A view from the bridge

As an accounting student, your main focus is to gain the necessary technical skills and pass your ACCA exams. Thoughts of management probably don't go beyond swotting up on the necessary theory, or worrying about your supervisor's comments on your performance. But if you want to be one of tomorrow's leaders, you need to start planning today.

'When you've finished your exams and are qualified, you naturally want to stand out as a person with management potential,' says Peter Stewart, a tutor with BPP Professional Education. 'So as well as studying hard and developing your technical knowledge, you need to show dedication and initiative, and demonstrate good interpersonal skills.'

This sentiment is echoed by past students and present employers, and the recruitment consultants that serve them. 'If you want to be singled out for management potential at an early stage, then you will need to clearly demonstrate the necessary skills and qualities,' says Gary Hall, a recruitment consultant with Kelly Financial Resources. 'Show how well-organised you are,' he suggests. After all, if you can't organise your own time and work, you are unlikely to be able to help others do so. 'Make sure that you take a structured approach to day-to-day tasks,' he adds, so be well-prepared for meetings and always hit your deadlines.

Even though you may not yet be responsible for managing staff, you can create opportunities to show that you are both a natural born leader and team player. 'If you are looking to get into management, demonstrate your willingness to help others out,' suggests Hall. Going the extra mile to help the team achieve its goals can highlight your technical skills, devotion to duty, and future management potential.

It certainly doesn't hurt to be seen supporting junior staff by showing them how to do things. 'During my training I was fortunate enough to spend some time working for the finance director at a small chain of pubs,' says Austin Cullaney, who is now a finance director himself. While most of his time was spent getting the ledgers up-to-date, he also had some responsibility for managing staff. 'It was good experience,' he says, 'and was one of the things that attracted the attention of my first boss after I qualified.'

The respect of those you work with, however, is just as important as the respect of those you work for. 'You can't just be a manager,' says finance manager Kate Poland, 'because your team needs to feel that you put in as much effort as everyone else.' Hall agrees: 'If you want to motivate staff, you need to be able to lead by example,' he says. They won't follow you unless they are confident you know where you are taking them. 'They need to be confident in your skills,' he explains, 'and you need to make them feel confident in theirs.'

A proven track record helps. People will try to undermine your authority if they suspect it is based on less than solid foundations. 'It is important to have the respect of those you want to lead,' says Poland, and Hall agrees: 'The best managers are those with credibility.' But as Ian Northen, an audit partner with RSM Robson Rhodes cautions, it is a mistake to rely on technical skills alone. 'I don't think the profession has room any more for people who are just technical experts,' asserts Northen, who has a pretty good idea of what he's talking about: he became a partner only five years after qualifying. 'Technical skills are a given, but once you are qualified and out in the workplace you need a different skill set,' he says. 'You have to be confident and comfortable when making presentations, or giving talks,' he explains, 'and you need strong interpersonal skills, particularly when dealing with clients.' You must be able to communicate with them in a language they understand, not accounting speak.

Accountant and motivational speaker Karl George agrees. 'I worked for a Birmingham engineering firm while I was training,' he recalls, 'where I was not viewed as management material.' But he changed the perceptions of his employers by proving his dedication. 'I was a very committed member of staff,' he says, and so when the factory floor emptied at 4.30pm he stayed behind. 'I was keen to learn as much as I could about the finance side of the business,' he explains. But these evening sessions also gave him a chance to build personal relationships with the firm's senior managers. 'They were like different people then,' says George, 'and I found I got on really well with the finance director.'

The ability to form good working relationships is important, particularly when you need to pass financial information to non-finance people, verbally and in writing. 'If you want to get on, you need to be able to communicate with senior staff such as the managing director,' says George. 'You must be able to stand up in front of clients and communicate effectively, and produce reports that have been well-written, using the correct spelling and grammar,' he adds.

It is no longer enough for finance professionals to hide behind numbers; they need to be able to communicate effectively with non-finance people in many different environments. 'It is especially important for newly-qualified accountants to be able to communicate effectively in the business, not just in finance,' says Annette Whiting, who manages a finance team with recruitment consultant Badenoch & Clark. 'Our clients tend to look for a high level of commercial awareness, such as the ability to add value to the business through meaningful analysis and management information,' she explains, adding 'the trick is to balance technical accounting with the business-facing aspects of the role.'

Rather than leave this to chance, some organisations go out of their way to help their finance professionals augment their technical expertise with soft skills in areas such as negotiation, networking and presentation, plus behavioural approaches such as analytical thinking and achievement orientation. American Express, General Electric (GE) and Microsoft are among the global organisations that have introduced career programmes designed to help model their finance staff in this way.

GE for instance, created a special training unit to instil leadership into selected members of the finance team - and to make those skills transferable across hemispheres and cultures. 'We have always believed in driving financial leadership,' comments Roshan Thiran, who is the human resources manager for GE finance professionals in Asia and a director of the region's financial management programme. The programme takes recruits straight from university and places the employees with the greatest potential on its corporate audit staff. From here they are able to travel globally among the company's various units as independent internal auditors, learning lessons in independent judgement and getting an overview of the company's operations which, as Thiran adds, 'creates a huge pipeline of financial talent within the company.'

However, most part-qualified accountants who want to develop their management potential will have to take matters into their own hands. 'You make your own opportunities in this profession,' says Northen, but there are plenty of them, and knowing what your superiors are looking for is half the battle, especially when finance professionals are at a premium. 'It's hard to find the right calibre of people,' says George, 'but when you combine your ACCA qualification with the right interpersonal skills, you can achieve whatever you want.'