How to hire a top-notch accountant

When it comes to hiring people for your company you are going to want to hire the very6 best people for the job. Basically what this means is that you are not going to want to hire just anybody you are actually going to want to hire top notch people, and this includes your accountant. Whether you are going to be hiring a full time accountant or you are going to be outsourcing your accounting you are still going to want to take the proper steps to hire the best person for the job.

Difficulty rating: Moderate to difficult

Step one:
Decide what you want in your accountant ahead of time and stick to those guidelines. Do not constantly change your requirements. This can lead to disorganization and a slap dash style of management because not everybody will be on the same page. When you are deciding on the traits and qualifications that the accountant should have you will want to take a look at what your hiring guidelines were previously and then take a look at how the company has changed to see if you need to update your qualifications.

Step two:
Look to hire from inside the company first. You want your new accountant to have the same values and morals that your company has. Chances are many of your employees who are working in accounting or finance already share those views. What you need to do is look at your current employees to see if any of them have the traits and qualifications that you are looking for to become the next accountant. And remember you don't just have to look in the accounting or finance department, although it makes the most sense to promote an entry level accountant to the higher position and then bring somebody else in to fill their position.

Step three:
One thing that you should keep in mind is that when hiring somebody for an accountant job you are going to want to verify that they meet the qualifications that you have listed for the job. You should also check their references to be sure that they are what they say they are. It is very easy to appear to be the perfect candidate on paper, but when it comes to actually doing the job and having the required skills there is no way to know unless you verify their information.

Step four:
Do not just interview people; when looking at a group of people choose some based on the information you have that you do not think will make it, due to lack of leadership skills, their resume looks sloppy, etc. Then while doing the entire interview process put them to the test to see how well they do. What this means is to place them in an actual work scenario that they might face one day to see how they handle it. Just because they look good or bad on paper does not mean they are the right or wrong person for the job. You need to examine each candidate carefully.

Step five:
Look for somebody with good personal skills. While they may look great on paper, not all people who apply can interact with other employees. Ask them questions that make them explain what they have done in past situations, you can also have a group interview and ask them to give a presentation to view their personal skills. The reason why you are looking for somebody who has good personal skills is because they are going to be in charge of handing down instructions and working with other employees, so you are going to want them to be able to clearly communicate with the other employees. But not only do you want to make sure that they have good personal skills but you also want to make sure that they have leadership qualities.