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If you have been reading my recent blogs on important soft skills, you will know that I’ve covered a lot of the well known attributes, but today I’m focusing on one that’s often overlooked.
Finance and accountancy roles usually involve handling sensitive financial information, information that cannot be shared or misused in any way. Being able to demonstrate integrity and make the right decisions are critical to maintaining trust and credibility as a finance professional, which is why ethical decision-making skills are so important.
When you work in finance and accounting, you need to make a lot of decisions that impact other people. Though these aren’t necessarily life or death decisions, they are likely to have a significant impact on someone’s finances. When you are making decisions in the world of finance, you need to consider ethics.
What Does Ethical Decision-Making Mean?
Ethical decision-making refers to the process of making decisions that align with ethical principles, values and morals. It’s a soft skill that many people forget about, but I think it’s one of the most important. It involves considering the consequences of your decisions and how they impact other people.
As a finance and accounting business, ethical-decision making can have a significant impact on the success of your business. Your customers want to know that you care about more than just making money, they want to know that you will make the right decision for them, regardless of what is best for your business. This can also bring more business your way, as people will only choose you as their accounting experts if they know you can be trusted with their finances. They want to know that you will act with their financial health in mind.
The Types of Ethical Decisions Your Team Should Be Making
There are a lot of ways that you and your team can showcase your ethical-decision making skills. For example, you should be paying fair and living wages to everyone that you employ. This shows that you care about their livelihood and rewarding people for their work. Another example of ethical-decision making is hiring minorities, such as women, disabled people and those who are part of the LGBTQ community. You could also choose to source Fair Trade products or donate some of your profits to charity.
All of these examples of ethical-decision making show that your team cares about the wider community, and not just being successful as a business. Don’t forget to check back next week to find out what my next soft skill will be.
