US CPA Career: 9 Top Skills that Certified Public Accountant Need

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Becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) can be an essential milestone in your career path. With CPA credentials, there are many challenging jobs and leadership roles for both entry-level and experienced. For example, today’s CPAs are working as internal auditors, IT managers, tax accountants, financial advisors, chief financial officers, and CEOs of major corporations.

Businesses also want their CPAs to play a more significant role in their financial success and build expertise to become better financial advisors. Therefore, when hiring CPAs, especially for management positions, employers will look for additional skills and attributes.

Passing the CPA exam, CPAs have acquired credibility and expertise to work in finance and accounting. Of course, many factors help in the success of a CPA career. One of them is the ability to handle complex tasks with speed and accuracy. So, they must also continually develop necessary CPA skills, as well as acquire new skills.

What are the top skills needed by CPAs in this increasing demand for financial or accounting careers? Following are nine skills that CPA professionals need to acquire to succeed in their careers.

• Up to date tax knowledge

Successful accounting professionals stay updated with tax laws and mandates, which change frequently. To help the clients and organizations, everyone from payroll administrators to tax accountants and financial planners should take continuing professional education (CPE) courses in federal and state taxation.

• Business awareness

Know the business profile and be well aware of the economic and financial events that impact the business. Hence, business awareness is a must-have skill for CPAs. The better you understand how an organization’s various departments operate and interact, the more successful you are.

• Flexibility

To provide better services to clients, accounting professionals must be flexible in their work and meet deadlines. The change could be related to new software, a new tax policy, or a shift in top management. Prepare yourself as much as you can for the changes about to roll out in a workplace.

• Leadership skills

Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) who work in large firms tend to lead mid to upper-level management positions. They need to maintain scope, accountability, and passion in business management, whether they handle a public or private company. Thus, CPA professionals must develop their leadership skills.

• Communication skills

A CPA must be skilled in their profession and communicate effectively with their clients and give them the right advice. In addition, a CPA must have strong communication skills to convey information and insight into their work product, whether it is financial statements, tax returns, or other documents.

• Technical abilities

It’s becoming increasingly important for financial and accounting professionals to abide by the technological changes in their workplace. Accounting automation and other technology trends are revolutionizing all the accounting and finance work. For this reason, CPAs need to learn about advanced excel and modeling techniques, ERP tools, and query languages (Eg: SQL).

• Additional auditing training

Most CPAs have good knowledge of auditing since it is one of the four sections of the CPA exam. But, accountants who want to help companies and evaluate the company’s performance should pursue additional training in auditing. This is because businesses want internal auditors to increase efficiency, manage risk and evaluate IT systems.

• Data analytics

Cloud computing allows accountants to have financial information updated in real-time. Improving data analytics skills helps Certified Public Accountants give clients more valuable insights into their data. They will also have a deeper understanding of the overall financial outlook, reduce risk, and improve business processes.

• Time management skills

To be a successful CPA, it is essential to have good time management skills to prioritize their work better. Time management skills include prioritization, getting organized, scheduling meetings and tasks, handling interruptions, and delegating tasks to help CPAs create a better output in the long run.

How to gain new skills as a CPA?

You can gain new skills or expand your skills by knowing what professional development opportunities are currently provided by your employer. Ask your manager if the business would be willing to provide financial support or offer you the flexibility to pursue additional training.

If the skills you want to earn can benefit your employer, there is a chance the company will be helping you gain those skills by providing the resources.

Of course, not all CPA skills can be taught. To learn managerial skills or improve your business knowledge, consider strengthening your decision-making skills and cultivating self-awareness.. These additional skills can help you reach the CPA career map you have set and increase your job satisfaction. In this way, accounting professionals need more than just qualifications or certifications to do a better job for career success.

Now it is your time to ace the skills to make your CPA career everything you want it to be. For more information on the CPA course and its required skills, please feel free to Contact Simandhar Education @ +91 7780273388 or mail us at info@simandhareducation.com.

Plot Number: 39/A Dr.Subba Rao Colony, Picket, Secunderabad, Telangana 500026 +91-7780273388 info@simandhareducation.com www.simandhareducation.com