professional development and career enhancement. This report
will help you redefine your career path options and provides specific, actionable career advice.
Strategic Finance is IMAs award-winning, monthly publication and provides the latest information
about practices and trends in accounting and finance.
www.imanet.com
CAREERS
By Mark Morgan
Reaching Your
Career Goals
It wont be long before we will
say goodbye to 2011. How is
your career management plan
progressing? Breaking Through One Step the roles you need to move up in
at a Time the organization. Evaluate the pil-
At some point in time, everyone lars of your career management
current organization or help you, your organization. presence. Remember that the five
if necessary, to find a better fit in a The workplace is a very com- people you associate with most at
new company. petitive arena, so its critical for work will have the greatest influ-
you to know where you want to go ence on your future.
Play to Win in the organization and clearly Skill ExcellenceContinuous
A career management plan is your understand the rules of engage- learning and growth. Focus on
personal business case to assemble ment for how to get there. Then acquiring the skill and experience
a resource base, assess the land- you must decide if youre willing foundation necessary for roles two
scape, and create professional to make the commitment, sacri- levels above your current place in
equity in the place where you fices, and efforts required to earn the organization.
invest the majority of your life. the opportunities and fit into the Self-AwarenessDont over-
Your network is your advisory culture. If not, then its best to play your strengths. Adapt style,
board; self-awareness enables you leverage your diagnostics and and modify delivery to comple-
to take an objective view of the career management plan to exit ment the culture and ensure fit.
landscape; branding is your mar- and find a place where the job Practice your elevator speech.
keting plan; and skill excellence is opportunities and cultural fit are Exercise good listening skills.
your face to the customer. Profes- more compatible. Personal BrandingQuietly
sional equity will be created in In evolving and maturing the and steadily distinguish yourself
proportion to the quality of the elements within the pillars of your through quality delivery that adds
components of your career man- career management plan, remem- incremental value to the client.
agement plan and how well you ber these essentials: Anticipate, innovate, and excel at
are able to align them with the NetworkMaintain a solid execution.
drivers of the career ladder for base while building an upward c ont inue d on p age 61
18 S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E I October 2011
Careers
c ont inue d from p age 18
A career is a marathon, not a
sprint. The hills get higher as you
progress, so you must prepare for
the climb. Its never too late to
build a career management plan.
Tomorrow is another day at the
office where your ability to net-
work, interact, demonstrate skill
excellence, and show your person-
al brand will be tested against your
peers. Anticipate, innovate, and
excel in your execution with the
help of a solid plan. SF
October 2011 I S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E 61
CAREERS
By Mark Morgan
Personal Branding:
Create Your Value
Proposition
Building your personal brand
the right way will let you make
a positive impression on the
decision makers in your Essence of Branding workplace. There are people who
organization and build your As accountants, were taught that, dress in a unique ways, behave in
professional presence. in principle, goodwill is the intan- unique ways, and bring their cru-
gible value paid for an asset above sade for a cause to work each day.
the book, or pure, value. That This type of branding distinguishes
14 S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E I August 2011
Careers modifications to optimize results. introduction opportunities rarely
c ont inue d from p age 14 Attracting people who can help arise in a scripted and structured
aware that technology has actually you succeed is critical to building way. Unpolished rambling during
created major hurdles to break the your own brand. Your character this career-critical three-minute
ice, have conversations, and build personal and professionalis window will require a ton of
relationships. defined by the sum of the five peo- cleanup effort and can result in
Relationships are built most suc- ple you spend the most time with. irreparable damage.
cessfully in small increments of Successful branding requires you Learn how to execute for excel-
interaction. Offsite meetings and to make choices. Surround yourself lence to optimize the interaction
conferences are key opportunities with people who can have a posi- opportunity. Be polite and profes-
to gain access to high-value targets tive influence on building your sional. Stay away from questions
on your influence map. Breaks and character, and spend your time that are personal and overly social.
common areas are the prime places doing activities that lift you in Let the high-value target ask the
to successfully interact with a high- incremental steps toward becom- personal and social questions,
volume target on your influence ing who and what you want to be. then always gauge their ego factor
map. What do you see most people before you answer. Executive ego
doing during breaks or when stand- Execution Is Even More Critical will get ruffled if your answer
ing by themselves? They have their Change and excellence guru Tom migrates the conversation toward
face buried in their BlackBerry or Peters introduced The Brand anyone but themselves. Be pre-
are texting on their phones. What Called You concept in 1997 in his pared to ask leading questions that
does this communicate? They writings that describe getting are timely and relevant, and give
arent open to conversation and ahead in the corporate culture as answers that put the conversation
dont want to be approached. the Age of the Individual. A huge back in the executives control.
If you are staring at your Black- component for successful personal
Berry or are texting, then you have branding is preparation for execu- How to Play to Win
a wall between you and others that tion excellence when the opportu- The workplace is a very competi-
negates the prime opportunity to nity presents itself to interact with tive environment where positive
be approached or initiate conver- a high-value target on your influ- differentiation is critical to attract-
sation where you most likely will ence map. ing the attention of decision mak-
pick up valuable nuggets of infor- Theres no replacement for hard ers. Dont try to recreate the gold
mation that could open the door- work and effort in preparing for standard. Study what is working
way for building a relationship. So successful interpersonal interac- and excel at delivering to that
appear open and approachable. tion. Preparation requires study, standard through your personal
Initiate conversation while planning, and practice. A three- branding efforts that draw from
demonstrating appropriate cour- minute conversation with a deci- the other pillars of your career
tesy. Remember, decision makers sion maker most often creates an management plan. SF
give opportunities to those they unchanging view of your fit and
know, like, and trust. potential. This may not sound fair Mark Morgan is a finance
When youre attempting person- or even logical, but its true. professional and founder of The
al interaction with a key stakehold- Therefore, be prepared. Weve Hypernicon Group, a management
er or decision maker, respect the all heard about having an elevator consulting firm assisting clients in
atmosphere and situation. Dont speech ready for the time when a achieving strategic, process and
force your way into a group or decision maker unexpectedly organizational excellence. He is
conversation. Use the lessons from opens the door to a relationship also a member of the IMA Global
your self-awareness exploration by saying tell me about yourself. Board of Directors and IMAs East-
(March 2011) to understand how Preparation and practice will ern Connecticut Chapter. Please
to leverage your personality make what you say smooth, con- contact Mark at
strengths and make situational cise, and polished. These critical mark@thehygro.com.
60 S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E I August 2011
Building Skill
Excellence
It takes a variety of skills to
succeed in your job and cross-
functionally throughout the
whole organization. Honing Part three of the series focuses research and development (R&D).
your technical skills is a large on the skill excellence pillar by Simple reporting of numbers
part of your success. discussing key components for wont create value and sustain
building a skill set, growing pro- your presence in an organization.
fessionally, and demonstrating Demonstrating ownership of the
Skill Fundamentals: Examples of Actions to Build an Effective and Holistic Skill Set
Aptitude Relate functional responsibility to overall business processes, drivers, and P&L goals. Identify
data sources, and master use of systems to acquire necessary information for analysis. Con-
tribute perspective beyond the boundaries of your function to the development of client busi-
ness strategy.
Ownership Build a map of the functional, matrixed, and client lines of your role. Identify the key deliver-
ables for each group. Map the business and reporting processes supported by your role. Vali-
date with functional and client groups. Map the data flows, analytics, and reporting responsibil-
ities for your role. Link to timelines and client needs.
Initiative Match the delivery of information and analytics to the style and needs of the client group. Bring
opinion and analytics that improve decision making and drive actions toward higher margin
returns. Relate financial data and performance against competitors while identifying underlying
drivers of difference.
Innovation Improve data flow from systems into analytical models, then into management reports linked to
business key performance indicators (KPIs). Create modeling that improves utility of forecasts
and facilitates client visibility into cause-and-effect alternatives. Propose methodologies that
simplify process workstreams, which results in increased efficiency and reduced costs.
Growth Earn assignment on special project team for key strategic issue or team executing a key tactical
initiative. Shadow operations group or sales force for period of time to build understanding of
key commercial processes. Take temporary assignment outside functional area to better under-
stand business process and operations.
Learning Increase familiarity with business segment and industry issues through intense reading of
periodicals. Attend trade show with operations or commercial group to understand technologies
and market developments. Take advanced study courses (MBA), and obtain professional certifi-
cation (CMA (Certified Management Accountant), CPA (Certified Public Accountant), CIA (Certi-
fied Internal Auditor)).
well as the external factors impact- Demonstrate Ownership, and accurate, compliant, and transpar-
ing the business environment. The Influence Data Quality ent manner. Though IT platforms
corporate culture recognizes and Those in finance and accounting produce standard reporting, the
rewards those who take personal roles are the primary owners for finance professional must aquire
responsibility for managing the assuring that the acquisition, pro- expertise to access the source data
development of their skill set and cessing, and conversion of data and enhance the transparency of
professional growth. occurs seamlessly and in a timely, the data through custom reports
June 2011 I S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E 17
CAREERS
written in software such as Excel. management of data and driving the major Internet sites frequently
Custom reporting should provide the quality and reliability of the reference business partner as a
details for the drivers of the under- end product that reaches the client critical characteristic of senior
lying activity of the business. group. See Table 2 for examples positions. The concept of business
Effective ownership enables the that demonstrate taking ownership partner is the underlying essence
functional leaders of the business and delivering impact. of value creation for finance and
to focus on their core responsibili- accounting roles. Business partner
ties while operating with reliable Create Value for the Client is client recognition for the critical
data flows and optimum data The business environment oper- need to bridge ownership of data
availability. Visibility, contribu- ates in a constant state of change. management and analysis to go
tion, and value to an organization All finance and accounting profes- beyond reporting figures to bring
are increased through taking own- sionals earn their place in an orga- insight that helps steer the course
ership for minimizing data issues nization or seat at the table with of decisions.
impacting the performance of the their client groups by being Joel Barker introduced the
business process flow. engaged and active professionals. requirement for business to accel-
The conversion of data into use- The constant change and challenge erate the speed of change and
ful information requires the finan- in the regulatory, reporting, and explore new solution paradigms in
cial professional to connect analyt- economic environments require his 1992 iconic book, Future Edge,
ical delivery with the overarching ongoing initiative to align profes- written at the time information
business processes, the underlying sional skills and services with the technology greatly advanced our
drivers, and the decision process of business process in a manner that access to data. Fundamental advice
the business. Skill excellence that influences business results. from Barker for reaching new lev-
delivers impact is demonstrated Job postings for finance and els of achievement is to anticipate,
through taking ownership for the accounting professionals across innovate, and excel in execution.
Skill Focus: Examples of Activities that Demonstrate Ownership and Influence Quality of Data and Analysis
Seamless Assure that data availability enables business process performance and is aligned with creation of
end product. Manage the development of required information submissions with minimum impact on
client resources. Influence data flow and processing to achieve increased analytic and review time
with client group.
Timely Relate the activities of your role to the timelines of the client group. Meet with the client group and
discuss. Map data sources impacting your role. Organize monthly meeting to manage data flow and
control timing. Manage data flow and reporting in a manner that is aligned and seamless with the
client business processes.
Accurate Build models and measures that provide sanity checks for data and highlight deviations requiring in-
vestigation. Assure allocation methodologies and expense timing are consistent between budget as-
sumptions and actuals. Provide brief cover page to analysis and reports that identifies data sources
and assures tie to ledger.
Compliant Invest time to educate client group on internal financial policies and practices. Work proactively with
the audit group to build compliance into client processes and data flow. Take initiative to self-audit
processes and data flow. Prepare client group for audits.
Transparent Educate client group on allocation methodologies and timing assumptions in budgets and forecasts.
Build process discipline and data access to enable insight into client group in advance of final ledger.
Provide analysis and reports with insight to link client performance with business goals and influence
actions.
18 S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E I June 2011
Table 3. Differentiating Yourself
Anticipate Know your clients travel schedule and calendar. Plan your availability, and prepare accordingly to de-
liver. Bring reality into focus by identifying the gaps between current and required performance to de-
liver goals. Build multiple fact-based analytical scenarios with defined actions to provide client with
opinion and options.
Innovate Identify all sources of impact to operations, and construct disciplined reviews to control timing and
impact. Establish global service centers in cost-effective locations to eliminate duplication and lower
operating costs. Analyze price, consumption, and service model for all services to identify opportuni-
ties to reduce baseline costs.
Excel Network across the organization to understand business requirements and manage expectations.
Establish shared incentives across the organization to fund new investment through reduced baseline
costs. Quarterback execution to deliver business goals through converting analysis to tactical plans
with measures.