2 Parts Advertisement Done With Log For The Financial Review In Sydney And A Case

Study Report
Executive summary
Executive assistants mingle about office duties like typing, scheduling meetings, and taking calls.
Their duties require specialized training, as their roles are becoming more sophisticated. This
field is expected to grow at a rate of 13% in the next ten years, and more of these jobs will be
found in construction, healthcare, and educational institutes. From the BLS reports, the median
annual earnings for executive assistants were $43520 as of May 2010. Most employers were
colleges, universities, and other academic institutions, with average earnings of $44680.
Becoming an executive assistant one requires to have some educational credentials to succeed in
the dynamic business market. Some common courses include typing, computer applications,
business law, records and information management, office administration, and business
communication.

Table of Contents
2 Parts Advertisement Done With Log For The Financial Review In Sydney And A Case Study Report...1
Executive summary....................................................................................................... 1
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 2
Critical Skills of Senior Executive Assistants...........................................................................2
Writing Skills............................................................................................................ 3
Project Management Skills...................................................................................... 3
Financial Skills......................................................................................................... 4
Benefits, salary, and salary packaging options..........................................................................5
Salary Trends.................................................................................................................. 5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 6
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Bibliography.................................................................................................................. 8

Introduction
An executive assistant plays a crucial role in an organisation. In the ever changing business
environment, it is the executive assistants job is to assist the key decision maker to stay focused,
effective, and a better leader. The key skills of this position are excellent communication,
creativity, and ability to work independently (Yukl, 1998; Zeng, 2011, pp 2 93; Priem, 1994, pp
421437).
Given that the tasks involve being in charge of managing most of the support activities within the
administrative sector, that is, ascertaining that ideal operations of the senior management team
carries out all the goals of the organisation. Normally this job entails being an office manager or
working as a secretary to the managers of a company. Hancock Pty Ltd is a small firm wishing
to recruit an office manager, this position has three direct report; the receptionist and two
administrative staff (Scarborough, & Zimmerer,2006;Shimek & Wen,2008).

Critical Skills of Senior Executive Assistants

In the ever changing office environment, the critical skills required of an effective senior
executive assistant is communication. How the incumbent interacts with peers and other decision
makers is paramount on how ideas exchange across the organisation. Other vital skills are
interpersonal effectiveness, project management skills, financial planning abilities, and effective
writing skills (Torrington & Hall, 2004, pp. 205; Drew, 2007, pp359-369).

Writing Skills
Effective writing skills are particularly essential for an office manager to put the right words on
paper quickly. Therefore, they must be able to communicate more clearly, concisely, and
persuasively. Words matter and an effective office assistant must learn, develop, and enhance
how to use them. The key areas that require effective principle of writing: successful
correspondence, message shaping, writing to the point, avoiding writing traps, diplomacy and
politics, refining the writing, and managing minutes in a meeting (Eije ,2006; Eisenhardt,1989,
pp 57-7; Fan, Wong, & Zhang,2007, pp 330-357).
Communication Skills
An outstanding executive assistant should possess soft skills, and abilities to maximise
appropriate communication skills for personal and professional potential. The positive traits
needed include; self awareness, personal openness, conflict handling, frustration and stress
control, assertiveness, and making commitments to development. Appropriate communication
skills are key to developing a positive image, giving and receiving feedback, presenting ideas
with confidence and clarity. Commitment to personal development is related to making choices
and managing personal change, building self esteem and emotional intelligence, developing
networks, having creative visioning abilities, and being results oriented. Being assertive implies
being able to understand both external and internal sources of conflict, ability to gauge the
expectations of others, developing self confidence, and having behaviours and words that count.

Project Management Skills

Project Management skills are a must for executive assistants, they must have the ability and
structure to manage short term and long term projects.
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The incumbent should act as a central partner interacting with all the departments, checking
budgets and schedules. They should be aware of factors that affect projects success or failure,
developing and implementing classic ways of managing them, understanding customer needs for
effective project initiation, planning, implementation and control. The appropriate office
manager should be able to deal with the unexpected, communicate the right things to the right
people at the right time. They must also have excellent project closing skills, and must be able to
appreciate the importance of communication within a project team. They must be confident and
able to accept responsibility for new projects, ability to identify, and apply appropriate tools to
effectively manage the processes. Hancock needs people who can stay in control of projects in
dynamic business environments, and dealing with unexpected setbacks (Finkelstein, &,
Hambrick, 1989, 121-134).

Financial Skills
Basic financial skills are necessary for this position. An understanding of figures that give
information on the business is key to better supporting the manager with preparing reports and
analyses. The executive assistant must be able to talk the language of finance and accounting,
financial statements, financing international business, business plan preparation, and preparing
meaningful budgets (Agrawal, & Knoeber, 1996, pp377-397; Alam, 2011).
The incumbent should have a basic understanding of how financial tools are applied in planning,
measuring, and controlling an organisations performance. They must possess a deep awareness
of the economic environment and its impact on the company with sound abilities to spot facts
and figures that might affect the business. Knowledge of the function and fundamentals of
accounting is essential to the construction of the profit and loss accounts, balance sheets,
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statements of sources and uses of funds, and statements of retained earnings. Understanding the
inter-relations between these statements is necessary coupled with the companys annual
financial report (Constantinides, Harris, &Rene 2010, pp 337429; Andrews, 1987; Ariely,
2008).

Benefits, salary, and salary packaging options

Malmendier, &Tate, (2005, pp 2661-2700) argues that, the aims of salary options is to provide
employees access to fringe benefits, support in house payroll staff, tax planning professional
advice and information to employees regarding salary packaging to obtain best results from
remuneration. Salary packaging varies across agencies, and subject to frequent changes. The
tasks, roles, and duties of executive assistants will determine the salary range. Other factors are
influence the wage are period, years of work, type of company, level of education of employee,
current economic conditions, and work experience.
The cost employment benefits is up to a maximum amount equal to fringe benefit tax free cap of
$17000 per annum for public benevolent institutions under Australian taxation law. This amount
is based on grossed up taxable value of the benefits given. Therefore, the maximum dollar value
of benefits that employees can package without creating a fringe benefit tax liability is $9094 per
annum (Audia, Locke, & Smith, 2000; pp 837853; Gilovich, Griffin, &Kahneman, 2002;
Gomez-Mejia, Nuez-Nickel, &Gutierrez, 2001, pp 8195; Hackbarth, 2008, pp 843-881)

Salary Trends
According to National Salary Data, in the USA, the salary ranges from $31710 to $67605 per
annum according to March 2012 data. Bonuses range from $194.95 to $7366 per annum. While

profit sharing ranges from $507 to $6748 per annum. This makes the total pay to range from
$30151 to $68963 per annum. However, these values will vary depending on the factors named
above. Senior Executive assistants salaries range between: $36220 to $78936. Executive
Assistants to the CEO range between 31507 and $75228. Executive Secretaries or Administrative
Assistants earn between $23498 and $53995. Gender also seems to affect the salary level with
females earning more than males. The more educated one is the more the earnings and vice
versa, and the pay is commensurate with years of experience (Haleblian &, Finkelstein, 1993, pp
844-863; Lin, Hu, & Chen, 2008, pp160-181)

Conclusion
Executive assistant duties and roles lies between the roles of business executives and clerical
employees. As automation is picking up in offices, the more the jobs become complicated and
varied. Organisation and flexibility with multitasking abilities will see the job description
evolving to somewhat taking up some of the roles handled by executives.

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