ima secrets to a successful accounting career

8/3/2019 IMA Secrets to a Successful Accounting Career

1/13

IMAsSecrets to a Successful

Accounting CareerFall 2011

IMA, the association for accountants and financial professionals in business, is pleased to release a

compilation of career-focusedStrategic Finance articles,Secrets to a Successful Accounting Career.

IMA is your one-stop source for professional development and career enhancement. This report

will help you redefine your career path options and provides specific, actionable career advice.

Strategic Finance is IMAs award-winning, monthly publication and provides the latest information

about practices and trends in accounting and finance.

Reaching Your Career Goals

Personal Branding: Create Your Value Proposition

Building Skill Excellence

Take Charge of Your Online Brand

www.imanet.com


2/13

This is the fifth installment of

our six-part series aimed at

providing the framework for

building a successful career man-

agement plan. Weve explored the

components and application of

the four pillars: networking, lever-

aging self-awareness (situational

assessment), skill excellence, and

personal branding. As 2012 comes

into view, it still isnt too late to

build a career management plan.An effective plan will optimize

application of technical and rela-

tional skills within your current

work environment as well as pro-

vide a solid network and founda-

tion should circumstances require

you to launch an external job

search.

In August, we discussed how

personal branding combines withyour technical and relational skill

sets to create a powerful personal

value proposition in the work-

place. Your value proposition will

differentiate you with decision

makers in the organization so you

become the candidate of choice

for opportunities and assign-

ments. Now lets examine building

a strategy to target and achieve

long-range career goals.

Breaking Through One Step

at a Time

At some point in time, everyone

starts at the entry level of an orga-

nization. From there, skill applica-

tion and development combines

with network connections and soft-

skills acumen to significantly influ-

ence your path and trajectory.

Having a vision coupled with well-

planned strategy is essential for you

to be selected for role opportunities

that build an internal knowledge

base and business acumen required

for higher-level roles.The majority of senior-level

executives in a functional area

arrive in their roles via a shared

career path. Its important to iden-

tify the underlying roles and

processes that drove their progres-

sion and then plot a high-level

view of the experience and organi-

zation support you would have to

gain in order to arrive at a targetedlevel or area of the organization.

The main factors driving success

in your organization most likely

will be tied to gaining experience

within certain functional areas and

geographies and working with cer-

tain key functional leaders. This

sounds obvious, but you must take

ownership for managing relation-

ships and acquiring the develop-

ment necessary to gain access to

the roles you need to move up in

the organization. Evaluate the pil-

lars of your career management

plan, and assess if you are building

the network, skill excellence, self-

awareness, and personal branding

to compete successfully.

Consistent and Persistent

You wont always be first in line for

roles needed to move up in the

organization. Understanding and

acquiring the technical require-

ments for targeted roles, consistent

demonstration of skill excellence incurrent roles, and taking ownership

for building relationships with the

decision makers will significantly

increase your career momentum

and prevent stagnation or stalls.

Table 1 highlights the key compe-

tencies for job levels and how the

factors within the pillars of your

career management plan should

evolve and mature to satisfy them.The emphasis and mix of

required technical and relational

skills changes with each level of

progression. Some people will rise

through the organization quickly,

some will plateau at a certain level,

and some will leave the organiza-

tion. The combination of technical

skills developed and soft-skills

tools from your career plan will

optimize your success within your

Reaching YourCareer GoalsIt wont be long before we willsay goodbye to 2011. How is

your career management plan

progressing?

16 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I Oc t obe r 2011

By Mark Morgan

CAREERS


3/1318 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I Oc t obe r 2011

current organization or help you,

if necessary, to find a better fit in anew company.

Play to Win

A career management plan is your

personal business case to assemble

a resource base, assess the land-

scape, and create professional

equity in the place where you

invest the majority of your life.

Your network is your advisoryboard; self-awareness enables you

to take an objective view of the

landscape; branding is your mar-

keting plan; and skill excellence is

your face to the customer. Profes-

sional equity will be created in

proportion to the quality of the

components of your career man-

agement plan and how well you

are able to align them with the

drivers of the career ladder for

your organization.

The workplace is a very com-petitive arena, so its critical for

you to know where you want to go

in the organization and clearly

understand the rules of engage-

ment for how to get there. Then

you must decide if youre willing

to make the commitment, sacri-

fices, and efforts required to earn

the opportunities and fit into the

culture. If not, then its best toleverage your diagnostics and

career management plan to exit

and find a place where the job

opportunities and cultural fit are

more compatible.

In evolving and maturing the

elements within the pillars of your

career management plan, remem-

ber these essentials:

NetworkMaintain a solid

base while building an upward

presence. Remember that the five

people you associate with most atwork will have the greatest influ-

ence on your future.

Skill ExcellenceContinuous

learning and growth. Focus on

acquiring the skill and experience

foundation necessary for roles two

levels above your current place in

the organization.

Self-AwarenessDont over-

play your strengths. Adapt style,and modify delivery to comple-

ment the culture and ensure fit.

Practice your elevator speech.

Exercise good listening skills.

Personal BrandingQuietly

and steadily distinguish yourself

through quality delivery that adds

incremental value to the client.

Anticipate, innovate, and excel at

execution.

Table 1. Career Progression Path and How to Influence Success

Job Bands: Key Competencies: Career Plan Evolution:

Strategy Network: Experts and advisors to

Vision provide insight and support

Vice President Integrity Skill Excellence: Commanding presence

Leadership Self-Awareness: Master of graspingFacing skills situations and maximizing outcome

Executive Director Branding: Face of the function

Senior Director Tactical delivery Network: Well connected within the

Influencing skills broad organization and profession

Accumulated technical expertise Skill Excellence: Superior technical

Director Delegation and staff development skills and knowledge baseBreadth of experience Self-Awareness: Organizational maturity

Depth of perspective and ability to bring closure to issues

Associate Director Trust Branding: Partner of choice

Senior Manager Timeliness Network: Map influence sources and

Leadership qualities and fit with company build relationships with impact

Quality of insight Skill Excellence: Continuous

Manager Integrity development and knowledge growthCommitment Self-Awareness: Ability to build relations

Relation building and conflict resolution and manage perceptions

Professional growth exhibited Branding: Demonstrate capacity, quality,

innovation, and delivery

Senior Analyst Aptitude Network: Gain traction in the organization

Analytic skills Skill Excellence: Aptitude and accuracy

Analyst Innovative thinking Self-Awareness: Gain insight and prepareMaturity and fit with role Branding: Demonstrate initiative and

Entry Role Adaptability ability to apply skill sets with quality results

CAREERS

continued on page 61


4/13

A career is a marathon, not a

sprint. The hills get higher as you

progress, so you must prepare for

the climb. Its never too late tobuild a career management plan.

Tomorrow is another day at the

office where your ability to net-

work, interact, demonstrate skill

excellence, and show your person-

al brand will be tested against your

peers. Anticipate, innovate, and

excel in your execution with the

help of a solid plan. SF

Mark Morgan is a finance profes-

sional and founder of The Hyperni-

con Group, a management consult-

ing firm assisting clients in achiev-

ing strategic, process and organiza-

tional excellence. He is also a mem-

ber of the IMA Global Board of

Directors and IMAs Eastern Con-

necticut Chapter. Please contact

Mark [email protected].

Oc t obe r 2011 I S TRAT EG I C F INANCE 61

Careerscontinued from page 18


5/13

How is your 2011 career man-agement plan progressing?The first of our six-part series

on career management appeared

in the January 2011 issue. Now,

more than half the year has evapo-

rated. What progress have you

made to structure and initiate the

actions necessary to build your

competitive edge in the work-place?

The first three installments

focused on building the pillars of

an effective career management

plan: networking, leveraging self-

awareness (situational assess-

ment), and skill excellence. In this

issue, well explore the fourth

pillar: personal branding.

Weve already explored buildingskills excellence and leveraging the

soft skills of networking and self-

awareness. Personal branding

weaves these three components

into a personal value proposition

for the workplace. Your personal

branding efforts will differentiate

you with decision makers in the

organization so you can become

the candidate of choice for oppor-

tunities and assignments.

Essence of Branding

As accountants, were taught that,

in principle, goodwill is the intan-

gible value paid for an asset above

the book, or pure, value. That

intangible value, or branding dif-

ferentiation, becomes the ongoing

quality associated with the asset.

Branding success means building

value for the quality of your work

and differentiating your future

value potential.

No organization has a perfect

career development and succession-

planning process. Most decisionmakers view the organization from

a distant, elevated platform. Even

though companies promote the

fact that they have a succession-

planning process, its a hard fact

that opportunities and assignments

are awarded to people management

knows, likes, and trusts.

Your personal branding efforts

weave your soft and hard skillsinto a portfolio that establishes

ongoing conversation about you

within the circle of decision mak-

ers. Personal branding speaks to

your unique selling points and

values within the competitive

landscape of all other brands and

is often the source of first impres-

sions for decision makers.

Every day we all see examples of

personal branding efforts in the

workplace. There are people who

dress in a unique ways, behave in

unique ways, and bring their cru-

sade for a cause to work each day.

This type of branding distinguishes

and raises awareness but does little

to speak to their quality of work

and potential for future value.

Although personal branding is

far more about substance than

appearance, your appearance is

still a very critical element of

branding success. Appearance

should communicate that youre a

positive fit with the company cul-ture and that your presence, as

viewed through the lens of the

decision makers, can consistently

be counted on to be appropriate.

Branding based on unique appear-

ance and behavior often requires a

person to demonstrate a greater

amount of quality work and sub-

stance in order to overshadow the

first impression created by theirunique dress and behavior.

Unique appearance and behavior

usually wont stand the test of time

and will become a caricature rather

than a lasting positive impression.

Most companies have adopted

business-casual dress environments,

with some opting for casual dress

on Fridays or even full-time casual.

You should adopt the guidelines, fit

into the culture, and wear clothing at

By Mark Morgan

CAREERS

Personal Branding:Create Your ValuePropositionBuilding your personal brandthe right way will let you make

a positive impression on the

decision makers in your

organization and build your

professional presence.

Augus t 2011 I S TRAT EG I C F INANCE 13


6/1314 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I Augus t 2011

the high end of the scale. Spend the

extra money to buy good-quality

clothing that demonstrates respect

for the workplace.

Scott Adams, creator ofDilbert

and author of many books on theworkplace, noted in an interview

that as hard as it is to accept,

dressing like your boss is still the

best way to get ahead.Weave in

the lessons from the self-awareness

pillar (March 2011) to evaluate

how to maximize the impact of

your appearance branding and fit

in the company. Remember, most

decision makers view the organi-

zation from a distance, and

appearance is a large part of their

first impression.

Brand Your Work Product

Weaving hard skills into your per-

sonal brand is essential to creating

positive conversation around your

analytical contributions. Each

company has a style and format

for written communication. Howyou format your work product is

more important than whats in

your content because the decision

maker will never appreciate the

quality of what youre contribut-

ing if he or she isnt positively

attracted by the presentation.

Master the slide formats, presen-

tation style, and font characteristics

your key executives are most com-fortable seeing. Borrow and study

old slide decks for format and style.

Preview your work with key stake-

holders in the organization where

you will ultimately submit your

material. Demonstrate that you

value their input by reflecting the

feedback in the final product.

Executives are more impressed

with someone who demonstrates

respect and value for their time by

providing exactly what they need

vs. someone who tries to impress

them with volumes of informa-

tion. Be concise and organized.

State the issue clearly, and recom-

mend a solution early in the pre-sentation; then follow with an

appropriate amount of detail and

narrative. Always do a quality

check of your work for spelling

and word use, and be certain the

little things that could derail you

like page numbers, dates, and con-

fidential designationsare in

place. Quality work that meets the

analytical need and is formatted

properly will always find its way to

higher places in the organization

than it was first delivered.

Technology and Building

Relationships

In the Stone Age, pre-Internet cor-

porate world, people exerted great

efforts to make contact, gain an

introduction, and ultimately earn

an in-person opportunity to makea first impression. Now LinkedIn

and Facebook have become the

networking door openers.

Both internal and external deci-

sion makers immediately turn to

your LinkedIn profile when your

name crosses their radar. Its far

easier and safer for them to gain

insight to whoyou are before

offering in-person meetings toexplore whatyou are. Then most

will turn to Facebook to see if

your personal profile comple-

ments how you portray yourself in

your professional profile.

Your professional profile on

LinkedIn should include a recent

photo, accurate professional and

academic history, and a crisp view

of your past accomplishments,

strengths, and career aspirations.

A good professional profile is

built with vibrant, concise, and

forward-looking wording. Your

Facebook profile should comple-

ment your professional profile.

Weve all heard stories of Face-book pages that have torpedoed

and sunk careers. Dont be one of

them. If you havent yet built your

social network profile, read the

first article in our series, then start

establishing relationships with

people who can be a resource to

your career development.

The networking pillar (January

2011) requires you to build an

influence map of key stakeholders.

Use LinkedIn to get connected to

as many of the key stakeholders

and decision makers as possible.

Dont force yourself on a person

who has a profile with very few

connections. But a person whose

profile and connections reflect

openness to invitations is fair

game to approach electronically.

Building Personal Relationships

Remains Critical

Having a person as a LinkedIn

connection is only a statistic. Keep-

ing your name fresh with them is

essential. This requires occasionally

dropping a brief note to people on

your connection list to bring them

up to date on your professional

activities, inform them of some-thing interesting you read, or pass

along a link for a site they might

be interested in viewing.

Its essential to build personal

relationships with key stakehold-

ers and decision makers. Be con-

scious of and take full advantage

of each opportunity that might

afford contact with a high-value

target of career influence. Be

CAREERS

continued on page 60


7/13

aware that technology has actually

created major hurdles to break the

ice, have conversations, and build

relationships.Relationships are built most suc-

cessfully in small increments of

interaction. Offsite meetings and

conferences are key opportunities

to gain access to high-value targets

on your influence map. Breaks and

common areas are the prime places

to successfully interact with a high-

volume target on your influence

map. What do you see most people

doing during breaks or when stand-

ing by themselves? They have their

face buried in their BlackBerry or

are texting on their phones. What

does this communicate? They

arent open to conversation and

dont want to be approached.

Ifyou are staring at your Black-

Berry or are texting, then you have

a wall between you and others that

negates the prime opportunity tobe approached or initiate conver-

sation where you most likely will

pick up valuable nuggets of infor-

mation that could open the door-

way for building a relationship. So

appear open and approachable.

Initiate conversation while

demonstrating appropriate cour-

tesy. Remember, decision makers

give opportunities to those theyknow, like, and trust.

When youre attempting person-

al interaction with a key stakehold-

er or decision maker, respect the

atmosphere and situation. Dont

force your way into a group or

conversation. Use the lessons from

your self-awareness exploration

(March 2011) to understand how

to leverage your personality

strengths and make situational

modifications to optimize results.

Attracting people who can help

you succeed is critical to building

your own brand. Your character

personal and professionalis

defined by the sum of the five peo-ple you spend the most time with.

Successful branding requires you

to make choices. Surround yourself

with people who can have a posi-

tive influence on building your

character, and spend your time

doing activities that lift you in

incremental steps toward becom-

ing who and what you want to be.

Execution Is Even More Critical

Change and excellence guru Tom

Peters introduced The Brand

Called You concept in 1997 in his

writings that describe getting

ahead in the corporate culture as

the Age of the Individual. A huge

component for successful personal

branding is preparation for execu-

tion excellence when the opportu-

nity presents itself to interact witha high-value target on your influ-

ence map.

Theres no replacement for hard

work and effort in preparing for

successful interpersonal interac-

tion. Preparation requires study,

planning, and practice. A three-

minute conversation with a deci-

sion maker most often creates an

unchanging view of your fit andpotential. This may not sound fair

or even logical, but its true.

Therefore, be prepared. Weve

all heard about having an elevator

speech ready for the time when a

decision maker unexpectedly

opens the door to a relationship

by saying tell me about yourself.

Preparation and practice will

make what you say smooth, con-

cise, and polished. These critical

introduction opportunities rarely

arise in a scripted and structured

way. Unpolished rambling during

this career-critical three-minute

window will require a ton of

cleanup effort and can result inirreparable damage.

Learn how to execute for excel-

lence to optimize the interaction

opportunity. Be polite and profes-

sional. Stay away from questions

that are personal and overly social.

Let the high-value target ask the

personal and social questions,

then always gauge their ego factor

before you answer. Executive ego

will get ruffled if your answer

migrates the conversation toward

anyone but themselves. Be pre-

pared to ask leading questions that

are timely and relevant, and give

answers that put the conversation

back in the executives control.

How to Play to Win

The workplace is a very competi-

tive environment where positivedifferentiation is critical to attract-

ing the attention of decision mak-

ers. Dont try to recreate the gold

standard. Study what is working

and excel at delivering to that

standard through your personal

branding efforts that draw from

the other pillars of your career

management plan. SF

Mark Morgan is a finance

professional and founder of The

Hypernicon Group, a management

consulting firm assisting clients in

achieving strategic, process and

organizational excellence. He is

also a member of the IMA Global

Board of Directors and IMAs East-

ern Connecticut Chapter. Please

contact Mark at

[email protected].

60 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I Augus t 2011

Careers

continued from page 14


8/13

How is your 2011 career man-agement plan progressing?The first of our six-part series

on career management appeared

in the January issue. If you initi-

ated an activity scorecard, you

should be close to accumulating

1,500 points for the plan develop-

ment and networking activity you

have completed.In the March issue, leveraging

self-assessment explored the cause-

and-effect relationship between

you and the work environment.

When you do this exploration, you

can achieve a level of self-awareness

to better manage relationships and

improve the projection of your skill

set to the organization.

Its never too late to build acareer management plan around

the four pillars outlined in Janu-

ary: situational assessment, net-

working, personal branding, and

skill excellence. An effective plan

will optimize application of rela-

tional and technical skills within

your current work environment

and provide a solid foundation

should circumstances require you

to launch a job search.

Part three of the series focuses

on the skill excellence pillar by

discussing key components for

building a skill set, growing pro-

fessionally, and demonstrating

performance that will optimize

value in an organization.

While the self-awareness portion

of your career plan is built around

the soft skills required for interper-

sonal success, the skill excellence

pillar is built around development

and demonstration of the hard

skills of functional and technical

expertise. But skill excellence isntlimited to education and function-

al training. How far your skill

excellence drives your career suc-

cess is determined by how well you

can exercise those skills to influ-

ence the understanding, quality,

and delivery of business results.

Take Ownership of Your

Skill Development

Finance and accounting positions

in corporations are staff and func-

tional in nature or are line and

technical-support oriented. Exam-

ples of staff and functional roles

include the controlling, reporting,

treasury, tax, audit, and compli-

ance groups. Line and technically

oriented roles support the various

lines of business, such as sales and

marketing, supply chain, and

research and development (R&D).

Simple reporting of numbers

wont create value and sustain

your presence in an organization.

Demonstrating ownership of the

access to financial information

under your responsibility and how

it relates to the delivery of the

business results will ultimately

determine the value created and

lead to opportunities for career

growth and advancement. Owner-

ship is demonstrated by improv-

ing the timeliness, quality, and

utility of the information reachingthe client group. Linking your data

and analytical contribtions to

improve the work stream for the

client group creates value.

Your contribution to an organi-

zation is measured equally by both

what you do and how you go

about delivering your work prod-

uct. Building a skill set that will

advance career momentumrequires demonstrating aptitude,

ownership, initiative, innovation,

and continuous growth and learn-

ing. See Table 1 for some examples

of how to do this.

Each individual must own the

effort to build his or her skill set.

Career management requires a

continuous learning process for

functional skills and knowledge of

the internal business process as

Building SkillExcellenceIt takes a variety of skills tosucceed in your job and cross-

functionally throughout the

whole organization. Honing

your technical skills is a large

part of your success.

16 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I June 2011


9/13

well as the external factors impact-

ing the business environment. The

corporate culture recognizes and

rewards those who take personal

responsibility for managing the

development of their skill set and

professional growth.

Demonstrate Ownership, and

Influence Data Quality

Those in finance and accounting

roles are the primary owners for

assuring that the acquisition, pro-

cessing, and conversion of data

occurs seamlessly and in a timely,

accurate, compliant, and transpar-

ent manner. Though IT platforms

produce standard reporting, the

finance professional must aquire

expertise to access the source data

and enhance the transparency of

the data through custom reports

June 2011 I S TRAT EG I C F INANCE 17

By Mark Morgan

CAREERS

Table 1. Building a Skill Set

Skill Fundamentals: Examples of Actions to Build an Effective and Holistic Skill Set

Aptitude Relate functional responsibility to overall business processes, drivers, and P&L goals. Identifydata sources, and master use of systems to acquire necessary information for analysis. Con-

tribute perspective beyond the boundaries of your function to the development of client busi-

ness strategy.

Ownership Build a map of the functional, matrixed, and client lines of your role. Identify the key deliver-

ables for each group. Map the business and reporting processes supported by your role. Vali-

date with functional and client groups. Map the data flows, analytics, and reporting responsibil-

ities for your role. Link to timelines and client needs.

Initiative Match the delivery of information and analytics to the style and needs of the client group. Bring

opinion and analytics that improve decision making and drive actions toward higher margin

returns. Relate financial data and performance against competitors while identifying underlying

drivers of difference.

Innovation Improve data flow from systems into analytical models, then into management reports linked to

business key performance indicators (KPIs). Create modeling that improves utility of forecasts

and facilitates client visibility into cause-and-effect alternatives. Propose methodologies that

simplify process workstreams, which results in increased efficiency and reduced costs.

Growth Earn assignment on special project team for key strategic issue or team executing a key tactical

initiative. Shadow operations group or sales force for period of time to build understanding of

key commercial processes. Take temporary assignment outside functional area to better under-

stand business process and operations.

Learning Increase familiarity with business segment and industry issues through intense reading of

periodicals. Attend trade show with operations or commercial group to understand technologies

and market developments. Take advanced study courses (MBA), and obtain professional certifi-cation (CMA (Certified Management Accountant), CPA (Certified Public Accountant), CIA (Certi-

fied Internal Auditor)).


10/1318 S TRAT EG I C F INANCE I June 2011

written in software such as Excel.

Custom reporting should provide

details for the drivers of the under-

lying activity of the business.

Effective ownership enables the

functional leaders of the businessto focus on their core responsibili-

ties while operating with reliable

data flows and optimum data

availability. Visibility, contribu-

tion, and value to an organization

are increased through taking own-

ership for minimizing data issues

impacting the performance of the

business process flow.

The conversion of data into use-

ful information requires the finan-

cial professional to connect analyt-

ical delivery with the overarching

business processes, the underlying

drivers, and the decision process of

the business. Skill excellence that

delivers impact is demonstrated

through taking ownership for the

management of data and driving

the quality and reliability of the

end product that reaches the client

group. See Table 2 for examples

that demonstrate taking ownership

and delivering impact.

Create Value for the Client

The business environment oper-

ates in a constant state of change.

All finance and accounting profes-

sionals earn their place in an orga-

nization or seat at the table with

their client groups by being

engaged and active professionals.

The constant change and challenge

in the regulatory, reporting, and

economic environments require

ongoing initiative to align profes-

sional skills and services with the

business process in a manner that

influences business results.

Job postings for finance and

accounting professionals across

the major Internet sites frequently

reference business partner as a

critical characteristic of senior

positions. The concept of business

partner is the underlying essence

of value creation for finance andaccounting roles. Business partner

is client recognition for the critical

need to bridge ownership of data

management and analysis to go

beyond reporting figures to bring

insight that helps steer the course

of decisions.

Joel Barker introduced the

requirement for business to accel-

erate the speed of change and

explore new solution paradigms in

his 1992 iconic book, Future Edge,

written at the time information

technology greatly advanced our

access to data. Fundamental advice

from Barker for reaching new lev-

els of achievement is to anticipate,

innovate, and excel in execution.

CAREERS

Table 2. Taking Ownership and Delivering Impact

Skill Focus: Examples of Activities that Demonstrate Ownership and Influence Quality of Data and Analysis

Seamless Assure that data availability enables business process performance and is aligned with creation of

end product. Manage the development of required information submissions with minimum impact on

client resources. Influence data flow and processing to achieve increased analytic and review time

with client group.

Timely Relate the activities of your role to the timelines of the client group. Meet with the client group and

discuss. Map data sources impacting your role. Organize monthly meeting to manage data flow and

control timing. Manage data flow and reporting in a manner that is aligned and seamless with the

client business processes.

Accurate Build models and measures that provide sanity checks for data and highlight deviations requiring in-

vestigation. Assure allocation methodologies and expense timing are consistent between budget as-

sumptions and actuals. Provide brief cover page to analysis and reports that identifies data sources

and assures tie to ledger.

Compliant Invest time to educate client group on internal financial policies and practices. Work proactively with

the audit group to build compliance into client processes and data flow. Take initiative to self-audit

processes and data flow. Prepare client group for audits.

Transparent Educate client group on allocation methodologies and timing assumptions in budgets and forecasts.

Build process discipline and data access to enable insight into client group in advance of final ledger.

Provide analysis and reports with insight to link client performance with business goals and influence

actions.


11/13

Achieving execution as a business

partner and driving value creation

requires a continuous cycle of

linking functional expertise and

analytical skills with a fundamen-

tal understanding of the business

process to provide leadership that

influences information quality,

contributes insight, and drivesexpected business delivery.

Achieving Differentiation

Theres no standard formula for

building, focusing, and leveraging

skill excellence in an organization.

Remember, as one of four pillars

in the career management plat-

form, skill excellence represents

the hard skills in the overall port-folio each person must build.

Organization and culture heavily

influence the blend of hard and

soft skills that must be practiced

situationally in order to gain

recognition in the workplace. See

Table 3 for ways to differentiate

yourself in the workplace.

In hierarchical organizations

with parochial culture, functional

excellence is most often the domi-

nant driver of career success. In

highly matrixed organizations

with multiple dotted-line report-

ing relationships and a more open

culture, soft skills are essential to

gaining access and acceptance in

order to demonstrate the harder

skill set. Global organizations

most often operate with distinctcultures within their headquarters

group, operating regions, and

functional lines that require flexi-

bility, sensitivity, and adjustment

in order to adapt to each situa-

tion. You need to assess the cul-

ture of your organization and

make sure you have the right skills

to succeed. SF

Mark Morgan is a finance profes-

sional and founder of The Hyperni-

con Group, a management consult-

ing firm assisting clients in achiev-

ing strategic, process, and organiza-

tional excellence. He is also a mem-

ber of the IMA Global Board of

Directors and IMAs Eastern Con-

necticut Chapter. Please contact

Mark [email protected] with

questions and comments.

June 2011 I S TRAT EG I C F INANCE 19

Table 3. Differentiating Yourself

Skill Excellence: How to Differentiate Yourself in the Workplace

Anticipate Know your clients travel schedule and calendar. Plan your availability, and prepare accordingly to de-

liver. Bring reality into focus by identifying the gaps between current and required performance to de-

liver goals. Build multiple fact-based analytical scenarios with defined actions to provide client with

opinion and options.

Innovate Identify all sources of impact to operations, and construct disciplined reviews to control timing and

impact. Establish global service centers in cost-effective locations to eliminate duplication and lower

operating costs. Analyze price, consumption, and service model for all services to identify opportuni-

ties to reduce baseline costs.

Excel Network across the organization to understand business requirements and manage expectations.

Establish shared incentives across the organization to fund new investment through reduced baseline

costs. Quarterback execution to deliver business goals through converting analysis to tactical plans

with measures.


12/13

Its a Web 2.0 world, and infor-mation about each of us is pro-lific and readily available to poten-

tial employers. In the accounting

and finance world, its imperative

that you know what that informa-

tion is saying about you. If you

arent creating your brand, chances

are its already creating you.

The good news is that taking

control of this information alongwith other traditional job-search

tactics, such as networking, can

impact your career profoundly

and positively.

To establish your brand, answer

the following questions:

x What are my strengths and

weaknesses?

x What do I have to offer

thats exceptional or uniquefrom other candidates? What is

my differentiator?

x What am I known for? What do

I want to be known for?

x What are my short- and long-

term career goals? Where would

I like my next job to be, and

what attributes will that

employer will be seeking?

x Have I highlighted my advanced

degree and/or certifications?

After conducting an honest

assessment based on your answers,

you should be able to develop a

statement thats both authentic

and appealing to a potential

employer. This is your branding

statement. Think of it as a person-

al mission statement, and use it as

the ruler by which you measure

your branding efforts. Remember

to keep it simplethe more you

try to communicate, the more

diluted your message will be.

Assess Your Existing BrandNext, youll need to assess the

information about you thats

already available online. If youve

set up accounts with any of the

various social networking sites,

those are a great place to start.

Also, conduct a search on your

name in various forms, including

all of the nicknames you may have

used in the past. Dont stop atGoogle. Search Bing, Yahoo, or

even DogPilea search aggregator

that pulls from various other

search sites. Use a variety of search

techniques to be sure you find

content that may be buried just

under the surface. For example,

try searching on a common mis-

spelling of your name or using

your name in conjunction with

common keywords to check for

information you suspect may

already be available, whether nega-

tive (Jane Doe + misdemeanor),

positive (Jane Doe + awarded),

or neutral (Jane Doe + volun-

teer). Many companies are per-

forming these types of searches

before making a hiring decision!

Youll want to update, remove,

or disassociate any content thats

inconsistent with your desired

brand. For example:

x Revisit the entry-level rsum

you posted years ago on Mon-

ster, CareerBuilder, or other jobsites. While use of these gener-

alist job boards can be mini-

mally useful in your search,

your profile is still active, so

you need to be sure its com-

municating the most up-to-

date information about you.

While youre at it, post a revi-

sion date within the text of

your rsum so that it will beclear to all who view it whether

the information is current.

x Use privacy settings for person-

al information as appropriate

on social networks such as

LinkedIn or Facebook. A word

of caution, however: Nothing

on the Internet is truly private.

x Remove and avoid posting, to

the best of your ability, any

content that you wouldnt want

By Janette Marx

CAREERS

Take Charge of YourOnline BrandBuilding your professional imageinvolves more than updating your

rsum. Heres some advice for

proactively branding yourself in

todays digital world.

Ju l y 2011 I STRATEG IC F INANCE 17


13/13

your manager, potential man-

ager, or even the folks who

report to you to see.

x Be sure that content on

LinkedIn and other sites match-

es information on your rsum

(i.e., dates of employment,

company names, titles, etc.).

x Your Facebook page can have a

large impact on how hiring

authorities perceive you. That

picture of you and your friends

at a beach party may not

enhance your ability to score

that opportunity with your

next employer.

x Disassociate content thats

inconsistent with or will dilute

your brand. In other words,

you can continue participatingin the personal-interest com-

munities you enjoy as long as

they meet the above criteria.

Also, consider using an alias

instead of your real name for

those forums to keep your

forum identity separate from

your professional one.

x Tighten up and manage your

circle of friends. Remember,you can often be judged by the

company you keep.

Create Content Consistent with

Your Desired Brand

Going forward, measure every bit

of content you post on the Web

against the yardstick of your

desired brand. If it doesnt pro-

mote your brand, then ultimately

your brand wont promote you.

Here are a few ideas to help you

get started:

x Join and participate in profes-

sional communities. Seek out

the online communities of two

or three highly relevant profes-

sional organizations. Join their

network, add your name to

their directories, follow and

comment on their blogs, and

even contribute content in the

form of Web articles, if you

can. With an audience of peers,

timewise youll get the most

bang for your buck here.

x Create or enhance your profile

on public directories such as

Wink, Spoke, and ZoomInfo.

x Stick to professional network-

ing. While social network siteslike Facebook are fine, opt to

spend the bulk of your time

and energy with professional

networking sites like LinkedIn

if youre after career growth.

x Ask peers and colleagues to pro-

vide references and testimonials

regarding your work ethic, quali-

ty, or knowledge and to comment

on or share your blog content.x Determine how much effort

youre able and willing to com-

mit to blogging. With more

than 100 million Web authors

on the World Wide Web, suc-

cessfully managing and pro-

moting a blog can be intensely

time-consuming. If you feel

you must share your profes-

sional insight, opt for a micro-

blogging platform such as Twit-

ter. While this can still take a

great deal of time and energy,

the overall commitment neces-

sary to maintain this type of

content is far less than that of a

traditional blog.x Follow, comment on, and for-

ward news from blogs, podcasts,

and RSS (Real Simple Syndica-

tion) feeds. In particular, RSS

feeds are critical to staying

abreast of your industry, news

about your company and its

competition, and new jobs.

Maintain Your Brand

Now that youve managed to suc-

cessfully create and/or redirect

your brand, be sure to stay in con-

trol by keeping your brand:

AuthenticNothing is more

powerful than actually being who

you claim to be.

ConsistentRemember to con-

tinuously measure your Web con-

tent against your desired message.

Publishing posts, pictures, or othercontent that isnt relevant will only

dilute your message.

RelevantThe Web is dynamic

and ever-evolving. Be sure to con-

tinuously revise, update, and

renew your information so your

brand can evolve along with it.

Again, in this Web 2.0 world,

information about you is readily

available to potential employers,and many of them are actively

seeking it out to aid in their

recruiting efforts. Embracing this

trend by creating a brand thats

consistent with your goals is vital

to managing your career. SF

Janette Marx is senior vice president

of Ajilon Finance, a part of Account-

ing Principals. You can reach her at

[email protected].

CAREERS

According to research released by the Society for Human Resource

Management (SHRM) in April 2011, 56% of organizations frequently

scan LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other professional networking

sites for recruitment purposes. Another 20% confessed that while

they havent previously done so, they plan to begin using social media

sites for recruiting in the future.

ima secrets to a successful accounting career

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