Technical Skills to Pay the Bills

Learning new skills can be a daunting task, especially under time constraints. I was fortunate enough to have a patient mentor in Bruegel’s financial officer Zouhir Khelili. He and a temporary financial consultant Michael Fivet were quite helpful in teaching me basic accounting principles, office procedures and how to use the SAGE 50 accounting software. While a working knowledge of all these things was important to fulfilling my tasks, there many things that required judgment and open-ended tasks that needed personal evaluation and a myriad of skills. My first open ended assignment regarding data required speed, creativity and analysis.

It was a typical day at the office. I arrived at nine in the morning, checked my email, and got to work on some audit exercises and data entry within the accounting software. After finishing my tasks for the day that had been assigned by Zouhir I asked him if he had anything special I could assist him with. Zouhir thought for a bit and then told me that management had been considering investment options and needed to know how much money should be left behind as a minimum threshold to cover expenses. I thought we would tackle this problem together, but he sent me some data he had aggregated and asked for me to give it an original take.

(BOB SAGE 50 accounting software I used on a daily basis)

I began with a set of cash inflows and outflows and just sat there staring at my screen for a couple minutes, temporarily frozen. I began running some basic statistics to understand the pattern of flows and then Zouhir informed me if he could have my analysis in an hour. At this point I began to panic as I had not even begun to forecast what this inflows could be for the next five years, a critical exercise for knowing how much money would be needed behind. There were only two options, flail or give it my best. I turned to my past operations course from Furman and selected a forecasting technique and then adjusted this technique to fit the situation. I made some graphics to represent what I had found and then came back to Zouhir with my suggestion. Zouhir was very receptive to my analysis, congratulating me for using outside techniques.

I already knew that working was different from the classroom in that there is not a textbook with material telling you exactly how to solve a problem or issue, issues that typically have one correct answer. Working is going into a new situation or scenario and having to access the problem and then properly diagnose a solution. Most of the time you have to struggle with finding the solution. Developing new skills is important. McKinsey & Company estimates that 50% of global jobs have at least 30% of their responsibilities subject to being replaced by artificial intelligence. As I accomplish new things and learn new skills in the future, it will be essential to not grow complacent or overly confident in my skills. Technology is always advancing, and it is important to do that which computers cannot.