Advisory Principles: How to Level-Up Your Professional Career

After exceeding 20 years in public accounting, I began to reflect on some key principles learned through experience, mentorship, and relative learning experiences. I am hopeful this helps anyone entering the field of public accounting, or for those looking to increase interpersonal and networking skills.

It is Never Too Early to Start Networking

Younger professionals often think they don’t have time for networking, or it is not necessary at their level. Establishing close relationships with colleagues, potential clients, referral sources, and early involvement in industry specific networking groups will be extremely beneficial as your career progresses. These connections will likely blossom into future business.

Investing in relationships can help one more quickly in their career— it is important to identify and invest in mutually beneficial relationships. A few tips for managing your relationships:

• Use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software or another means to track points of contact and meetings.

• Develop a regular cadence on how frequently to reach out to contacts.

• Invest in relationships with others who share your desire to mutually help each other. 

 At times, you may find a relationship may not produce any meaningful personal or professional relationship and it is important to not spend a significant amount of time in these situations.

Being ‘Technically Smart’ Only Gets You So Far

Being technical in public accounting is necessary to have a successful career, but it will only get you so far. The public accounting industry is full of extremely smart professionals. As you approach the 5-year or 10-year point in your career, you would be expected to be technically sound.

• Do you possess the skills to take yourself to the next level of your career?

• Do you have a robust network of close business contacts?

• Are you able to have difficult conversations with both clients and employees?

• Do you place importance on developing relationships within your firm, in addition to external relationships

• Do you have patience and empathy for both clients and employees?

• Are you able to "read the room" and pivot accordingly?

 These are all questions you should be asking while thinking about progressing to the next level in your career.

Give to Others and Don’t Expect Anything in Return

Being generous and genuine with others is extremely beneficial for your career and can provide personal satisfaction. Below are some situations where you can help others. A friendly reminder: you should approach these situations with the expectation you will receive nothing in return, other than the fact that you have tried to help a fellow professional.

• Do you know someone who may benefit from an introduction to one of your key contacts (i.e., introducing a private equity client looking for deals in a certain industry to an investment banking contact). Think about ways you can help your contacts with their networking efforts.

• Is someone in your network looking for employment in your industry? If you are comfortable introducing this individual to your network, do so. People don't forget these acts of kindness.

• Did a college student or young professional reach out to you asking for advice or mentorship? Graciously give them 30 minutes of your time—this will engrain a very positive impression of you on this individual for years to come.

Having an Engaged, Challenged, and Satisfied Team is Extremely Important

I always strive to know my team genuinely on a personal and professional level. It’s important to have empathy towards others, as no one knows what one may be dealing with outside of work. There is no place in professional services for aggressiveness towards anyone, especially employees. Make any unfortunate instances, such as slight errors in work, a learning experience for you and your colleague/co-worker.

If these learning experiences do not move towards improvement, then empathetically encourage the individual towards a program to support them with achieving success.

Be Responsive and Over-Communicate

I can't over emphasize how important being responsive to clients, prospects, and internal colleagues will benefit your career. In my field of Advisory Services, clients and prospects expect very quick response times, and move on quickly from non-responsive service providers. Multiple times in my career, prospects have explicitly noted they appreciated my quick responsiveness, and it was a factor in choosing my firm as its service provider.

If you can't respond in a timely manner, send a quick email noting you have received the message, and give an estimated time as to when they can expect your response. This short message will go a long way when you need a little time to craft your reply.  Additionally, it is important to over-communicate to clients and prospects through updates, follow-ups, and relevant questions. It is best to err on the side of over-communicating, unless you are explicitly told to adhere to a certain cadence of communication.

Don’t “Spin your Wheels” on Client Engagements— Keep Focused

View yourself and your team as an extension of your clients’ team, serving as a trusted advisor. Quickly communicate any project bottlenecks to clients to get their perspective. The last thing you want as a service provider is to spend hours analyzing a perceived issue that may or may not be important to your client.

As previously mentioned, over-communicate with your clients. Keep them apprised of perceived challenges and to understand the impact on the level of work they would like to be performed.

Another thing I like to do is keep a running list of client comments and questions during the deal process. If a client asks a question or makes a comment, those thoughts are obviously top of mind and should be addressed, whether applicable or not. This shows the client you are listening and addressing their concerns.

The above are just a few examples of what I have implemented during my public accounting career— I hope you found them helpful and applicable to your workPublic accounting and advisory involves life-long learning. Continuing to focus on mastering the technical aspects of your particular industry and always striving to improve interpersonal skills will go a long way in ensuring your future success!