Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an account clerk and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
An Account Clerk is responsible for providing accounting support to accounting supervisors and other managers within the department by keying in daily worksheets to the general ledger system, ensuring files are complete and maintained as required.
Essential duties for this post include maintaining account records by making copies and filing, reconciling bank statements by comparing statements with the general ledger, maintaining accounting databases by entering data into the computer and processing backups, verifying financial reports by running performance analysis software program, compiling and sorting invoices and checks, issuing checks for accounts payable, recording business transactions, supporting the accounting personnel, providing front desk customer service, matching invoices to work orders, opening mail and matching payment to invoices.
Core Skills Required to be an Account Clerk
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
An account clerk should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Verbal Communication:
Verbal Communication is the use of tones and language to relay a message; it aids as a vehicle for expressing ideas, concepts and it, is critical to the daily running of the business.
An Account Clerk portrays his/her image and that of the company by the way he/she communicates; strong verbal communication skills are vital for business development and forging lasting relationships with customers, suppliers, and colleagues.
Political Skills:
Political Skills are abilities to build connections with other people to get things done within the formal and informal power structure of an organization.
An Account Clerk has to master the techniques of these skills that allows him to use the impulse control to choose the organizational battles wisely and weigh the situation before deciding how to present the ideas to others.
Administrative Skills:
Administrative Skills are all the services related to the running of a business or keeping an office organized while supporting the efforts of the management team.
An Account Clerk must develop these skills and emphasize the administrative skills to ensure high-level responsibilities that range from planning large scale events to creating presentations and analyzing financial data are handled carefully and efficiently.
Interpersonal Skills:
Interpersonal Skills are a set of abilities that enable a person to positively interact and work with others effectively while avoiding office disputes and personal issues with each other.
An Account Clerk must learn the importance of these skills in the workplace and emphasis on every employee possessing them to build a more cohabit able and productive workplace with the help of each.
Leadership Skills:
Leadership Skills are soft skills that assist leaders in positively interacting with employees or team members to make the workplace a great place.
An Account Clerk must be able to lead effectively by learning how to deal with all types of people in a way that motivates, enthuse and build respect in a bid to understand and develop his leadership skills.
Creativity:
Creativity is the skill of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality through the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, make connections between unrelated phenomena and generate solutions.
An Account Clerk should be able to think, then reproduce ideas and act on them to bring awareness of what was currently hidden and point to a new life that will progress the business to new heights.
Quantity of Work:
The quantity of Work is the amount of work accomplished by an employee against the expectations set by the employer.
An Account Clerk should be keen to monitor an employee's job performance by comparing it to the standard work measurements that are often given at various intervals while evaluating the production to tell when to refresh a worker's skills or address any behavioral factors.
Business Etiquette:
Business Etiquette is a basic framework of rules set by companies to ensure and allow you to understand the way you should conduct yourself in the professional world.
An Account Clerk must establish the tone for proper behavior in the workplace by making sure all the distinct boundaries are laid out for everyone to follow and understand the implications of defaulting.
Customer Service:
Customer Service is the ability to cater for the needs of the client by providing excellent customer service without compromise.
An Account Clerk must understand that pleasing customers is directly connected to the success of the business, therefore, must create a superior customer experience culture in the company that every employee should follow in ensuring all the customers are treated as they should.
Process Improvement:
Process Improvement is the creation of new processes or improving the existing ones that will work and take your corporation to the next level.
An Account Clerk must maintain the continuous improvements in the workplace that are favorable to the current investors, potential investors, and stock owners while working with methods that can serve as a foundation for future business decisions causing a profitable growth.
Hard Skills Required to be an Account Clerk
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
An account clerk should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.