Here's how you can spot high-potential employees in corporate accounting through performance evaluations.

Performance metrics are crucial for evaluating corporate accounting employees. High-potential employees not only meet but exceed targets, showing consistent improvement. Look for those who excel in key areas like accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with standards. Their ability to efficiently handle complex tasks indicates a strong understanding of financial principles and potential for growth.

Instead restrict the employees with a specific function we have to enable the opportunity to explore in across all areas of accounts. so that by doing such a periodic rotation we can recognize the real protentional of the employee in the department.

Metrics are the easiest quantifiable measure of performance but remember to review each key item in your metrics. Are they really able to measure an individual performance? Use your judgement as a manager and see if these metrics are able to reflect your team's performance; a high performer should have high scores in metrics, a low performer should have low scores. If your metrics fail to reflect actual performance, consider revisiting your key items and even targets. Having KPIs would be pointless if it does not reflect real performance so calibrate often and remember expectations should be communicated at the start of all targets and tasks.

When evaluating high-performing employees, look for those who consistently meet or exceed KPIs, complete tasks on time without compromising quality, and receive positive feedback from clients for their reliability and professionalism. Additionally, consider their initiative and drive: those with a proactive attitude who take the initiative to improve processes and suggest innovative solutions, show a commitment to continuous learning and staying updated with industry changes, and set and achieve ambitious goals, demonstrating a strong work ethic and dedication.

It has been my personal experience that the highest performers in most industries are those that thrive on change. With the constant influx of new technology, high accounting performers need to be flexible and able to change accounting platforms in addition to keeping up with CEU,s , current KPI's and the ebbs and flow of business. Adaptability is the key.

Ability to adapt to change is an important trait of high performance professionals. The business world today is fast evolving with changes in the business environment, technology, regulatory environment and internal business needs. Accounting professionals have to be agile to continue adding value to the organizations they serve.

Adaptability is easily one of the best indicators of a high performer. In most types of tasks, there are two faces: how to do it and why we do it - the procedural and the theoretical. Anyone can follow procedure, especially with instructional guides. But what sets a high performer is knowing why you do things. Experts can easily adapt to new tasks because of strong foundational knowledge. Check in with your employees and ask why you do the procedure instead of how, those who can answer whys are SMEs or potential SMEs.

When assessing leadership qualities of an high-potential employee, it is important to look at the employee's willingness to take full ownership of assigned responsibilities and to NOT shift blame to other team members or external factors. Even in a highly automated environment, corporate accounting is still a very tasking job that requires dutiful and detail concentration and determination to meet deadlines including tax fillings and other regulatory requirements. A very smart corporate accountant who lacks attention to detail and the dutifulness to see through tasks during peak or busy season will find it difficult to exceed or even meet performance expectations in today's ever-changing corporate accounting environment.