What to Include in My Accountant Job Performance Appraisal

Working as an accountant allows you to perform many tasks. However, one duty that you may not have anticipated is completing a self assessment for your performance appraisal. It is wise of your supervisor to request your input on your performance during the last review period. This gives you an opportunity to reflect on your output and to have a voice in a document that will become a part of your personnel file.

Your performance requirements should not be a surprise to you. You should have received a plan an accountant position shortly after you were hired. It is very similar, if not identical, to your performance review, except that it states the categories of an accountant's duties and what the company considers to be satisfactory completion of them. Although the different positions in your company will have custom plans, a category that will be similar in all of them is the one for general requirements. Regardless of your job, you will be expected to satisfy certain requirements, such as coming to work on time, getting along with your coworkers, accepting assignments willingly and being organized.

Before you were given your performance plan, your company probably did an analysis of job duties for the position of accountant. Once the tasks required were listed, it was determined what you need to do to perform them satisfactorily. Therefore, when you complete your self-assessment, look at the duties and responsibilities for accountant and rate yourself on the level of performance for each. For example, you may need to assess your ability to analyze and apply standard accounting principals. If your work does not contain many errors, you can give yourself an above average rating. Consider your skills balancing records, completing reports on time and using accounting software properly. If you look at each task separately, you would be able to rate yourself more accurately and determine if you are performing your job at a satisfactory or above level.

Many positions in a company require employees to interact with management, coworkers, members of the public and customers. Therefore, communication and interpersonal skills are vital to performing your job duties. As an accountant, you may have to contact other departments to answer your questions or retrieve records. If you don't work well with other staff members, this may impact your productivity and performance. Be objective when rating yourself in this area and think about your interactions with others before you decide your level of competency.

There may be a section at the bottom of your appraisal that offers you an opportunity to leave comments. You may feel that your assessment of the duties performed is sufficient. However, adding your comments will give you a chance to explain areas in which you feel you need improvement. You can explain a negative situation that occurred with another employee during the rating period or the time that you were unable to balance the income and expense report for one of your assigned departments. You also may add your goals for the next rating period and your desire to promote to a senior accountant position one day. State your goals for the next review period.