You are the Weakest Link!
I’m tired, so rather than explain my appraisal in technicolour detail, I’m going to post the results of the form with a bit of explanatory commentary. It’s over now at least, and as I said to someone earlier, the benefit of always assuming the worst is that you are never unpleasantly surprised 
It could have been worse, but on the whole it was as I expected – no worse, no better!
Let’s jump right in with motivation…
I gave myself a two in a pre-emptive strike, with the explanation:
I received feedback from my line manager during the year that I do not appear to be sufficiently motivated and therefore this is obviously an area I need to work on in future. Since receiving this feedback I have tried to be more motivated on jobs, for example by following up on the files a few weeks later to see if there is anything still outstanding which I can help with. In general, I think I am aware of the areas where I have a development need and will be able to work on these going forward. I would like to stay in the audit department for the foreseeable future so that I can gain more experience and improve.
My manager agreed with the grade, saying:
I agree with Clares comments – if she is to continue to move her career forward Clare needs to take matters into her own hands and show a clear appetite for development.
Clares personality means that she finds it difficult to demonstrate motivation outwardly – I sometimes feel that there is more inside Clare than we realise.
There is indeed hopefully more to me than is evident to someone who speaks to me at best every other month. Not least that I have a superior understanding of apostrophes 
I tried to be optimistic and gave myself a three for drive:
I have taken on board the feedback which I have received during the year and feel I am aware of the areas where I have the greatest development needs. I had a positive comment on my recent Media Square appraisal under drive which said that I had shown a great improvement from previous jobs and was trying to develop my skills as an incharge.
My manager disagreed and marked me down to a two:
Clare has made in roads in this area, but I would still say that Clare does not outwardly demonstrate energy and enthusiasm – as documented elsewhere this does not necessarily mean that she is not enthusiastic – it is just very hard to tell as Clare does to communicate more than she has to.
The last line made me laugh But it’s a fair assessment that I’m not passionate about auditing!
Judgement I knew I was going to score a two so I didn’t try to argue otherwise:
This is another area I feel I need to work on as I have had comments on two appraisals during the year that I need to be more questioning of the information which I am obtaining from clients. I have made efforts to improve in this respect over the past few months, particularly when auditing areas such as accruals, however I think it is something I need to continue to work on going forward.
My manager predictably agreed:
Agree – it is good to see that Clare is self aware and has thought through this attribute. It has been raised with Clare during the year that sometimes she accepts a clients explanations too easily and must adopt a more challenging and corroborative approach to her work. My feeling is that this is certainly not doe to a lack of intellect or technical ability but due to Clare (probably subconciously) avoiding any potential conflict situations.
Interesting psychological assessment – he may have a point.
Credibility and communication was another dead cert two:
This was an area where I was identified as having a development need in the prior year. I feel on a personal level that I have made big improvements in terms of both communication and general confidence over the past twelve months. Now that I have started to in charge jobs, I have made particular effort to call the supervisor/manager rather than rely on email when I have a query. However, I have given myself a two overall as I feel this is an area where I am still not naturally as strong as other people and will require further improvement going forward.
I felt my point that I had improved personally was a valid one, but nevertheless:
Again agree with Clares comments – Clare has a natural weakness in terms of face to face verbal communication and this is an area where Clare will need to constantly push herself and will involve lots of time out of her comfort zone.
Clare still has a tendency to avoid speaking to people when in the office – simple things such as overtime and expenses forms appear in the managers in trays when they step away from their desks. I understand that when on site in a smaller team Clare is more communicative though.
On the client side Clare does seem to have made an effort during the year to try and talk to clients more when on site but I still have a concern that Clare would struggle to deal with a client that was awkward or evasive.
I would like to make the point here that I have never had negative feedback from any source about the way I deal with clients. I’m not the most talkative person in the office, partly because I don’t like most of the people in the office
For resilience I gave myself a three:
I feel I have demonstrated resilience by passing all my exams at the first attempt, and also by ensuring I turn up to work on time despite the fact that I don’t drive (and therefore have longer travelling time than most people).
Manager:
Agreed.
Networking had to be a two. I loathe networking!
I have made an effort to stay in touch with people from other offices who I have met in Hight Wycombe, and I am also in touch with people from other firms who I have met at college. I have also tried to get to know people in the pther Birmingham office, and have had more contact with the tax department this year than last due to starting to in charge jobs. I have been conscious of the need to talk to people face to face/on the phone rather than via email but think this is an area I still need to work on.
Manager:
Agree with Clares comments – some development has been demonstrated but this is still a work in progress.
Selling is a dumb attribute, so I gave myself a three:
I feel that my understanding of the services the firm offers has developed over the past year. Attending the internal careers fair in May was particularly useful in clarifying the different specialisms and departments which the firm has.
My manager couldn’t think of anything work saying either.
Agreed
Technical i bravely went for a three and got away with it
I have given myself a 3 in this area as one of my main objectives for the past year was to pass all three advanced stage examinations at the first sitting, and I demonstrated my technical knowledge by achieving this. I feel that in general my technical knowledge has increased over the past year and I found attending the TM5 UK GAAP course recently very useful. I have also learnt a lot from being out on site on my own and looking up issues on CCH.
Manager:
Clare is a bright person and does seem to have the ability to look into technical issues for herself. From a technical point of view Clare is operating at the level I would expect for somebody at her grade.
I’m bright
Organisation I thought I definitely deserved a three:
I feel I am generally quite organised with my work and do not normally have problems with time management. For example, during the two weeks I spent on MS recently I was able to organise my time and that of the assistant to ensure both audits were substantially completed by the end of the week. I kept the supervisor up to date with my progress and during the second week made time to chase up outstanding information from the client and clear review points from the first week.
And he agreed, albeit with little enthusiasm.
Clare has demonstrated that she can organise when she has had the in-charge role. So far the assignments concerned have not been complex or large – but it is a good start and provides a sound base to build from.
Teamwork wasn’t an area I thought I had a weakness so I went for three.
I normally develop constructive relationships with the people I work with and feel I work well in the team. For example, I worked on MacD earlier in the year which was a very time pressured job and along with the rest of the team I worked a lot of extra hours to make sure the file was completed on time. As well as completing my own sections, I also completed Employee Remuneration in order to help out the other assistant who was struggling for time.
This one annoyed me. The manager gave me a two.
Clare has had a mixed year in terms of teamwork. Clare has had some experience of being an in charge and leading a small team in the year which appears to have gone well. On the other hand when acting as a number two on a team I have received feedback that Clares inability to drive can put pressure on a team as it is not always as easy for clare to work overtime and to get to and from a clients office
When we got to this juncture in the meeting I demanded him to give me a concrete example of where this had ever been an issue. I have worked vast quantities of unclaimed overtime this year and I have never ever refused to arrive early or stay late because I had to catch a bus. He couldn’t/wouldn’t clarify further.
Client service I thought I deserved a three:
I am aware of the need to show respect for clients and try hard to be tactful. For example, I had positive feedback on my Media Square appraisal to say that I had handled a difficult FD well and ensured we got all the information we needed out of him without upsetting/disrupting him too much. I maintain good relationships with some of our pension clients throughout the year; for example on TNT I have just been organising our contributions testing and audit to fit around the holidays of their staff.
My manager gave me a three in a qualified sort of way:
Agree with Clare’s comments – where clare has been the in charge she has provided a good service to her clients.
I would pick up on her point about dealing with the difficult FD at MS – sometimes the answer is not to back off – JS is a tough person to get information out of and he is somebody that you have to keep pushing and pushing. Saying that everybody that has dealt with him in previous years has had similar problems!
Portfolio management I similarly felt three:
I feel I generally have a good understanding of the need to stick to the budget and keep accurate time records. I ensure that my personal circumstances do not impact adversely on the budget, for example if I need to take a taxi I do not always reclaim this on expenses, and I don’t often claim TOIL for travelling time. When I work with juniors on jobs, I try to ensure that any overtime claims they are going to make are reasonable.
And I wasn’t contradicted:
Agreed – as Clare progresses in the in-charge role she will need to get more involved in the budget setting and time and cost management side off jobs.
Commerciality I couldn’t think of anything to say so went for a three:
I regularly read the Accountancy magazines which are mailed to my home and try to stay up to date with developments in the financial world.
That was what I wrote last year and it seemed to go down fine! Similarly this year:
Agreed – Clare appears to understand the businesses that she works on well. I would suggest that Clare thinks in advance of the planning meeting what she wants to know about a client and make sure that she gets as much out of that meeting as possible by asking questions.
I originally gave myself a two for intellect but a friend made me change it to a three:
I feel I have become more confident over the past year and am better able to assess client issues and decide, for example, what needs to be included in the KIM. I have had more practice at reasearching issues on my own and being able to conclude on them. In pension scheme audits, for example, I have been able to use my judgement to assess whether mistakes are breaches and need to be reported. I hope that as I gain more audit experience I will feel similarly confident making decisions on company audits.
Happily my manager didn’t disagree:
Agreed – Clare certainly has the intellect for the profession – she understands the issues and has the ability to do independent research on issues.
All that remained was to set my objectives for next year:
Focus on quality of deliverables provided to manager at end of each assignment – aim should be for minimal amendments to KIM and accounts by manager
Reduce levels of email communication – focus on speaking to people face to face both in the office and on site
Focus on challenging and corroborating clients explanations when working on audit assignments – ensure this is documented fully on audit files
Build up rapport with managers in the office and project personal motivation and drive by showing continued interest in clients both before and after fieldwork phase.
Ensure make time to review work of assistant while out on site.
And that was that. Overall it worked out as more threes than twos but the managers had neverthless decided at their annual meeting that I was a two overall. I was told not to be disheartened by this as the grade had to reflect my performance over the whole year, but over the last few months no one really had anything negative to say; in other words, it has been noted to some extent that I am trying, which is good.
We agreed that to succeed in this job I need to in effect change my personality. I think at one point my manager was trying to tactfully express concern at the fact that I said I was going to stay in audit for the “foreseeable future” as he thinks I have about as much aptitude for this as I do! For me, however, the future is not foreseeable, so staying in audit for the foreseeable future doesn’t rule out me quitting on Monday if I get a better offer
Sadly, at no point was the word payrise mentioned, so I’m still in suspense. Having been graded as a two, I’m unsure what sort of increase I can expect. A modest one, methinks 
Tags: appraisals, confidence