29 Nov 2021
ArticleOne of the biggest challenges for accountants these days is understanding their true market value.
In a field where the supply of available talent vastly exceeds demand, accounting professionals face a constant dilemma: either upskill and/or diversify to compete in a saturated market or continue on with "the old way," which is not what it used to be.
One way to help accountants answer this looming question is to build up their respective "market value metrics," which would help them assess their current market standing and evaluate strategies for moving forward.
The Market Value Equation
To better understand the concept of a job's market value, we need a better idea of how it is derived. In the context of an accounting professional's experience, market value boils down to two factors:
The "value-added" to the firm's bottom line (profitability of the firm)
The differential effect created on the firm's and client's performance as a result of your overall contribution as an accounting professional
For instance, if there is a 10% increase in profitability for each employee in comparison to another who does not belong to the senior level accounting team, then one can say that the former is adding $10,000 per year more than his/her counterpart.
Likewise, suppose the exact accounting professional can improve the overall performance of his client by 10%. In that case, there is a measurable benefit in the talent's overall contribution (or value-added) not only for the accounting firm itself but for the client as well.
Depending on the state of the economy, this value-added definition does not have to be chiefly driven by financial metrics. Instead, one can also draw on other factors such as the length of time to complete specific tasks, turnaround time between client needs, etc.
Additionally, market value can also be drawn from non-quantifiable or qualitative factors such as your people skills and ability to work with a diverse team or significant project achievements that were achieved during a previous role.
How to identify your market value?
These tips can further help you to build up your market value for accounting professionals:
Whether you are a full-time bookkeeper, PR/marketing coordinator, or accounting manager, read your job description carefully to understand exactly how valuable you are and what it takes to perform that function within your team.
Consider your education, additional certifications, or relevant work experience to support your value-added metric.
At the end of the day, you are your judge and best critic when measuring market value based on intangible factors such as interpersonal skills, project management skills, and how well you perform under pressure.
Other relevant factors that can also affect your evaluation are: how much revenue you generate for the firm, whether you are meeting budget deadlines, whether you have achieved milestones as per objectives, etc.
Still, your professional growth and skill set is not just about what you know; it is also about how quickly you learn new technology and acquire knowledge in the process.
The best way to check this is to see if you are consistently upgrading or broadening your technical skills, whether it's on accounting software, project management, or public speaking.
It also helps if you can assess how well you deal with change and how adaptable you are.
Conclusion
The adage, "your worth is measured by what you are worth to others," is more than just a cliché. As an accounting professional, it is up to you to understand your market value, build a career on your contribution and add value for your firm's bottom line to secure your future.