Decades ago, everyone got together and conclusively decided that 90% of meetings were a complete waste of time. But, like most meetings, despite unanimous agreement that there was absolutely no point to the vast majority of meetings, absolutely nothing was actioned, and everything carried on as usual.
That meeting at 4pm on a Friday where half the team won’t put their cameras on? Or that meeting that happens immediately after that other meeting which contains exactly the same people as the previous one? How on earth do you get through them?
For accountants, meetings can occasionally prove useful. You might learn something, like how the boss has spent £50,000 on an advert on Facebook that’s delivered by an AI depiction of Donald Tusk. But you also might sit through a load of marketing people talking in a weird new patois, completely unintelligible to the outside world.
So, here's The Accountant's Survival Guide to Meetings – how to speak up, listen well, present with confidence, answer awkward questions, and leave with your dignity intact.
1. Be cool
Rapport matters. Unfortunately, "rapport” isn’t always the delight that the Sugar Hill Gang will have you believe it is. It can be hard work, but it will pay off, probably.
Things rapport does not mean opening every meeting with a deeply personal story about your journey through management accounting. Being vulnerable is great, but it’s also important to be relatable.
Instead, be normal. Say hello. Ask how someone’s week is going. Try really hard to remember the one thing you know about the person you’re talking to, until sweat starts dripping from your brow, and wedge it in to everything you say. Don’t ask Terry how his family is, you know they ran away to the circus.
Common ground helps. Weather, travel, systems going down – that’s the good stuff. Politics, religion, and whether you will ever see the glint in Terry’s eye again – leave that one for social media comments with your name and workplace clearly visible.
2. Speak up
Meetings tend to reward the people who speak early. This is unfair, because many of the best thoughts arrive later, usually in the shower the evening after work, and coupled with a delightful observation regarding your boss’s hairline.
For quieter people, this is one of the hardest parts. You are still refining your contribution into something measured and eloquently put, while someone else has jetpacked off into the sun (verbally, of course).
So, give yourself a small early win. It does not have to be profound. Say something within the first few minutes so your brain stops treating the meeting like an interrogation and you have your lawyer next to you.
A good meeting contribution does not need to be fully polished. It needs to be useful. Try:
- "Can I just check what decision we need by the end of this?”
- "From a finance perspective, the main risk is timing.”
- "That works, but we’ll need to think about controls.”
None of these will get embroidered onto a cushion, but they do move the meeting forward. And you look like a productive, helpful human being.
3. Use your voice
Accountants often underestimate delivery. We assume that if the numbers are right, the room will naturally understand and appreciate them.
Unfortunately, the way you say something changes how people receive it. Speak too quickly and everyone will be hit with verbal recoil. Speak too quietly and everyone starts smiling at you like you’re 90 years old. Use upward inflection at the end of every sentence and you become 50% more Australian, which is fine by the way.
But maybe slow down when the point matters. Don’t be afraid to pause while you work out what to say. If you are presenting a really risky element, don’t be afraid to hammer that scariness home.
And if you are sharing data, remember that people cannot absorb everything at once. They need a route through it. Something like a chart with a clear message beats sharing your screen on a spreadsheet that has 10 different columns.
The goal is not to show them all the data you have, the goal is to help them understand the bit that matters.
4. Control the remote
Remote meetings are convenient, efficient, and annoying.
The rules are slightly different online. In person, people can read the room. Online, everyone is reading a grid of faces and initials, apart from one person who is definitely watching a particularly juicy episode of Wife Swap on another screen, and keeps on muttering things like "no way” or "she can’t say that” or "those poor kids”.
So, you have to work harder to make the meeting feel alive. After all, you’re competing against a dad who’s just said that he smoked cigarettes when he was 9 and it never did him any harm.
Look at the camera sometimes, even though it feels unnatural and a bit hostagey. Keep your background professional enough that people are not distracted, but not so blank that you appear to be broadcasting from solitary confinement. Wear a headset so when Terry speaks his voice doesn’t echo back, like he’s calling for his family in an abandoned big top.
Hybrid meetings are even trickier, because they combine the worst bits of both worlds – people in the room forgetting the remote attendees exist, shouting across at each other, while remote attendees respond with an 8 second delay.
If you are running a hybrid meeting, make inclusion deliberate. Make sure everyone can see the material being discussed, and explain off-camera laughter – unless it’s a cruel joke at Terry’s expense. You need remote attendees to feel like they’re participating, instead of feeling like Victorian children staring through the window of a bakery on Christmas eve.
5. Deal with questions
When someone asks a question, the temptation is to leap straight in, especially if you know the answer, or think you know the answer, or have a totally unrelated comment but one that is very funny. But you must resist that urge and actually listen to the question.
Thank the person, maybe paraphrase the question – give yourself a moment, basically. This way, you’re being both respectful and thoughtful. Well done you.
If you do not know the answer, say so. It might seem silly, but it’s far less silly than stumbling over something you think it might be, before going "so… yeah”.
And when you do answer, bring it back to the point. Politicians call this "bridging”, accountants call it "not letting the conversation wander into procurement for 25 minutes”.
6. End the meeting
Without a clear ending, a meeting can become a sleepover. So, instead of packing your pyjamas, before everyone leaves, confirm the basics:
- What did we decide?
- Who is doing what?
- By when?
- What still needs resolving?
- Does anyone disagree, or are we all just silently hoping someone else will say something?
This is where accountants can shine. A short summary at the end of a meeting is the verbal equivalent of a clean audit trail. Then send the follow-up. Something about how you all agreed and had a great time and oh my gosh you should do this again sometime.
Otherwise, three weeks later, someone will say, "I thought finance owned that,” and you will want proof that they are dead wrong.
🧠Final thoughts
Meetings are not going away. Even though they should, they aren’t. In lieu of their demise, we can make them better.
The best meetings are not necessarily the shortest, although they very often are. The best meetings are the ones where people know why they are there, understand what is being discussed, feel able to contribute, and leave knowing what happens next.
So, build rapport, speak early, listen properly, and use your voice. And make sure to write a follow-up email that covers you for any potential damages in the future.
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