THE EVOLUTION OF THE FORMATION OF SOFT SKILLS OF ACCOUNTING SPECIALISTS

Introduction. In modern conditions, when many functions that were previously performed by accountants are successfully automated by accounting systems, the need for the development of soft skills of accounting specialists to meet the requirements of the modern labor market is becoming more urgent. It is no longer enough to have the appropriate education and work experience. While hard skills used to be the main focus, now more and more attention is being paid to communication, teamwork and adaptability. For successful employment on the labor market, an accountant must possess not only professional competencies, but also a wide range of communication skills and personal skills. The content, evolution of the formation and development prospects of soft skills to create a significant change in the construction of one's own educational and professional strategies, as well as the skills and abilities of a professional accountant are determined in the study. The relationship between soft skills (such as communication, time management, and problem solving skills) and an accounting career is shown. It is emphasized that over the past several decades, the requirements of employers for the set of competencies and skills of workers have become significantly more complicated. The article focuses on the fact that from the point of view of a potential employer for accounting and auditing specialists, the most promising and those in need of development are such basic key soft skills as communication skills, critical thinking, interpersonal communication skills, information and digital literacy, ethics, emotional intelligence, etc. The importance of understanding modern trends in the transition to the popularization of the development of soft skills within the educational training and professional retraining of accounting specialists in order to effectively carry out their professional activities is substantiated. The prerequisites for the need to develop precisely those skills that are most in demand among employers are considered, and a list of universal competencies and soft-skills of an accountant in modern conditions is presented