Until very recently, accounts payable professionals were recruited on the basis of a group of skills or talents favouring those related with accounting and simple data entry.
Skills of an Accounts Payable Professional
But we live in a time of change, and the majority of accounts payable professionals must adapt to a more efficient environment with new technological tools.
The following is a review of some of the aptitudes and attitudes of the accounts payable professional in the most competitive companies that are coming to be seen as standard.
Analysis
Quite often accounts payable teams need to be agile in multi-tasking situations and in those in which require a lot of spatial vision to organise processes or to detect possible bottle necks or conflictive situations which reduce the team’s efficiency.
It will be crucial to have a strong capacity for analysis based on the factors and agents involved in order to identify and isolate those that need improvement. Sometimes, it will be a matter of the invoice flow itself not developing properly and needing optimization.
Openness
More and more we are seeing, in the world of business, more innovative and transparent models . Co-operation and sharing are more common, synergies are sought and many decisions are based on recommendations and references from professionals.
It is fundamental to be aware, up-to-date with the state of the art in AP to be able to react in time and to contribute if you want to be one of the strong points of the company.
Creativity
A professional who is capable of making a good analysis of the general situation and in particular of their job and that of their team in Accounts Payable, will have a view of the problem or the inefficiencies (if there are any), but needs to create a solution.
In general, at the moment of dealing with needs or inefficiencies, a good dose of creativity is needed, so that a new focus can be brought and to identify the elements that need to be configured to create the process they want.
New Technologies
It is one of the most essential skills for any professional today, and the more strategic their position, the more important their "technological culture" becomes. Learning to work fluently in the cloud, understanding the key points and advantages of the new platforms and solutions being deployed in it, are decisive qualities in a professional who has to adapt to a model of efficiency that can save the company, not only in the face of the crisis, but also in the scenario that will prevail after it. Social networks are an important pillar of the new talent ecosystem and allow professionals to connect with other professionals, experts, and customers, especially those geared toward professional or corporate use.
