Working effectively in accounting and finance Chapter 6,7

  Effective teamwork is needed if a group of employees is to achieve its objectives. The benefits of teamwork include: the pooling of skills and abilities, the opportunity for creative thinking, motivation within the team, help and support from team members. Teams can be normal day-to-day working groups, or they can be special project teams set up for specific purposes. Working relationships within a team can go wrong, either because of the work itself, or because of a breakdown in the relationship – or both. When working relationships within a team do go wrong, they should ideally be resolved within the group. If that is not possible, they may have to be resolved by a higher authority using the grievance procedure.

Chapter 6 Summary

    Team -  a group of people working together to achieve defined objectives   Grievance procedure – the formal procedure to follow when you have a complaint against your employer.

Chapter 6 Key terms

  Improving your own performance through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) involves a number of stages, starting with you assessing what you do at work (if you are in work) and thinking about where you want your career to take you. You should then set defined objectives (targets). If you are at work this is normally done with your employer – very often in an appraisal interview. These objectives should be ‘SMART’ Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely You should then work out how you are going to achieve these objectives, assessing the resources you are going to need. The extend of these will depend whether or not you are at work: you may consider tapping into the expertise of your colleagues, training in-house and externally, taking a qualification, obtaining study material in various media. The final stage in the personal development process is to review and evaluate your progress and to establish new targets and action places. If you are at work, this may be carried out with your employer as part of the regular appraisal process. All stages in the CPD process should be clearly documented.

Chapter 7 Summary

  CPD – Continuing Professional Development (CPD) involves an agreed set of learning activities undertaken by employees to maintain, improve and broaden the knowledge and skills required in their professional lives. Objectives – specific ‘SMART’ targets for development needs Knowledge – what you need to know to enable you to do a job at work Skills – the ability to put knowledge into practise Appraisal – the process whereby a manager interviews an employee on a regular basis, assessing past performance and identifying development needs. Performance – your success rate in achieving your development needs.

Chapter 7 Key terms

WEAF - Chapter 6

WEAF - Chapter 6

WEAF - Chapter 7

WEAF - Chapter 7