The document provides comprehensive information on performance appraisals for accountants, covering methods, tips, forms, and key responsibilities associated with different accounting positions. It emphasizes the importance of evaluating performance through various methods such as ranking, rating scales, and checklist approaches, along with the benefits and limitations of each. Additionally, it highlights the significance of mentoring and continuous education for accountants to improve their career prospects.

1. Performance appraisal for accountants
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I. Contents of getting performance appraisal for accountants
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Designing a performance appraisal for an accounting position involves identifying the key
responsibilities that make up the position. Accounting is a broad term that embodies a variety of
different types of positions and duties. Key responsibilities of a position establish the criteria for
an employee's job performance goals. Identifying the key responsibilities for each type of
position is essential in designing an effective appraisal document.
Accounting Types and Duties
There are basically four types of accountants; each with their own unique sets of responsibilities.
Public accountants, including certified public accountants, prepare simple taxes and conduct
forensic accounting and external auditing. Management accountants perform some of the same
tasks, but provide their services to a corporation or organization versus offering them to the
public. Governmental accountants practice accounting that is focused on government agencies.
Internal auditors, the fourth accounting type, focus on identifying waste and financial fraud
within organizations. Managers can compile a list of key responsibilities which touch each one
of these positions in order to formulate a performance evaluation that is fair and effective.
Key Responsibilities
An accountant's key responsibilities rely on some general skills required for all accounting
positions. An accountant employee should be serving the client whether it is an internal client as
an internal auditor or an external client as a public accountant. Goals for accountants would
include effective communication with clients both internal and external, and error-free

2. accounting reports whether it is a simple tax preparation or an accounting audit. Producing
reports in a timely manner for clients both internal and external would also be a critical part of an
accountant's position whether he is a public accountant, management accountant, internal auditor
or government accountant.
Rating Performance
Managers must use some type of measurement in order to communicate if an accountant has met
his performance goals for the year. One simple measurement tool is a scale that includes a rating
for "exceptional performance," "strong performance," "fully competent," "continued
development," "poor" or "new to position." If a performance rating is below the "fully
competent" rating, feedback should be given about how the accountant can develop skills to
correct the problem.
Career Development Goals
There are three main facets for encouraging accountants to develop in their careers. These steps
are easily linked to performance goals. Assign your new accountants a mentor within the firm or
within the community. Mentoring can help new hires learn about the nuance of the field outside
of their direct supervisors. Mentors can also provide a sounding board for questions and concerns
that accountants have. Encouraging further education and certification not only educates the
accountants in your firm, but also makes them more valuable. Companies should also consider
the benefits of professional development, including training in soft skills like team building and
communication.
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III. Performance appraisal methods
1.Ranking Method
The ranking system requires the rater to rank his
subordinates on overall performance. This consists in
simply putting a man in a rank order. Under this method,
the ranking of an employee in a work group is done
against that of another employee. The relative position of
each employee is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It
may also be done by ranking a person on his job
performance against another member of the competitive
group.
Advantages of Ranking Method
i. Employees are ranked according to their performance
levels.

3. ii. It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.
Limitations of Ranking Method
i. The “whole man” is compared with another “whole man”
in this method. In practice, it is very difficult to compare
individuals possessing various individual traits.
ii. This method speaks only of the position where an
employee stands in his group. It does not test anything
about how much better or how much worse an employee
is when compared to another employee.
iii. When a large number of employees are working, ranking
of individuals become a difficult issue.
iv. There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals
in the organization. The ranking system does not eliminate
the possibility of snap judgements.
2. Rating Scale
Rating scales consists of several numerical scales
representing job related performance criterions such as
dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc.
Each scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total
numerical scores are computed and final conclusions are
derived. Advantages – Adaptability, easy to use, low cost,
every type of job can be evaluated, large number of
employees covered, no formal training required.
Disadvantages – Rater’s biases
3. Checklist method

4. Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of
employee in the form of Yes or No based questions is
prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or
checking and HR department does the actual evaluation.
Advantages – economy, ease of administration, limited
training required, standardization. Disadvantages – Raters
biases, use of improper weighs by HR, does not allow
rater to give relative ratings
4. Critical Incidents Method
The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of
employee that makes all the difference in the
performance. Supervisors as and when they occur record
such incidents. Advantages – Evaluations are based on
actual job behaviors, ratings are supported by
descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases,
chances of subordinate improvement are high.
Disadvantages – Negative incidents can be prioritized,
forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback
may be too much and may appear to be punishment.
5. Essay Method

5. In this method the rater writes down the employee
description in detail within a number of broad categories
like, overall impression of performance, promoteability
of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of
performing jobs, strengths and weaknesses and training
needs of the employee. Advantage – It is extremely
useful in filing information gaps about the employees
that often occur in a better-structured checklist.
Disadvantages – It its highly dependent upon the writing
skills of rater and most of them are not good writers.
They may get confused success depends on the memory
power of raters.
6. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
statements of effective and ineffective behaviors
determine the points. They are said to be
behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to
say, which behavior describes the employee
performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating
errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions
inherent in most rating techniques.
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