Building bridges: a guide to adapting to the different needs of clients

Hello, Ioana! Thank you for choosing to share your time and valuable experience with us today! Ready to dive in?

Hello, everyone! Thank you as well for having me, I’m ready when you are!

Firstly, to offer our readers some context and for us to get to know you better, what is your current role within Forvis Mazars in Romania? How did your professional journey look like up until now?

My current role is that of Assistant Manager, within the Audit department of Forvis Mazars in Romania. I have been a part of the company for approximately 6 years.

You could say that my professional journey looked a little like an electrocardiogram in some periods, with ups and downs. I don’t want to paint an unrealistic portrait of the auditor occupation, and for that I will say that it is, indeed, challenging in all aspects, as well as beautiful and fulfilling at the same time. My career began when I was offered a junior role in audit in another company, role that I gave up after approximately one year, thinking that auditing is not the job for me. At that time, I tried to follow a different trajectory, with a job in a different domain, and shortly felt that I didn’t connect with the dull and boring atmosphere and needed a more dynamic environment.

This experience was the one that made me realise that I missed the busy season atmosphere, the continuous learning and development, the interaction with my team and clients, as well as the rewarding feeling of a team effort. So here I am, today, working in audit once again!

Let’s offer our readers a more detailed perspective upon your role. What are the daily tasks and activities of a normal workday for you?

Firstly, I am responsible for coordinating and managing the team, ensuring that together we are finalising the auditing processes for each of our clients. Alongside that, I am maintaining the communication with our clients, reviewing the working sheets of my colleagues, as well as preparing my own work sheets for future discussions and status meetings with my manager.

If we’re talking about a day in busy season, then the previously presented equation might suffer some changes, due to the concourse of tasks and the increased importance of each of them. Because of this, I am making sure that I have all my tasks planned ahead of time, and no task or deadline gets overlooked. In this way, my work becomes efficient and better organised.

You’re working closely with your clients, delivering the best quality services, personalised to the needs of each one of them. How do you manage the process of adapting to these specific needs, from one client to another?

The process of adapting to each client’s needs is fairly easy to manage. The first step towards that is to understand very well the activity and the particularities of the firm. We’re usually discovering those during the first interactions with the clients or from the questionnaires they complete for us. After that, we’re letting the numbers talk. More in depth discussions with the client then follow, concerning the variations and the evolution the company within the year we are auditing.

Good, efficient communication plays a big role in any long-lasting relationship. What are your best practices to follow when establishing that communication within your professional relationships, especially with clients?

I believe in creating a human connection first and foremost, and this is why I consider essential meeting the clients and the people behind the e-mails and calls face to face. Upon meeting them, the barrier imposed by distance disappears, equality being established. You are becoming a team that agrees upon the best practices for reaching the common objectives.

How do you maintain your focus on delivering specific services to one particular client, when working simultaneously for multiple ones?

I like to be organised and I prioritise very well my responsibilities, so I can deliver the best quality services to each of my clients, even during the times when I work for three, maybe four clients in a single week.

I keep track of all aspects related to clients in a folder specially designed for them, which contains the organisation of all necessary tests, the assignment of tasks to each assistant, alongside all the received information.

The experience accumulated with each year on recurrent clients has proved itself to be essential, giving me a good perspective upon our projects. I have managed in this way to reach a profound understanding of each client’s needs and of the most effective way of communication for each of them. Now, our interaction goes beyond the exchange of necessary information during the audit process, forming a relationship based on friendship and trust.

What would be the skills that someone looking to start a career in your field should obtain? What are some aspects that help a financial auditor develop a successful career?

In the beginning as well as at any point in your career, it’s important to be curious, to not be afraid to ask questions and to take risks.

For a junior position, a solid understanding of the accounting or audit processes is not necessary. The wish for constant development will be enough to begin with, while the technical aspects can be picked up along the way. At a certain point of my journey, someone told me that audit cannot be totally learned, because a part of it will have to be stolen from people with more experience than you. I have grown to think that myself, realising the impact that my mentors and colleagues had on my development across time.

Lastly, what piece of advice can you offer to our young readers at the beginning of their career? What is something you would like for them to take as a lesson and incorporate into their life or mindset going forward?

I would tell them to never give up, no matter how hard it will get in certain periods of their careers, because every difficult moment is also evanescent. It’s important to be grateful even in the moments when we fall, to be able to rise stronger and more motivated.

Dear reader, remember, even when you think you can no more, you’re capable of a bit more! :)