
SFU-008 - Module 6 (Soft skills)
Springpod Team
Created on September 17, 2024
Over 30 million people build interactive content in Genially.
Check out what others have designed:
LET’S GO TO LONDON!
Personalized
SLYCE DECK
Personalized
ENERGY KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
Personalized
CULTURAL HERITAGE AND ART KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
Personalized
ABOUT THE EEA GRANTS AND NORWAY
Personalized
DOWNFALLL OF ARAB RULE IN AL-ANDALUS
Personalized
HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT KEY
Personalized
Transcript
Soft Skill: Trustworthiness
Introduction
As you embark on your journey through university and start contemplating your future career, it’s crucial to recognise the significance of soft skills. Among these, trustworthiness stands out as one of the most vital. Regardless of your chosen field, being trustworthy can significantly impact your career success and personal growth.
What is Trustworthiness?
Conclusion
Types of Trustworthiness
Why Trustworthiness is Crucial for Your Career
Developing Your Trustworthiness Skills
Learning Objectives
Using Bloom's Taxonomy, the learning objectives for this negotiation activity, which reinforces trustworthiness as a soft skill, can be categorised as follows:
By following these learning objectives, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of effective negotiation techniques and how to apply them in professional email communication.
Creating
Evaluating
Understanding
Analysing
Applying
Remembering
Soft Skill: Assessing and Enhancing Trustworthiness in Financial Reporting
This activity will help you develop and enhance the soft skill of trustworthiness through understanding and applying ethical standards and accuracy in financial reporting.
Imagine you are an Accountant at a medium-sized company. You are responsible for preparing the quarterly financial report that will be reviewed by stakeholders, including investors and regulatory bodies. You have encountered a discrepancy in the financial records: a minor error that, while not material, could be misleading if not corrected.
Preparation (5 minutes):
1
Analysis (10 minutes):
2
Reflect on the following questions:
Identify Ethical Considerations
- What are the potential consequences of leaving the error uncorrected?
- How might the error affect the stakeholders' trust in the company's financial reporting?
- What are the ethical standards and responsibilities you must uphold as an Accountant?
Write down your responses to the questions, focusing on:
Document Your Thoughts
- The importance of accuracy and transparency in financial reporting.
- How correcting the error aligns with maintaining trustworthiness.
Application (10 minutes):
3
Develop a brief plan for how you would handle the situation. Include:
Addressing the Error:
Steps for correction: Outline the specific actions you will take to correct the discrepancy.Communication Strategy: Describe how you will communicate the correction to stakeholders to ensure transparency and maintain trust.Document Your Plan: Write a short summary of your plan, emphasising how it ensures accuracy and maintains trustworthiness.
Reflection (5 minutes):
4
Consider the following:
Reflect on Trustworthiness
- How did addressing the error demonstrate trustworthiness in your role as an Accountant?
- What did you learn about the role of trustworthiness in maintaining ethical standards in financial reporting?
Summarise your thoughts on how the activity helped you understand the importance of trustworthiness in accounting.
Write a Brief Reflection
Conclusion
By completing this activity, you will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of trustworthiness in financial reporting. You will also develop practical skills for addressing ethical dilemmas and ensuring transparency in financial practices.
Model answers
Analysis (10 minutes):
2
Potential consequences of leaving the error uncorrected:
Identify Ethical Considerations
Impact on Stakeholders' Trust:
Ethical Standards and Responsibilities:
Application (10 minutes):
3
Develop a brief plan for how you would handle the situation. Include:
Addressing the Error:
Steps for correction
Communication Strategy
Reflection (5 minutes):
4
Through this activity, I've learned the importance of acting with integrity and transparency in financial reporting. By addressing errors promptly and communicating openly with stakeholders, I can maintain and build trustworthiness in my role as an Accountant.
By addressing and correcting the error, I demonstrated trustworthiness by ensuring that all financial information provided to stakeholders was accurate and reliable.The transparency in communication about the correction upholds the company's reputation for integrity and accountability.
Demonstration of Trustworthiness:
Summary:
Lessons learned:
Well done!
You have completed this soft skills activity. We hope you have enjoyed the programe and picked up some new skills and information!
- Accuracy: Accountants are responsible for ensuring that financial reports are accurate and free from errors.
- Transparency: Any discrepancies should be disclosed and corrected to maintain trustworthiness and transparency.
- Integrity: Upholding high ethical standards means addressing even minor errors to ensure the reliability of financial information.
- Investors: Investors rely on accurate financial statements to make informed decisions. An error, even minor, can erode their confidence in the company's reporting practices.
- Regulatory Bodies: Regulatory bodies expect full transparency. Failure to correct discrepancies can lead to issues with compliance and potentially legal ramifications.
To develop your trustworthiness skills, focus on building strong integrity, reliability, and accountability abilities. Practice integrity by consistently adhering to your moral and ethical principles, even when it’s challenging. Enhance your reliability by meeting deadlines, fulfilling promises, and being punctual. Develop your accountability by taking responsibility for your actions, admitting mistakes, and learning from them. Practice honesty by being transparent in your communications, avoiding deceit, and providing truthful feedback. Additionally, protect confidentiality by respecting privacy and handling sensitive information with care. Seek feedback from peers, mentors, and supervisors to understand how others perceive your trustworthiness and address areas for improvement. Reflect on your actions and decisions regularly to ensure they align with your values and ethical standards.
- Misleading Information: The minor error, if not corrected, could lead to stakeholders making decisions based on inaccurate information. While the error might not seem material, it could affect perceptions of the company's overall financial health.
- Reputation Damage: Even minor errors can contribute to a loss of trust in the company's financial reporting accuracy. This could harm the company's reputation with investors, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders.
- Regulatory Issues: Depending on the nature of the discrepancy, not correcting it could lead to compliance issues or regulatory scrutiny.
- Internal Notification: Inform the finance team and management about the correction. Provide details on what the error was and how it was corrected.
- Stakeholder Communication: Prepare a brief explanation of the correction for stakeholders, including any affected investors and regulatory bodies. Emphasise the company's commitment to transparency and accuracy.
- Document the Process: Keep detailed records of the error, the correction process, and communications made. This documentation will be useful for future reference and audits.
- Trustworthiness in accounting is not just about avoiding large-scale errors, but also about managing and correcting even minor discrepancies with honesty and transparency.
- Maintaining trust requires ongoing diligence, attention to detail, and a commitment to ethical standards in all financial practices.
- Verify the Error: Double-check the discrepancy to confirm that it is an actual error and not a misunderstanding or misinterpretation.
- Correct the Error: Adjust the financial records to reflect accurate information. Ensure that all related documents are updated accordingly.
- Review: Conduct a thorough review of the corrected report to ensure no further errors are present and that the financial information is accurate.
- Identify key ethical standards related to accuracy and transparency in financial reporting.
- Differentiate between the consequences of correcting versus not correcting financial errors.
- Develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing and communicating financial discrepancies to uphold trustworthiness in financial reporting.
There are various forms of trustworthiness, each playing a crucial role in different contexts. Integrity involves adhering to moral and ethical principles, even when faced with challenges or temptations, essential in building a solid personal and professional reputation. Reliability includes consistently fulfilling commitments and responsibilities, and ensuring others can depend on you, which is crucial in teamwork and leadership roles. Honesty involves being truthful and transparent in your communications and actions, fostering trust and openness, important in all interpersonal interactions. Confidentiality includes protecting sensitive information and respecting privacy, vital in professions that handle personal or proprietary data. Accountability involves taking responsibility for your actions and decisions, and demonstrating reliability and maturity, which is essential in managerial and collaborative environments.
- Explain the potential impact of financial discrepancies on stakeholders' trust.
- Summarise the ethical responsibilities of an Accountant in maintaining trustworthiness.
Trustworthiness is a foundational soft skill that underpins your ability to succeed in any career. By developing your integrity, reliability, and accountability skills, you will be better equipped to build relationships, advance in your career, enhance productivity, and foster a positive organisational culture. Start honing your trustworthiness skills now, and you’ll set yourself up for a successful and fulfilling professional journey.
- Create a plan to correct financial discrepancies and communicate transparently with stakeholders.
- Assess the effectiveness of different approaches for ensuring accuracy and maintaining trustworthiness.
Trustworthiness plays a fundamental role in building relationships, career advancement, performance, productivity, and organisational culture. It helps build trust and rapport with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders by demonstrating your reliability and integrity. Strong trustworthiness enhances career advancement opportunities, as employers value individuals who can be relied upon to act ethically and fulfil commitments. Trustworthiness boosts performance and productivity by fostering a dependable work environment, reducing the need for constant oversight, and encouraging collaboration.Additionally, being trustworthy supports a positive organisational culture by promoting honesty, transparency, and ethical behaviour, contributing positively to overall morale and cohesion.
Trustworthiness is the ability to be reliable, honest, and ethical in your actions and interactions. It involves consistently demonstrating integrity, keeping promises, and being dependable. Trustworthiness requires a combination of honesty, reliability, and ethical behaviour, allowing you to build and maintain trust with others.