Accountant Qualities

Qualities to expect to see in a "virtuous" accountant

Excellent organization. The accountants must keep up with all the figures, data, and the paperwork in their daily jobs. They accountants should be able to organize the work in order to maximize the productivity and to allow time for the undisturbed research and analysis.

Attention to detail. These traits are the obviously key in daily reality of an accountant who need to make sure that the numbers work and they are correct.

Focus on the client. Accountants not only deal with the numbers, but with the clients as well. That is why the accountants should have a very strong orientation toward meeting the client requirements that they need to understand the industry, sector, and the client in detail.

Creativity. This is the right great accountant have creative minds as well. They are the ones that practice out of the box thinking to come up with the fresh solutions some of the clients problems are not textbook cases and they require special attention and a very high degree of creativity.

Commitment to the sector. The accountants should commit themselves to the particular industry and be passionate about it. This is what usually makes them very attractive hires companies that are looking for the individuals for long term employment and to stop at nothing to motivate such talented accountants in order to join in.

Extreme trustworthiness. The kind of the information that accountants deal with in every day is very confidential in the nature. One of the most important features of the great accountants is that they are the professional and they never impart any knowledge to the third parties.

Great communication skills. The accountants must be able to communicate and to collaborate with the colleagues from the different departments. They should also be in a position to communicate the key insights to the non-finance staff and the accountants can use the various data visualizations form to aid communication effort and to ensure that their insights are properly understood.

Flexibility. The accountants who are able to embrace the challenges and to effectively respond to the changes in the working environments make up for the very valuable members of the organization.

What role, does "intention" play in decision-making process?

After making a decision one creates an intention.  Intention is the simple, present tense statement of someone desire. One trusts that images, talents and the knowledge that they require already exist within themselves or they lie within ones grasp through resources that they will encounter. 

Though not everyone, visualizing them as having achieved the intention it often proves to be very powerful. It is creating a mental image of an individual at the moment they fulfill what you intended to do. Through intention one comes up with a decision of achieving a set goal.

How virtue ethics applies to the duties and the responsibilities of an accountant

The virtue ethics focuses on the character traits that are acknowledged across the cultures.

There is a focus on the reaching the end goal or the full potential.

It focuses on the virtues and moral character of the accountants and not the duties, rules or the consequences.

Emphasis has been taken away from the consequences of actions and looks at the kind of the person doing the action (Gregory Sadler 2011).

Virtue ethics applies to the accountants because it says that they have to be all that they can in their profession. They should be the best accountants possible by being truthful, avoiding harm to others following through commitments and having integrity.

Does the fact that the revenue that is recognized prematurely on the financial statements will be earned in the future periods lessen severity of such a violation? What about responsibility of a perpetrator?

No, it does not lessen severity because of incorrectly recording revenue which is to deceive the investors and public about financial status of the company. They also have got a fiduciary responsibility to the correctly recorded and reported revenue to the investors. The perpetrator should therefore be held fully accountable for the financial fraud that they instigated or had a part of contribution.