To maintain their relevance and position themselves for long-term career success as client and company demands evolve, CPAs of today must go beyond technical training.

Effective technical training is without a doubt the cornerstone of a CPA’s success. Regardless of size, the majority of public accounting firms and private and public organizations engage in giving their accounting and finance professionals a rigorous program of technical training, either internally or by outsourcing it to outside providers.

Technical education, however, is only one of many components that make up a successful job. Today, being successful in business needs more than just technical proficiency and knowledge; it also calls for effective teamwork, leadership, relationship-building, delegating, performance management, and other abilities. Since they frequently have a clear correlation to one’s career, I like to refer to these non-technical competencies as “success skills.”

These success skills will become more crucial to master as CPAs look for ways to move away from compliance-related tasks and business leaders and clients demand more well-rounded, strategic advisors who add deeper value and can manage client relationships, build teams, and be excellent communicators with all stakeholders. Unfortunately, there are a lot fewer employers who provide a success skills curriculum.

These abilities are frequently left to be “learned on the job” through other people’s observation. The “role models” of this informal instruction are far from being the best sources of knowledge, and observation alone usually only serves to reinforce ignorance or, worse, undesired actions.

Every CPA’s initiative needs to start here. You’ll frequently need to seek out your own education and development in the achievement abilities you want to acquire. If you find yourself in this situation, you might be fortunate to locate a ready-made curriculum that is already geared toward present and future accounting and finance leaders.

Consider honing the following essential success abilities when you look for training in the areas that interest you and that you think will boost your career:

1. Communication

Understanding your communication style and how other people react to it is frequently the first step in improving your communication skills. Working hard to improve your listening skills can also help you communicate with others more effectively. It will also enable you to more carefully select the appropriate channels for conveying your messages, which should help you avoid or reduce misunderstandings and miscommunications. The bottom line is that effective communication is a key success ability, and improving your communication skills can benefit both you and the people around you.

2. Personal and Team Leadership

Leading now appears more difficult than ever since our more dispersed work environments and the need for greater collaboration frequently clash. In many respects, it may seem like being able to lead and build a team around you is just as important as being a functional team member. But being a high-performing leader in today’s business environment means having a thorough awareness of your organization’s vision and goals, as well as the particular dynamics of your team. It also means knowing how to use the right team members for the correct duties.

3. Delegation and Performance Management

Efficiency is now frequently achieved through delegation and leverage. However, when deliberate delegation is lacking, you and your team members lose out on significant chances for professional development. An ongoing loop of failures can result from the improper delegation, which may be much worse than doing nothing at all. Every leader and aspirant leader must, in my opinion, master the art of successful delegation as well as the management of the growth and output of others (whether they be team members, coworkers, or even clients).

4. Coaching

It is understandable that mentoring and coaching are frequently confused. A mentor voluntarily imparts their wisdom, abilities, and experiences. A coach helps someone attain their maximum potential by offering advice tailored to their aims.

The distinctions might be slight, but in my opinion, being a good coach clearly entails assisting people in coming to their own conclusions and achieving their objectives with your support. I believe that effective coaching is a talent that benefits both the coach and the coached over the long term. Your ability to effectively develop the talent around you at every step of your career will depend on your ability to become a better coach.

5. Relationship Building

The notion of accountants as reclusive individuals who love spending time alone working on their figures is common. Whether it’s presenting a customer with their tax return or reporting quarterly financial performance to a board, accountants are, in reality, people-facing professions.

It’s arguable that you should always work on your relationship-building abilities if you operate in a job where you interact with clients. Beyond providing excellent customer service, relationship development is crucial for attracting new clients, so people vying for promotions to partner at their firm or CFO at their company should highly value relationship-building skills. My advice: Finding common ground between people fosters connection and trust, which is the basis for effective relationship building.

Conclusion

In order to be a well-rounded CPA and accounting and finance professional today, you must develop your success abilities in addition to your technical ones. Consider yourself ahead of the game if you’re fortunate enough to work for a company that already supports your professional growth in these fields.

If not, there is no better moment than the present to start looking for and creating your own curriculum for success. You’ll advance through the ranks and advance our profession faster as a strategic advisor if you actively pursue strengthening your skills beyond technical proficiency.