Hiring a Financial Services VA? Look for these Skills

There are multiple benefits of hiring a virtual assistant (VA). For starters, VAs are skilled in various areas, work on several crucial tasks, and ease your workload. Delegating responsibilities to a VA also allows you to keep everything organized and ultimately increase business efficiency and productivity. 

Getting a VA with finance skills to handle invoicing processes can make your transactions faster and smoother. Entrusting financial services tasks to a VA can help facilitate streamlined transactions.

Here, we’ll discuss the core virtual assistant skills to consider when hiring a financial services VA.

Soft Skills

•  Impeccable Organizational Skills

 As an entrepreneur, one of the top skills you should look for in a virtual assistant is organization. Someone with good organizational skills can help you plan, prioritize, and achieve your business goals. 

 You’ll want to recruit financial services VAs who can work to achieve results consistently and efficiently. Financial services VAs specialize in crucial tasks such as managing bank statements and incoming invoices, preparing general accounting reports, and other core business transactions. 

These are tasks that need to be accomplished efficiently; hence, your VA should be capable of staying on top of those with minimal supervision.

•  Great Attention to Detail

 A VA with excellent attention to detail minimizes the risk of errors. Hiring a financial service VA who is meticulous reduces the amount of checking, revising, and supervision on your end.

Financial work requires a detail-oriented eye. Your financial services VA should be able to identify inconsistencies in transaction records such as receipts, payments, financial statements, and business purchases. After all, consistency and accuracy are crucial when it comes to financial reporting.

 Moreover, maintaining attention to detail ensures efficiency as one works through projects and increases productivity.

•  Strong Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are vital in a financial VA. Your VA should demonstrate strong logical thinking, have the skills to look, analyze, and compare data in different ways, and present these data comprehensively.

An excellent VA can sift through financial records with a sharp eye and an even sharper mind.  However, note that analytical skills are rarely learned from a textbook; more often than not, it is gained through experience. So, when you’re hiring for a financial services VA, look for someone with extensive experience.

• Good Interpersonal Skills

 A lot of people-dealing goes into handling business transactions, so your VA must also have good interpersonal communication skills. 

Having good interpersonal skills means understanding what is needed to get along with others. Your VA should have the foresight to effectively work with different people and address diverse business issues accordingly. Ultimately, effective business communication promotes efficiency.

Hard Skills

•  Bookkeeping Know-How

If you’re a solopreneur, you’ll want your financial services VA to be adept in bookkeeping affairs. This may include recording income and outgoings and posting them to various accounts, processing payments, reconciling reports to third-party records such as bank statements, and producing financial reports.

With a financial services VA dedicated to handling your bookkeeping, your business records are always up to date, resulting in faster reporting and analysis, which facilitates more immediate business response time.  In addition, an organized bookkeeping system allows for easier financial planning and better tax prediction.  

• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel

 Microsoft Excel is an essential tool in generating financial insight and analysis. It plays a role in forecasting and facilitating a company’s growth. As an entrepreneur, hiring a VA who is highly skilled in this software is key to managing your business data and financials smoothly. 

Financial services VAs proficient in Microsoft Excel can help you store and analyze data securely. They can also visualize data through charts and graphs to help identify trends that can guide you in making informed business decisions. With your VA’s mastery of Microsoft Excel, you can rest assured that your business financials and data are handled effectively. 

• Knowledge of XERO, Quickbooks, Fresh Books, or Other Applications

XERO, Quickbooks, and Fresh Books are essential in organizing invoices, payroll, and accounting records. In running your business, a VA with working knowledge of these software can be an asset.

Financial services VAs who know their way around these applications can deal with the crucial tasks of sorting business transaction records and organizing financial documents and files. They can help enhance overall business efficiency and productivity.

• Industry-Specific Certification

When hiring a financial services VA, look for candidates who have certifications under their belt. This indicates that they meet a certain standard of competence. Getting certified means they are updated with recent industry technologies and regulations.

Hiring a VA with certification in financial services can help your business operate on the latest best practices. An assistant armed with the knowledge and competence on the latest developments and trends in the industry can ultimately help with your company’s growth.

Skilled VAs Contribute to Business Efficiency 

As an entrepreneur, your core tasks can often get overshadowed due to your packed schedule. In such circumstances, VAs come in handy. Consider outsourcing a virtual assistant to help you facilitate smoother business transactions. 

If you’re starting to grow your brand, there are VAs who specialize in small business operations. Outsource Access can arm you with the right VA from our pool of highly trained virtual assistants for small businesses.