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LEARNING RESOURCES

Advanced Financial Skills
SaaS software TaxPlanIQ, and coaching program
This webcast discusses the critical financial skills that
Certified Concierge Accountant.
today’s finance professionals need to add value to
For example, you might decide it’s most worth
their team, other departments, and the company.
your time to hone your critical-thinking skills. Once
Some of the major areas covered include strategic
you’ve selected a skill, Slaybaugh recommended planning, risk management, the balanced scorecard,
getting more specific about how you could improve and insightful financial analysis.
in that area by creating your own scale. tinyurl.com/yvcct9sy
Say you have measured your critical-thinking
WEBCAST
skills on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the
most proficient and one being you have no idea
what you’re doing. You might rate yourself as a six, Advanced Management Skills
but what does a six actually look like? Slaybaugh
What does it take to be a leader who develops high-
suggested figuring out what moving up a notch on
performing employees? In this webcast, you’ll learn
that scale would mean for you. For example, if you about different social styles and the skills needed to
rate yourself a six because you’re not as influential as effectively manage change.
you would like, maybe a seven would mean people tinyurl.com/ewxy76ta
listen to you more, an eight would mean people are
seeking out your opinion, a nine would mean you’re WEBCAST
getting more attention from the critical thinkers of
the organization, and a 10 would mean the critical Critical Thinking Skills
thinkers are coming to you for insights.
Improve your critical-thinking skills in order to
“Ask yourself, ‘What does it actually look like
diagnose problems with ease, make better decisions,
if I’m a seven compared with today,’” Slaybaugh and identify effective solutions.
said. “Because then you can start to see differences;
tinyurl.com/ybs8k3jh
otherwise, it’s just an arbitrary number.”
CPE SELF-STUDY
BRING IN A THIRD PARTY FOR A REALITY CHECK
With any audit, one pair of biased eyes is never Power Up Your Data Analysis Skills
going to be enough for an accurate rendering of the
Master Microsoft Excel and Power BI to increase
situation. After you’ve conducted a self-assessment,
your productivity and effectiveness as a finance
it’s a good idea to have someone you trust check professional.
your work. Martin said the person could be a
tinyurl.com/yx4cjwbr
manager, mentor, colleague, or even a friend or
family member, provided they are willing to tell you BUNDLE
the hard truths.
“In these situations, you definitely don’t want For more information or to make a purchase, go to aicpa.org/cpe-learning or
a ‘yes’ person, and I’ve found my brother to be the call the Institute at 888-777-7077.
best critic of me,” Martin said.
Meyer recommended doing your self-reflection
and then handing it off to one or more people to
pinpoint any major inconsistencies.
“I think it would be interesting if there’s a big
discrepancy between what you put and what they could do to improve. When asking for feedback
put,” Meyer said. “And then you can try to identify from colleagues, managers, and clients, Slaybaugh
why you gave yourself a four and they gave you an recommended being specific with your questions.
eight, and figure out how you can bridge that gap.” Instead of asking, “How did I do?,” try asking,
Another option for gathering feedback on “What is one thing I could have done differently
your skill set is conducting a 360-degree feed- to keep the audience engaged?”
back evaluation, which is anonymous and might “Another one of my favorite questions is ‘If I
therefore return more accurate results. Or you worked for you again next week, what would you
could ask a colleague to observe you during a like to see me do better?’” Slaybaugh said. “There’s
presentation to gauge your public-speaking skills opportunity in the future to ‘get the next one’ if
and then ask them to tell you afterward what you you are intentional.” ■

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