Eight Skills You Need to Master to Become a Competent Financial Advisor

For a high-flying career in finance, you need more than just good grades. Accounting and financial professionals need years of experience to reach a certain stage in their careers.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an executive with decades of experience, you need to keep these skills in place to become a seasoned financial advisor. Apart from razor-sharp analytical skills to competent soft skills, here’s what you need for a promising career in finance.

The Right Training

In most industries, sparkling talent combined with experience can land you the dream job you always wanted. However, if it is a career in finance, you need a little more than that. Apart from a glowing resume, successful candidates need to back it up with the right education, training, and other financial certifications, of course, you can top it off with experience.

Interpersonal Skills

Earlier finance professionals were desk-bound or should we say cubicle-bound, but now the era has changed. These days, a career in finance does not only mean simply crunching the numbers; but now the workers need to deal with clients and the workplace teams every day. The professional’s ability to build successful relationships is key for success. When choosing two candidates for a job role, they may be equally qualified but what may tip the scale in a more deserving candidate is his/her interpersonal skills.

Communication Ability

Aspiring accounting and finance workers need to have good oral and written communication skills; however, it is equally important to have the ability to explain financial jargon in simple terms.

Many companies choose candidates just because they have a striking ability to make clients and workers understand in easy language. They need to know exactly what they have learned and be able to utilize the same in an effective way.

Proficiency in Financial Reporting

Financial candidates need to have a competitive edge that would help demonstrate their proficiency in financial reporting at their next job interview. Financial reporting is a documentation process that presents a company’s financial status to the management, investors, and the government. The better one is at financial reporting, the more their demand at the workplace, and apparently their salary reflect it too.

The midpoint starting salary for an accountant working in financial reporting who has at least three years of experience can expect at least a $71,750 salary and a financial reporting manager’s approximate midpoint salary is around $112,7500.

Analytical Knowledge

Companies always prefer to hire employees who have superlative analytical skills. Candidates who have strategic and analytic skills; involve things like big data, strategic thinking, information technology, collaboration, and leadership, with real-world examples and provide performance-driven results. For financial analyzers who have great financial analyst skills, they have a plethora of opportunities waiting for them.

Problem-Solving Skills

As a financial analyzer one needs a solid knowledge of systems and processes. It’s also important to tackle complex problems as they crop up. Whether it is catering to various financial implications of a business structure or solving a tax dilemma of a client. The more you build a reputation of being a pro at solving problems and will help your career grow in leaps and bounds.

IT Software Knowledge

Today there is an increased focus on digitization and automation that have encouraged hiring more managers to look for financial professionals with the right IT skills to leverage new financial systems. Candidates who have the best knowledge and competency in predictive analytics accounts payable automation, SAP accounting software, or Oracle will have a greater chance to excel in their career in this field.

Relevant Experience

Some of the most respected financial professionals are those that have a rare combination of leadership and motivation. While today, you may not be in the highest management position, and you are right at the entry-level financial jobs you still need to have a fair degree of leadership. What you do as a leader, will not only impact your future but also those around you. You need to handle, things like general project management, to heading team activities; these are the things that may set you apart and get you closer to your goals.

Just, identifying areas of improvement, setting improvement goals will help you be the perfect financial advisor in the years to come.