Advice for a Successful Career in the Accounting Profession

CHAPTER NINEWorking Effectively with Others

Key Takeaway

Your ability to work collaboratively and effectively with other people will have a significant impact on your long‐term career success.

I suppose a good argument can be made that the ability to work effectively with others is important in just about any profession or occupation. Having said that, I would argue it is particularly important in the accounting profession. Let’s look at a few typical scenarios:

• Public Accounting—You are an auditor and, to do your job well, you need to obtain and review certain information supporting the client’s financial statements and significant transactions. After you complete your initial review, you’ll need to discuss and resolve any questions or concerns with the appropriate client personnel. You will interact with a variety of individuals in the process of obtaining and auditing that information. Each has a “day job” and other priorities to deal with besides your audit work. Your ability to obtain their cooperation and work effectively with them will be critically important to completing your work in a timely, efficient and effective manner.
• Private Accounting—You are the accounting manager responsible for closing the books. You have four or five people who are involved in the process reporting directly to you and there are several other departments (e.g., information technology) and ...