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Sought-After Soft Skills in Today’s Accounting and Finance Talent

Accounting and finance talent who have sought-after soft skills are assets to your team. These skills help your employees effectively interact and complete their work.

Accounting and finance professionals who can effectively manage their time, communicate, collaborate, and solve problems provide substantial value to your organization. As a result, you should strengthen these soft skills within your team.

Look for these sought-after soft skills in today’s accounting and finance talent!

Time Management

Effective time management is required for accounting and finance talent to complete tasks by the deadlines. These activities require understanding how long processes should take and properly planning workloads.

You should work with team members who have difficulty with time management. You might make the following suggestions:

List each task and its due date.
Prioritize the tasks for each day or week.
Set a reminder for each task.
Work on each task at the scheduled time.
Check off each task after completion.

Communication

Your accounting and finance talent must effectively communicate to complete their work. For instance, your team members must be able to share financial information with non-financial professionals in ways they understand. Your team also should explain why the information matters, its impact on the company, and specific actions an employee could take to improve the numbers.

You might practice developing your team’s communication skills by roleplaying financial discussions where you represent an employee from a different department. You also could ask your employees to write out explanations of financial reports and how they impact specific departments within your organization.

Collaboration

Your accounting and finance team’s success depends on everyone working together. Having each member contribute helps reach common goals.

You can encourage collaboration by recognizing specific ways your team members help each other. Positive reinforcement supports the repetition of the behaviors you want to see.

Problem-Solving

Accounting and finance teams are focusing more on advisory services. Therefore, these professionals should be able to solve unique, increasingly complex problems.

Talent who can navigate unexpected challenges provides additional value for your organization. Therefore, you should encourage your employees to focus on finding solutions before coming to you with problems. These actions support critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Are You Looking for Accounting and Finance Talent?

Time management, communication, problem-solving, and collaboration are among the most sought-after skills for today’s accounting and finance talent. Actively developing these skills helps your team increase their value for your organization.

If you need help with adding talent to your team, include Casey Accounting & Finance Resources in your hiring process. Get in touch with us to learn more today.

Helping Your Employees Prioritize and Set Strong Goals

Helping your accounting and finance employees prioritize and set strong goals is essential for business success. Planning what your team should achieve in 2024 helps create a foundation for success.

Working with your employees on goal-setting provides steps that inspire and motivate them to attain your organization’s long-term vision. The results include increased employee engagement, productivity, and performance. These factors elevate employee morale, attraction and retention, and your bottom line.

Implement these tips to help your accounting and finance employees prioritize and set strong goals!

Develop SMART Goals

Your employees’ goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART):

Specify what should be achieved and why it is important.
Clarify what the measurements of progress and success will be.
Make sure each challenge can be overcome in a reasonable amount of time.
Focus on the benefits of each achievement for the employee and the organization.
Develop a sense of urgency to remain on track and reach each objective.

Create Similar Goals for Employees with Similar Jobs

Maintaining consistency in goal-setting for employees with similar job duties and responsibilities supports an environment focused on growth. Having employees work toward similar goals supports healthy competition to reach milestones and objectives. These activities help minimize employee frustration and resentment.

Monitor Employee Progress Toward Goal Attainment

Regularly check in with each employee to determine whether they are on track to reach their goals. Allow time to answer questions, provide constructive feedback, and offer support.

If an employee misses a deadline, help them determine what happened and how the issue can be resolved. Then, reset the deadline and follow up at the given time.

Reward Employee Goal Achievement

Recognize and reward each employee who reaches a goal. Include the steps taken to attain the objective and the impact on your company. Also, consider giving the employee a certificate, additional paid time off, bonus, pay increase, or promotion for their hard work.

Honoring employees who attain goals shows you value and respect their contributions and results. These actions encourage employees to continue their behaviors and increase their value to your organization.

Do You Need Help with Hiring?

Developing SMART goals provides your employees with guidance and motivation to increase their value for the organization. Also, creating similar goals for employees with similar jobs supports healthy competition to reach the objectives.

Monitoring employee progress toward goals helps your team stay on track and reach their objectives. Also, rewarding your employees for goal attainment encourages them to continuously increase their performance and elevate your company’s success.

If you need help with hiring, Casey Accounting & Finance Resources can provide you with skilled professionals who can help reach your business goals. Reach out to us to learn more today.

Salary Trends to Be Mindful of as 2023 Concludes

Heading into the last few months of the year, you should continue to be mindful of salary trends in the accounting and finance industry. You can use Casey Accounting & Finance Resources’ July 2023 salary data as a guide.

Using our salary survey list with updated facts, figures, and job descriptions for accounting and finance positions in the Chicago metropolitan area can help you understand what salary expectations should be. Being mindful as these salary trends continue to change helps employers present the best offer to job applicants.

What trends should you monitor?

Expectations of Higher Salaries and More

Inflation is one factor driving higher salaries for accounting and finance professionals. Because additional income is required to keep up with the increasing cost of living, these professionals want their employers to provide support.

Back in 2021 when there were so many job openings, demand for higher salaries was a key trend in recruiting accounting and finance professionals along with many other positions. Today companies might find jobs are harder to fill because candidates are not as willing to make a move right now as a result of a slower economy and accelerated inflation rates. So it is not that the talent isn’t there, it just has to be a perfect storm for them to make a move.

Increasing workloads are an additional factor elevating the desire for higher accounting and finance salaries. Rising turnover means the remaining employees must take on additional tasks until a replacement is hired. These employees want to be compensated accordingly, too.

Employers are re-evaluating their benefits package to encourage skilled talent to work for them long-term.

Generational Expectations and Technology Change the Recruitment Landscape

Communication, adaptation, and continuous learning are among the most in-demand skills in the industry. Also, treasury and accountancy support are among the roles that require skilled professionals. Monitoring applicant needs by generation can help you develop a robust and diverse workforce. Boomers have different needs and expectations from their employers than Gen-Z workers. The days of “one-size-fits-all” employment packages are long gone.

The rise of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and reliance on technology means many accounting and finance tasks are now automated to increase productivity. Therefore, considering candidates with skills that complement these tasks will most likely negotiate higher salaries that blend their accounting and finance acumen with their technology expertise.

Do You Need Additional Guidance on Salary Trends?

Accounting and finance professionals in 2023 expect higher salaries due to inflation, increasing workloads, and the specialized skills businesses need for growth.

If you need additional help with salary information or negotiations, reach out to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Get in touch today.

Interview Questions That Can Help You Unearth Chicago’s Top Talent

Asking interview questions that generate thought-provoking answers helps you unearth Chicago’s top talent. Posing outside-the-box queries helps a candidate share distinctive answers that provide unique insight into their personality, instincts, and soft skills.

A candidate’s ability to think on their feet and manage unexpected challenges is essential for success in a role. Asking these unusual interview questions helps determine a candidate’s ability to excel.

Choose among these interview questions to help you unearth Chicago’s top talent:

How would you describe yourself in one word?

Asking a candidate to summarize herself or himself with one adjective is challenging. This activity is especially difficult when the candidate is put on the spot.

The goal of this question is to see how well a candidate thinks on their feet and outside their comfort zone. You may want to follow up by asking the candidate to describe herself or himself with a negative adjective. The candidate’s ability to admit a flaw demonstrates self-awareness and the desire to improve.

Tell me about an interesting experience you recently had.

The candidate’s answer provides insight into what they like, dislike, and value. Creative thinking inspires engagement in conversation and analysis to determine what is possible.

Look for curiosity and creativity in the candidate’s answer. These traits show the candidate can make ongoing contributions to your organization.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Find out what irritates the candidate and how they handle minor frustrations. Focus on whether the candidate is easily upset and whether their pet peeves often show up within the role. Use this information to determine what working with the candidate would be like and whether they would be effective in the position.

What is your definition of success?

Uncover the candidate’s personal vision and what they could add to your company’s culture. Look for a well-defined sense of purpose and how it blends with your organization’s mission, vision, and values.

Include whether the candidate is motivated by personal gain or collective causes. Also, focus on whether their perspective aligns with your team. Use your findings to determine whether the candidate would be right for the role.

Are You Ready to Unearth Chicago’s Top Accounting and Finance Talent?

Asking out-of-the-box interview questions helps you uncover unique insight into a candidate’s personality, instincts, and soft skills. A candidate’s ability to think on their feet and manage unexpected challenges is essential for success in a role.

If you need help recruiting Chicago’s top accounting and finance talent, turn to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

The Value Contract Employees Can Bring to Your Organization

Adding contract employees to your accounting and finance team provides value for your organization. Because of the flexibility contract roles provide, more employees are choosing these roles over full-time employment. As a result, you have an increasing pool of professionals to choose from.

Hiring contract accounting and finance employees provides you with access to specialized skills needed to take on additional projects. The reduced cost helps improve your bottom line.

Discover the value contract accounting and finance employees can bring to your organization:

Greater Flexibility

Adding contract employees to your accounting and finance team increases flexibility in your hiring process. The main reason is that you can hire a contract employee faster than you can hire a full-time employee:

The staffing agency recruiter sends you a small number of vetted candidates to interview.
You offer a contract to the desired candidate.
The recruiter negotiates the contract on the candidate’s behalf.
The contract employee goes through an accelerated onboarding and training process to begin producing.
When the contract ends, the employee can secure a contract with another company.
Your full-time employees remain busy without feeling overwhelmed.

Specialized Skills

Hiring contract employees can provide you with candidates who have niche accounting and finance skills:

The contract employee can help fill your team’s skills gap.
You can take on additional projects that require hard-to-find skills.
Your ability to hire a contract employee with the exact skills and experience you are looking for ensures you add the right member to your team.

Reduced Cost

Hiring contract employees typically costs less than hiring full-time employees:

Although contract employees usually have higher wages or salaries than full-time employees, your company typically doesn’t pay for health insurance, provide access to the company’s retirement plan, or offer paid time off or other benefits. The staffing firm often provides some of these benefits.
The staffing firm is responsible for the contract employee’s employer and employee taxes.
These employees usually require less onboarding and training than full-time employees to begin producing.
You are not responsible for contract employees’ unemployment claims.

Are You Ready to Hire Contract Accounting and Finance Employees?

Hiring contract employees provides your accounting and finance team with additional flexibility and niche skills. The money you can save makes adding contract employees to your team an attractive choice.

When you need to hire contract employees, turn to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Learn more today.

Four Underrated Skills to Seek in Today’s Accounting & Finance Professionals

Knowing which skills to look for when interviewing accounting and finance professionals helps narrow down your candidate list. Targeting candidates with the knowledge, skills, and experience you are looking for helps add the right talent to your team.

Focusing on underrated skills in today’s accounting and finance professionals helps find the most effective candidates who can add value to your organization. The results include a stronger bottom line and increased business growth.

Seek these four underrated skills when interviewing today’s accounting and finance professionals.

1. Open-Mindedness

Accounting and finance professionals who are open-minded can effectively collaborate with colleagues and coworkers. These professionals consider new ways of approaching things to increase efficiency and productivity.

Open-minded people listen to others’ ideas, perspectives, and input. They use this insight to make more effective business decisions.

2. Emotional Intelligence

Accounting and finance professionals with emotional intelligence are in touch with their feelings and exhibit strong social skills. These professionals ask questions to gather information, look beyond the facts, and use a human-centered approach to make decisions based on the bigger picture.

People with high emotional intelligence typically perform well at work. These professionals are equipped to communicate effectively, handle difficult situations, and stay motivated to attain their goals. They also can facilitate difficult conversations and implement constructive feedback to improve their performance.

3. Story Telling

Accounting and finance professionals who use stories to discuss the numbers help relate the company’s financial performance to individual employees and teams. Explaining how an employee’s or team’s performance impacts the company’s numbers encourages the individual or team to improve their performance. The results may include increased revenue, decreased expenses, and a stronger bottom line.

4. Implementation of Feedback

Accounting and finance professionals who embrace constructive feedback prioritize learning and growth. They want to improve their performance to take on bigger challenges and opportunities. The more knowledge, skills, and experience these professionals gather, the more effectively they can secure promotions for career growth.

Are You Looking for Accounting and Finance Professionals?

Open-mindedness, emotional intelligence, story-telling, and feedback implementation are four underrated skills you should seek in employees. Hiring candidates with these skills helps add value to your team and organization.

If you need help adding qualified professionals to your team, contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Reach out today.

Communication Practices to Incorporate in Your Organization Today!

Effective communication practices in your organization promote employee relationships, team bonding, and a positive work environment. These practices also elevate employee engagement, performance, and productivity. The results include greater job satisfaction, higher employee morale, and increased attraction and retention rates.

Strong communication practices elevate collaboration and your bottom line. As a result, you should implement effective practices in your organization today. These strategies can help.

Start incorporating these communication practices into your organization today.

Develop a Communication Plan

Consider where your organization’s communications are now, how they can improve, and when you want to start to see results. Then, use your answers to develop a strategy to move toward your goals. Include timelines and measurements for success.

Implement Communication Tools

Use relevant technology to reach your communication goals. Include communication software and systems that your employees will understand and use. Examples include cloud-based technology, videoconferencing, and group chats.

Promote Collaboration

Encourage managers to have their teams collaborate on projects. Inter-departmental teamwork helps employees get to know and learn from each other. The results include increased cohesion and productivity among your workforce.

Ensure Understanding

Ensure your organization’s communication practices include clear, concise exchanges of ideas, information, and input. These verbal or written exchanges should use plain language and enough detail to facilitate understanding. Clear exchanges encourage employees to take action based on the information.

Encourage Feedback

Ask employees at all levels to provide constructive feedback on your communication practices. For instance, you might send out an employee survey, encourage managers to discuss communication practices during team meetings or organize group chats to request open, honest input.

Determine which communication practices are working, which need to be improved, and specific steps to do better. Then, implement the most effective ideas to improve your organization’s communication practices.

Start Incorporating Communication Practices into Your Organization

Develop a communication plan, implement communication tools, and promote collaboration to incorporate better communication practices in your organization. Also, request employee feedback to determine how well your practices support understanding and how they can be improved.

When adding experienced accounting and finance professionals to your team, include Casey Accounting & Finance Resources in your hiring process. Learn more today.

I-9 Verification Is Changing: What You Need to Know

The temporary COVID-19 accommodations for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) created in March 2020 expire on July 31, 2023. As a result, employers who have been remotely inspecting the identity and employment authorization documents of employees who work remotely have up to 30 days to inspect these documents after the accommodation period ends physically.

Employers have until August 30, 2023, to physically inspect the original I-9 documents that were inspected remotely under the temporary policy. Exceptions include if a physical inspection was triggered earlier under the temporary accommodations.

Find out what you need to know about the changes to I-9 verification.

Information About the Temporary I-9 Verification Policy

Due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing requirements, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) let ICE provide temporary accommodations to remotely verify the identity and employment authorization documents of employees who were working remotely:

I-9 documents could be remotely verified through video, video link, fax, or email until the employee stopped working remotely or until July 31, 2023, whichever came sooner.
These accommodations end on July 31, 2023.
I-9 documents that were inspected remotely under the temporary policy must be inspected in person by August 30, 2023.

Alternative Procedures to Verify I-9 Documents in Person

DHS plans to develop a regulation that allows alternative procedures to verify I-9 documents:

An employer with employees working remotely can have an authorized representative complete the in-person verification of the identity and employment documents.
This verification must be consistently done in a non-discriminatory manner.
DHS will establish a regulation regarding these alternative procedures for I-9 verification.
A proposed regulation was published in August 2022.
The public comment period for the regulation closed on October 17, 2022.
DHS is reviewing the feedback and will publish a final regulation later in 2023.

Do the I-9 Verification Requirements Impact Your Accounting and Finance Team?

The temporary COVID-19 accommodations for Form I-9 that ICE issued in March 2020 expire on July 31, 2023. Employers who have been performing remote I-9 inspections have until August 30, 2023, to physically inspect the identity and employment authorization documents of employees who were hired to work remotely. DHS will provide a regulation in 2023 that lets employers have an authorized representative complete the in-person verification process for employees who continue to work remotely.

When you need to add qualified professionals to your team, turn to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources for assistance. Learn more today.

Words NOT to Use as a Manager

As a manager, monitoring how you say things to your employees is important. You want to be respectful and encourage your team to remain open-minded, creative, and innovative.

How you say things to your employees can have long-lasting effects. Therefore, there are words and phrases you should avoid using when speaking with your team. The following are five examples.

As a manager, these are words NOT to use when talking with your employees.

Obviously

Most things are not obvious to everyone. Therefore, using the word “obviously” can put your employees on the defensive. As a result, they are unlikely to effectively listen and respond to what you say.

I Think

Saying “I think” discredits your opinion and diminishes your authority. For instance, saying “I think we should implement this strategy” is less powerful than saying “We should implement this strategy.” Your tone also remains more open and engaging by not using these two words.

Should

Using the word “should” leads to ambiguity. Your employees may be unsure about what you mean.

For instance, if you say to an employee, “Don’t you think we should do that?”, they might say they agree with you even if they do not. Instead, you could say, “Let’s do X because of Y. Do you agree or disagree and why?”

Can’t

Although there are limitations on what your team can do, avoid saying they “can’t” do something. Instead, work with your employees to develop innovative ways to accomplish something that would benefit the company. Changing the focus to creatively solve problems encourages your team to continue moving forward.

I Don’t Have the Time

Telling your employees that you “don’t have the time” to do something suggests they are not important to you. This implication can lead to disengagement, reduced performance, and lower productivity.

If what you are doing truly cannot wait, ask your employee whether you can schedule a time to discuss the issue. Providing support shows you value and respect your employees.

Do You Need Help with Hiring?

Understanding which words and phrases not to use as a manager helps facilitate open communication with your team. Knowing how to focus on more positive language inspires your employees to remain open-minded, creative, and innovative.

If you need help hiring accounting and finance professionals, get in touch with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Learn more today.

The Best Accounting & Finance Podcasts to Listen to Right Now

Are you searching for ways to stay informed about the latest accounting and finance news, trends, and best practices? If so, choose among these accounting and finance podcasts.

Discover the best accounting and finance podcasts to listen to right now.

Do You Need to Add to Your Accounting and Finance Team?

Partner with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources to add accounting and finance professionals to your team. Learn more today.