How to Build a Culture of Accountability in the Workplace

Creating accountability in the workplace is one of the hot topics in today’s business world. But, do you know what it means? How it works? Or, why you need it in your business?

What is a “Culture of Accountability?”

A culture of accountability is a work environment where people demonstrate a high level of ownership to think, respond, and proceed in a manner necessary to reach business goals. Accountability in business is directly related to higher performance.

Why Should Your Company Have a Culture of Accountability?

In many companies, employees are working across time zones and different departments to achieve their business goals. Creating a culture of accountability in the workplace is a multi-dimensional and multi-layered issue in this fast-paced business world.

Building an accountability culture makes a powerful impact on your business goals and success. Accountability helps you ensure that your employees show up for shifts, know what their roles are, and meet deadlines. This structure makes every employee responsible for fulfilling their duties and automatically makes a positive impact on business growth.

How Can You Build a Culture of Accountability?

Building a culture of accountability in your business isn’t easy. It takes time and hard work to plan and implement. It also involves dedication to maintain. However, it’s the best way to ensure business success and boost employee morale and is part of maintaining a workplace that is transparent.

Understanding the meaning of “being held accountable” is the initial step in creating a culture of accountability for the company to reach desired business targets. It’s never too late to create a culture of accountability and empower the workforce, allowing your employees to perform better.

All it takes is an effective strategy. Here are 5 simple tips that will help you create accountability in your workplace.

Define the Responsibilities of Employees

First and foremost, you need to clearly define and delegate tasks to every employee so they fully understand what they are responsible for. Your staff needs defined expectations to achieve their targets. Whether it’s evergreen responsibilities, which support the mission and values of the company, or short-term or quarterly goals everything should be laid out very clearly to avoid any confusion or miscommunication.

Set Your Business Goals

Once the staff has gone through employee onboarding and understands what they are responsible for, employers should help them set individualized and measurable goals that come under their job role. Make metrics to help the employees know if they’re fulfilling their business goals.

Deliver Progress Updates

To achieve your desired goals, employees need feedback to stay motivated. This feedback can come from customer surveys, key listening posts with critical stakeholders, and ongoing project updates, or a combination of all these points. However, the most effective feedback a team member can get is from a manager.

When providing progress updates to employees, managers should have updated and correct data to show employees how their progress is making an impact.

Align Development, Learning, and Growth

Whether as a part of an ongoing development process or through frequent conversations between employees and managers, businesses must offer opportunities for their staff to learn, improve, and grow. Companies that focus on staff development to help their employees address the barriers that prevent them from reaching their business goals while learning and growing in their roles constantly.

Acknowledge and celebrate Progress

Praising your employees for a job well done is the best way to motivate them to do well. Your top employees need to know that their efforts are acknowledged and valued. So, identify, celebrate, and learn from your employees’ successes. It will motivate your employees to stretch and design responsibility role model for other staff members to follow.

A strong work culture not only inspires employees to perform better but also encourages clients to spread the word about your company. Building a culture of accountability isn’t always easy. But, strategic and careful planning can definitely help you in developing one that differentiates you from your competitors.

A culture of accountability makes it easier for employees to be responsible for their job roles. It also boosts your employees’ morale to go the extra mile as they identify their personal growth and are receiving regular appreciation for their work. So, shape a work culture that can help you promote employee responsibility and your business growth.

Normalize and Prioritize Feedback

When you start by holding yourself accountable, many employees will follow your lead; however, you will still need to be explicit about your expectations and coach your employees along the way. In a workplace that values accountability, everyone on the team has to be willing to give and get input, provide and receive constructive criticism, and express and accept praise.

In a culture of accountability, regular feedback should be a normal and comfortable part of your working relationships. If your team hears from you often about their performance on a consistent basis, they’re far more likely to be receptive to feedback, even if it’s tough to hear. Nobody respects a boss who only shows up to criticize or discipline them if they’ve done something wrong.

So if you want your team to put forth their best effort, take responsibility, and truly own their job, you have to be willing to have difficult conversations and create a safe space to talk about almost anything. Otherwise, you can expect some employees to pass the buck, blame leadership, or even lie when things hit the fan. The goal is to open a productive dialogue that encourages accountability.

To promote accountability in the workplace, you’ll need to build self-confidence among your employees. If employees aren’t reaching milestones or meeting expectations related to stated goals and objectives, have a plan in place to address their performance issues. If something isn’t working for employees, be willing to hear and address their concerns. And always create opportunities to celebrate success.

Give employees clear roles in driving Key Results

A lack of ownership is surprisingly prevalent in large organizations. In fact, 81 percent of the Workplace Accountability Survey respondents cited an inability the follow through on commitments as the biggest challenge they experienced with co-workers.

The problem often comes down to employees feeling their positions don’t contribute to the company’s overall success, which leads them to disengage from work. They begin to skirt their responsibilities, letting others pick up the slack and detracting from what could be a high-performing company culture.

When there are gaps between what an employee does each day and the results the company must achieve, it’s time to reevaluate expectations to better align actions and results. Motivate employees to complete their tasks by ensuring all team members understand how their individual contributions directly impact the achievement of Key Results.

Without micromanaging, connect expectations to those Key Results and make a point of recognizing when employees positively impact companywide goals. Doing so builds a team of focused and engaged employees who are successfully pulling their weight.

Achieve Results, Rather Than Do the Job

How many times have you heard a leader in real life or fiction demand: “I don’t care how you do it. Just get it done!” Many times, organization charts and job descriptions push people into boxes. They give people the idea that they are getting paid and using their skills to perform a defined function or set of tasks. This task-oriented mindset leads people to believe that if they perform their functions they’ve done what they’re supposed to do, whether or not the result was achieved.

Effective leaders operate on the premise that their people must focus on achieving results. They lead people beyond the boundaries of their jobs and inspire them to pursue results by creating an environment that motivates them to ask, “What else can I do?” over and over until the results are achieved. They manage their people so that their “job” is to achieve results. Each person’s daily activities must be in alignment with the targeted results.

How Much Does an Accountant Cost for Small Businesses? A Helpful Guide

Picture yourself working in your dream office, running the business you wanted to start years ago. Now, you’re finally successful, but you have a problem. You don’t have time to grow your business since you have to do all of the accounting work. So you ask yourself, how much does an accountant cost?

How Much Does an Accountant Cost?

If you’re looking to work with an accountant in your small business, you should consider the cost. An accountant is an essential part of running a successful business. However, small business accountant fees can be expensive. It’s worth looking at the question, how much does an accountant cost?

What Affects Small Business Accountant Fees?

Since many accountants price their service by the hour, time is the most obvious factor. A business that requires 10 hours of help will have to pay more than a business that only needs an hour. However, time isn’t the only factor to consider. Depending on the accountant or accounting firm you choose, the accounting fee can vary.

Experience

The first thing that can affect small business accountant fees is the experience level of the accountant. Of course, a newer accountant won’t charge as much as one with experience. In some cases, you can save money by working with a newer accountant. However, you will risk not getting the best services.

Services Needed

Regardless of the experience of your accountant, the services you need can affect the accountant fee. In some cases, you may need help with bookkeeping. However, you might need more accounting services that cover bookkeeping, taxes, and financial advice.

How to Prepare for an Accounting Interview

Accounting is a fast-growing field, and competition is stiff as both college graduates and experienced professionals apply to in-demand jobs. Your resume will get you in the door with a prospective employer, but it’s the interview that sets one qualified applicant apart from the next. If you’ve landed an accounting interview for your dream job

Know Your “Why”

Why do you want to be an accountant? It’s one of the first questions most interviewers ask, and your answer can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Prepare your answer beforehand and be ready to expand on the hobbies, interests and goals that led you to pursue accounting as a career. You don’t need to wax poetic about a lifelong love of numbers, but interviewers want to understand what interests you about the job beyond the paycheck.

Brush Up On the Basics

A few basic accounting interview questions include:

What are the differences between accounts payable and accounts receivable?

What are a couple of ways to estimate bad debt?

How can you minimize and check for errors in your work?

An interviewer may ask these fundamental accounting questions  to test your knowledge. Even if you know the material forward and backward, prepare verbal answers ahead of time.

Plan Stories

Almost every interviewee will need to tell a story about a time they solved a technical problem or dealt with a disgruntled client. These questions are designed to assess your communication, attention to detail, calm under pressure and other transferable skills. Have a few stories ready so you don’t have to maintain an awkward silence as you think.

Arrive Early

Arriving early is a must for any interview, and accounting is no exception. In this decidedly type-A field, you’re expected to demonstrate meticulous precision and attention to detail, and the accuracy of your work can significantly impact a company’s bottom line. Showing up late demonstrates exactly the opposite, so be there ahead of time.

Helpful and Knowledgeable Accountants

“I would rate Inca as the best accountant that I’ve had”

I like the fact that Inca are approachable, always helpful, and knowledgeable. If I want to know a fact, Graham can answer any questions. have helped considerably with their advice, and they’ve tried to give me pointers on how to improve areas of my business, which is quite difficult in a way for them to do as it’s quite a niche business, but nevertheless they’ve tried, and some of the things have been quite helpful.

accountants for new businesses

Whether you’ve started new businesses before, or this is your first venture, you’ll know that this is an exciting, and a little uncertain, time. As a local, approachable, plain-speaking accounting service, we’ll help to ensure your new business has the best start with solid financial and business advice.

You’re more likely to succeed with accountants

It’s difficult when you’re on your own, or there’s only a few of you. That’s why making the right choice of accountant for your new business makes such a difference.

You may know that in the UK only 20% of new businesses make it to their 5th birthday. recently conducted a survey of new start-up businesses who engaged with between 2009 and 2011. 57% of them are still trading – that’s 185% better than the statistical market average.

Advice on the best tax structure

ensure you have all your financial affairs in order from the start and have the most efficient tax structure that will maximise your income. recommend that you’ll set up as a sole trader, limited company or a partnership.

Fixed fees quoted up front

There’ll be no nasty surprises and there are flexible payment options to help you manage your cashflow.

How to become an accountant

If you’ve strong numeracy skills, an analytical mind and are good at managing money, discover all you need to know about becoming an accountant

Accounting is often perceived as an uneventful career by those outside of the industry, but it can actually be one of the most fulfilling – whether you choose to work in the private or public sector

Study the right accounting qualifications

The AAT qualification is typically the minimum level expected of an accountant, but to ultimately become a chartered accountant, you’ll have to progress to the ACCA, ACA or CIMA qualifications.

To give you a good starting point, the most popular accountant qualifications include:

AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) accounting courses – made up of three qualifications across three levels, they combine industry knowledge and practical work skills.

ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) qualifications – they comprise of two levels: Fundamentals and Professionals. The modules cover a variety of topics from corporate and business law to audit and assurance.

ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) chartered accountant status – also referred to as the ACA, this qualification consists of three to five years of practical work experience and the completion of 13 modules.

CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) business finance award – oversees the widely-recognised CGMA (Chartered Global Management Accountant), which requires you to have already gained the postgraduate-level Certificate in Business Accounting.

Many accountancy firms will accept qualifications from any board, but if you have a definite career path in mind, it’s worth taking a look into the preferred qualifications of that specialism.

For example, if you’re interested in becoming a chartered accountant, you’ll need to have studied for the ACCA qualification and have three years’ work experience in a relevant role. It usually takes around four years in total to become fully qualified.

Don’t waste your money and time on Accounting

Persistence is the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t.  You have got the intelligence and the knowledge.  Keep putting your best forward and I believe that God will reward you

has a different job market than the States. Community colleges have relevant coursework. However, the job market is skewed to discriminate against women. We’re usially the last ones hired and the lowest paid

(1 semester) is simply a prerequisite to your accounting assistant certificate (2 semesters, 1 which is already done cause of the prerequisite) and that is the prereq to getting your associates in applied science accounting (2 years, 1 year which is already completed cause of your prereq’s). So no, they’re not really helpful finding a job. They’re very much helpful in gaining your AAS accounting degree tho.

I have done a certificate 3 in business administration.I have no experience. I have 5 year experience in teaching .i changed my career. how to get a job entry level in payroll

I’m late lol, but I’m having the same problem. I couldn’t even get an internship. I have a degree in finance and currently work as a central cashier in our accounting office. I’m thinking of getting quickbooks knowledge and a bookeeping certification.

What are the Bookkeeping rates dependent on?

Regardless of the type of your business and the level of growth, your costs for bookkeepers will depend on the following things. The first of these variables is the idea of exchanges which is finished by the business. This entails the solicitations submitted to clients and the measures of bills got and paid each month.

The second factor is involvement and area. This shows that the clerks will not charge you more than the challenge in the zones. The rates will highly depend on the local rates in the area and the rates in the specific business.

Experience will also make a difference in this regard because long experienced clerks will take advantage of their experience and charge bigger rates. To some business owners, there’s little issues with paying more for specific services. This means that they don’t have a problem paying more to make sure that the tasks being performed are exact.

Here are five tips to make small business bookkeeping easier.

1. Separate business and personal finances.

Co-mingling expenses and income is a common mistake in small business bookkeeping—and one that will cause huge headaches for your business in the future. Open a business bank account as soon as you decide to go through with your startup, and get a separate business credit card. This not only separates your accounts, but also helps your business build its own credit rating.

2. Automate whatever you can.

Entering data into spreadsheets and reconciling numbers manually is so old school. Use cloud-based bookkeeping software, and do your business banking online. That way, you can sync your bookkeeping software with your business bank account so you always have accurate, up-to-the-minute records. Plus, with the cloud, your critical financial data is backed up safely off-site.

3. Ask a pro.

Talk to your accountant to figure out if you can use off-the-shelf accounting software or if you’d benefit from customizing it. Your accountant should be able to not only offer advice but also set up the software for you and show you how to use it.

4. Perform regular financial checkups.

If you put off bookkeeping too long, you end up with bounced checks, overdue invoices or figures that don’t add up. Go over your books weekly to make sure everything is ship-shape.

5. Do a quarterly review.

At the end of each quarter, take an in-depth look at your bookkeeping and accounting records. Look for trends, such as growing or declining sales, year-over-year revenues, or an increase in late-paying customers. Talk to your accountant: He or she can help you look at the big picture so you’re better prepared for future capital needs such as buying new equipment or moving to a bigger location.

Accounting Tips for Small Businesses to Keep the Books Balanced

One reason accounting often gets put on the back burner for small businesses is that it’s tedious and intimidating. 40% of small business owners feel that financial management is the most difficult part of operating a business. When accounting mistakes occur, it can halt the growth of your small business and put you on shaky ground.

In this post, we’re rounding up the best accounting tips to avoid common mistakes that could have a detrimental impact on your business. Once you’re operating with clean books, you’ll reap the benefits that come with it.

1. Pay Close Attention to Receivables

Getting paid is the most exciting part of running a business. Managing your receivables isn’t quite as much fun. When an invoice is issued, you record a receivable, meaning you log that a customer owes you money. By checking this listing you are able to easily see if a customer has an outstanding balance.

When the customer pays you, the amount should be applied to their invoice, and it should be marked as paid. However, when you are trying to keep up with a lot of orders, this is easier said than done.Customer deposits all too often are left to reconcile at a later date since there are never enough hours in the day. That means that when tax time comes around, you are left with a lot of customer deposits in your revenue account and a report of your receivables that don’t match.

2. Keep a Pulse on Your Cash Flow

When it comes to small business accounting tips, education is everything. The more you understand the numbers in front of you, the greater your odds are at managing them well.As you perform weekly and monthly financial reviews, consider producing a cash flow statement. These statements give you a broader understanding of cash movement within (and outside) of your company. A cash flow statement essentially monitors income direction. It also includes the element of time, enabling you to visualize payment cycles and seasonal expenses.

3. Log Expense Receipts

Unfortunately, it is a common mistake for small business owners not to save copies of their expense reports. This can result in a wide range of tax, accounting, and cash flow issues. If you have ever looked at your bank statement and seen a charge for a hundred dollars and had no idea what it was, then you are familiar with the problems that come with poor record keeping.

One way you can solve this problem is by saving a receipt of every purchase that your business makes. It may seem like a lot of work but there are a few accounting tips to make it easier.

4. Record Cash Expenses

When you are an entrepreneur it is crucial that you track all the expenses related to your business. That way these costs can be subtracted from the amount of your total income when it comes time to do taxes.This will give you a more accurate sense of your overall profitability for the year. It is easy to look past expenses paid for in cash. Ask for a receipt from your vendor or log the expense immediately to ensure that it makes it on the books.

5. Know the Difference Between Invoices and Receipts

Mixing up invoices and receipts is an all-too-common way for small business owners to mess up their books. A simple piece of accounting advice to follow is to know the difference between the two.

An invoice is a bill that’s sent to customers after they’ve received your services. Think of invoices as detailed bills that should outline everything the customer has received from your company. An invoice reminds customers that they owe you money. They’re helpful for speeding up cash flow, keeping financial records, and ensuring that you’re getting paid.

Tips to Keep your Business Accounting Organized

There are many upsides to keeping your business accounting organized right from the start. This includes having an easier time doing tax returns, peace of mind that you are paying the right amount to suppliers and transparent visibility on your business finances.

With a systematic approach to business accounting in place, you can make timely decisions on cash flow and see when your business is ready for further development and growth. These five tips can help even the smallest businesses achieve a well-kept set of books and financial clarity in the long run.

1. Keep your personal and business bank accounts separate

Separate accounts will provide clarity over tax-deductible expenses the business incurs. It will also ensure you keep your overdrafts, checking account and credit cards separate from your personal ones, so that no business transactions or VAT charges are omitted.

Keeping your business and personal accounts separate is absolutely necessary to avoid confusing your transactions and being taxed the wrong amount.

2. Avoid paying expenses or bills in cash wherever possible

Other than small amounts of petty cash, it’s best not to use cash for your business transactions. Expenses paid in cash can be difficult to track and reconciling cash outgoings with receipts can be tricky and time-consuming.

Where you do have to use cash, reimburse the payer immediately using an expense form to ensure you accurately record all business transactions, VAT and any other service taxes that need to be captured.

3. Create separate records for accounts payable and receivable

Having an accounts receivable system helps you track whether your customers have paid and how overdue unpaid accounts are, so you can chase up payments and keep your cash flow smooth throughout the month.

It is also important to have a system in place for your accounts payable, which will help you ensure you aren’t duplicating or being late on your supplier payments.

4. Organize your paperwork digitally

Thanks to myriad accounting software out there today, you can say goodbye to manually filing and storing your receipts, invoices and other financial paperwork that’s integral to your business.

Keeping your books digitally also means you can securely backup your files electronically instead of storing them physically on the office premises, which goes a long way in saving space and reducing the risk of losing important business information, as well as making your documents easily retrievable when you need them.

5. Harness the flexibility of the cloud

Once you have a system in place for your digital documents, use cloud-based accounting software such as QuickBooks Online to keep your books up-to-date and stored securely.

What Skills Do I Need to Become a Bookkeeper?

Bookkeeping and accounting often get used interchangeable, however there are a few differences between the two. Both accountants and bookkeepers are essential to the successful operation of a business, and both are great assets to the financial side of things. However some people will refer to an accountant as a ‘giant sifter’, with bookkeepers being the process of pouring stuff into the sifter. You can’t be an accountant without being a great bookkeeper. So what skills do you need to be a great bookkeeper? Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re thinking about becoming a bookkeeper.

1. Great data entry skills

Having great computer skills is a necessity when working as a bookkeeper. Knowing how to keep up with technology and being able to add in data in an accurate and timely manner is going to benefit you greatly. Touch typing skills are an added bonus that will save you time in the long haul. If you have trouble with new software changes, technology upgrades, or learning these kinds of skills quickly, you may find that you will struggle slightly with this kind of role.

2. Good communication

If working in a large company, you may be required to work alongside accountants and other departments within the company that may require your assistance. Being able to communicate with everyone easily and effectively will make your job (and everyone else’s) a lot easier. Whether it be face-to-face communication or phone and email, being able to communicate effectively is essential to the role.

3. Knowledge of bookkeeping principles

It goes without saying that you should have a great knowledge of bookkeeping, and where necessary, the essential qualifications. Understanding accounting language and having the skills and education to undertake your role is a huge part of the role. You can gain qualifications from courses and schools all across the country and they will all help in your path to gaining a role as a bookkeeper.

4. Organising records

If you’re the type of person that gets sweet relief from organising files and numbers, then you would be perfect as a bookkeeper. Being able to organise and maintain financial records is essential to the role, and it certainly helps if you enjoy working in this kind of position. If you’re more of an “outdoors” person who hates sitting in front of a PC for extended hours looking at numbers and figures, bookkeeping might not be for you.

5. Attention to detail

If you work fast, you need to also be accurate. If you like looking at the details of a project and making sure no leaf is left overturned, this is definitely going to help you in your role as a bookkeeper. Paying attention to detail not only makes for accurate workings and numbers, it also means less issues and hassles in the future for both yourself and your colleagues. Understanding that a simple mistake in one area can cause bigger issues down the track is needed to ensure you perform well in your role.