The Impact of Soft Skills on Accountants’ Performance

Abstract

Soft skills are essential components that significantly contribute to enhancing the efficiency of accountants and improving the quality of their performance in modern work environments. Technical competencies alone are no longer sufficient to address the challenges of the profession and the rapid changes in business environments. The research problem stems from the limited attention paid to personal and behavioral skills among accountants, despite their vital role in enhancing communication, teamwork, decision-making, and handling work-related stress. This study aims to examine the impact of soft skills on improving accountants’ performance by analyzing the relationship between the possession of a set of soft skills and the level of professional performance. The researchers adopted the inductive approach by reviewing and analyzing relevant foreign literature, including theses, dissertations, and academic journals, which played a significant role in addressing the research problem and supporting the theoretical hypotheses. The practical part of the study relied on a structured questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection, utilizing a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire included three main sections: the first focused on demographic variables (gender, academic qualification, years of experience, field of specialization, and job title), while the second and third addressed the study variables. The independent variable (soft skills) was measured through three dimensions with a total of 15 items, while the dependent variable (accountants’ performance) was assessed using 10 items, making the total number of questionnaire items 25. The findings revealed a statistically significant positive impact of soft skills on accountants’ performance, indicating that these skills enhance productivity, accuracy, and positive interaction within the workplace. The study recommends incorporating soft skills into accounting education and training programs and adopting comprehensive performance evaluation criteria that consider both behavioral and interpersonal dimensions of the accountant’s role.