ICAEW 100 COMPETITION

Developing your skills

ICAEW 100 Feedback Report

More than you'd imagine

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ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

Introduction
Thank you for taking part in ICAEW 100. We hope you enjoyed the
opportunity to learn more about the varied work ICAEW Chartered
Accountants do.

By taking part, we were able to analyse your strengths so you can develop your
capabilities and maximise your potential in the next step of your careers, whatever
that may be.

In this report you will find:

YOUR TOP THREE STRENGTHS

These are the three areas you performed in best during the competition. We will
provide you with some additional tips, so you can make the most of these strengths
throughout the rest of university and beyond.

YOUR DEVELOPMENT AREA

This was your lowest scoring area within the tasks. We will share some suggestions
on how you can improve this for the future.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

Your top three strengths

This section gives you feedback on the areas we identified as your top
three strengths. These are likely to be areas in which you perform well and
that you enjoy doing. When using these strengths, you may find that you
feel energised and that time goes by quickly.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

CURIOUS LEARNER
ICAEW Chartered Accountants need to constantly seek out opportunities to build
their knowledge and develop new skills. This could be getting to know their clients'
business or improving ways of doing things within their organisation. Your answers
suggest you are motivated to ask a lot of questions, and that you enjoy the
opportunity to learn new things. When you have learnt a new skill, you may be quick
to put this into practice quickly and effectively.

How to take this strength further in your future career:

Consider whether there is anyone close to you, such as a lecturer or someone on

your course who you could learn from. Be proactive in reaching out to them and
create opportunities for them to share their experience, knowledge or skills with
you.
Try to find new sources of information to learn from, rather than relying on the
same sources every time. If a subject area interests you, try to find different views
on it from sources such as professional magazines, relevant blogs or Twitter
pages. Think about how you can use this information for the benefit of your team.

Points to consider:

While it is beneficial to have a breadth of knowledge and skills, targeting your

learning and development will help you to focus on opportunities which will
support you in your career. Look for gaps in your development, or areas which
particularly interest you.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

INTEGRITY
It's vitally important that ICAEW Chartered accountants demonstrate honesty and
integrity in everything they do. Chartered accountants have a responsibility to act in
the public interest first and foremost. Your responses suggest that you are guided by
a strong moral code, which influences both your behaviour and your decision
making. You are likely to want to do what is right, and will be driven to challenge any
conduct or business practice which you feel is against regulations.

How to take this strength further in your future career:

Think back to a situation where you spoke out against something that you
considered to be wrong or unfair. What did you say? What actions did you take?
Think about how you could use this approach again in the future. Consider how
you could influence the team to remember these principles when approaching the
questions within the next round.
When joining a new organisation or institution, explore whether there are any
recognised governing bodies, like ICAEW, you can join. This will help you to be
proactive in identifying, and adhering to, appropriate business conduct.

Points to consider:

Trying to always do what is right is great and in some situations, it can be critical.
However, make sure that your tendency to adhere to regulations does not prevent
you from being open or considering things from different perspectives; this may
introduce you to a new way of thinking and working whilst still allowing you to
maintain your professional integrity.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
A career in accountancy will require you to build up relationships with a wide range
of individuals, and reach out to others in order to achieve results through
collaboration. These might be clients, members of your finance team, or other
chartered accountants. Your responses suggest that you naturally develop these
lasting relationships, taking the time to get to know people and to understand their
needs. You are likely to be proactive in reaching out to others and may be starting to
build a team around you to help you achieve success.

How to take this strength further in your future career:

Sign up to career talks or events that will enable you to build your professional or
social network. Making new connections will start to build your professional profile
and help you learn more about the world of accountancy.
Consider how you can use your ability to reach out to your course mates and
friends who may find it more difficult to build up relationships with new people.
Make them feel at ease and try to include them in discussions when exploring
solutions.

Points to consider:

While making plenty of new connections is important, ensure you do not focus on
quantity over quality. Building strong relationships that go beyond a superficial
level are likely to be more valuable to you in the long-term.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

Your development area

This section gives you feedback on the area that we identified as your
lowest strength, of those that were included in the ICAEW 100. This is
likely to be an area where you perform less well, or something you may
not enjoy doing as much as your top strengths. Please note that this
should not be interpreted as a weakness - it is simply the lowest scoring
strength of those that were measured.
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

COMMERCIAL ACUMEN
In the world of business, it's important to demonstrate sound business skills,
understand the wider organisational context in which accountants operate, and be
interested in how organisations are affected by the world around them (eg,
monitoring market trends, or being aware of the hot topics within different
industries). Your answers suggest that you tend to focus on your day to day
activities, rather than monitoring the wider context of your work. You may prefer to
keep up to date with your area of expertise or interest, and will not naturally look
beyond this to identify any broader trends or developments.

Developing your Capability:

What can you do to understand more about the purpose of the task you are
doing? This might align to the goals of a specific project, or support the broader
values of a particular initiative.
Think about where you can find information on the latest trends, opportunities and
developments taking place in the accountancy world. Specialist magazines might
be useful, as well as following key strategic thinkers or companies on twitter.
Next time you have to make a decision, take time to step back and consider the
broader context around it. Are there any factors you haven't considered which
could potentially impact the success or outcome of your decision? If you're not
sure, is there someone you could reach out to for this insight?
ICAEW 100 COMPETITION FEEDBACK REPORT

Finally ...
Please remember that these strengths have been chosen from the set of
strengths we know are important for chartered accountants. You will have
many more strengths than these, everyone has a unique combination of
strengths that they can use to support them in their career.

We hope that this feedback report has given you an insight into some of your
strengths, and has provided some suggestions to help you make the most of your
potential at this stage in your career.

Thank you again for taking part in the ICAEW 100 competition, and we will be in
touch soon to let you know if you're in the top 100!

NEXT STEPS
If you're interested in how you can boost your employability with a
globally recognised qualification and be equipped with the skills
employers seek visit icaew.com/careers or you may contact an
ICAEW office near you here to find out more

JOB SEARCH
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Chartered accountants are talented, ethical and committed professionals. There are
more than 1.8m chartered accountants and students around the world, and more
than 186,500 of them are members and students of ICAEW.

ICAEW promotes inclusivity, diversity and fairness. We attract talented individuals

and give them the skills and values they need to build resilient businesses,
economies and societies, while ensuring our planet's resources are managed
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Founded in 1880, we have a long history of serving the public interest and we
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We believe that chartered accountancy can be a force for positive change. By

sharing our insight, expertise and understanding we can help to create strong
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