Accounting Resume Sample and Tips | Resume Genius (2023)

CAREER SUMMARY

Certified Public Accountant with 9+ years of experience of ledger processes, reconciliations, and streamlining reports. Possess an MBA. Seeking to leverage my professional expertise and experience into a managerial role as a corporate banker.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

LANGFORD PARTNERSHIP – Sacramento, CA

Financial Analyst, September 2016–Present

• Create 10+ financial reports per week and support all areas of responsibility within a 5-person finance team
• Manage a $350,000 budget, with a reduction of costs totaling 15% over 2 years
• Analyze, examine, and interpret 500+ records per month; compile financial information; and reconcile reports and financial data
• Perform process analysis, and communicate recommendations to management
• Process journal entries and correction records to ensure accuracy

BRINGHAM & SONS – Bakersfield, CA

Financial Advisor, June 2014–August 2016

• Conducted thorough reviews of potential business partnerships and strategies, and performed risk analysis using Facilitated Risk Analysis Process (FRAP)
• Trained and supervised 2 new employees, ensuring they maintain high attention to detail
• Forecast losses and earnings using quantitative/qualitative analyses to a high degree of accuracy, allowing the company to intelligently manage and invest resources valued at $14 million
• Adhered to departmental controls and regulations and maintained ethical conduct at all times

EDUCATION

POLOMA COLLEGE – Bloomfield, NJ

MBA, June 2014

GROVER COLLEGE – Alamosa, CO

BA Accounting, June 2012

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

• Knowledge of Oracle, SAGE and all Microsoft Office
• Experienced with Oracle Essbase, SAP ERP, Mosaic
• Excellent communication skills and ability to present complex information in an easy to understand format

CERTIFICATIONS

• Certified Public Accountant

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
Passed in 2014
Score: 98/99

You have all the top qualities a great accountant should have: you’re detail-oriented, great with numbers, and have a strong sense of work ethic. But with AI projected to automate thousands of jobs in the financial sector over the next few years, you may be left wondering if there’s still a future for an accounting professional.

Thankfully, the data projected by the Bureau Labor of Statistics (BLS) is pretty optimistic, with accountant jobs projected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2031:

Follow these five resume writing tips to create a winning accountant resume that reflects your professional background, skills, and expertise in managing a company’s finances.

1. Display your education & certifications effectively

Having a widely recognized certification in accounting improves your resume and helps land you better jobs.

If you’re a corporate banker, comptroller, treasurer, or another accounting specialist, your resume should reflect your area of specialty. So before you start writing your resume, you should research the types of accounting certifications and list the certifications you’ve earned on your resume.

Becoming a certified professional accountant (CPA) or certified management accountant (CMA) is highly regarded, while other certifications like certified quality auditor or accredited tax advisor give you an edge in niche industries.

If you’re an experienced accountant, you can list your certifications on your resume’s education section if you want to save space and draw attention to your schooling and previous work experiences instead.

Every accounting certification you have requires the following information:

• Name of the certification
• Name of the organization that awarded it
• Date earned
• Exam score (if relevant)
• If completed in-person, the location (city, state)
• If completed online, just write “Online Course”

If you’re currently studying for your CPA or working toward another certification, write “In Progress” next to the name of the certification you’re completing, and include the date you’ll complete it.

Here’s an example from our applicant’s certification section:

Certified Public Accountant
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
Passed in 2014
Score: 98/99

2. Write a strong resume summary to show you’re qualified

A resume summary is a great way to start your resume because it quickly convinces employers to pay attention to your resume. A strong resume summary consists of two to four sentences and introduces hiring managers to your most impressive accomplishments and your key accounting skills relevant to the job.

Here’s an example of a strong resume summary:

No work experience? Write a resume objective instead

If you’re an accountant with no experience or a fresh graduate, choose a convincing resume objective instead to place at the top of your resume. Here’s a good example of a resume objective if you have little or no professional experience:

Certified Public Accountant with 2+ years of experience in ledger processes, reconciliations, and streamlining reports. Possess an MBA. Seeking to leverage my analytical skills and problem-solving skills as an accountant at ABC Corp.

You’ll want to include these important pieces of information to create a persuasive and concise resume objective:

1. how many years of experience you have as an accountant and the main duties you’ve performed
2. the highest degree you hold and your certifications
3. which role you want to fill and why you’d be a good choice by stating key skills found in the job description

3. Use hard numbers to quantify your professional experience

Accounting is a numbers-based profession, and your resume needs to reflect that.

Above all, your resume should showcase your best resume accomplishments, so use hard numbers to provide evidence of your achievements and show employers you’re comfortable working with large numbers, data, and budgets.

Below are some details you can highlight on your resume to show that you’re qualified for an accounting role:

• • size of the budgets you managed
  • amount of any investments you’ve managed, and how profitable they were
  • net worth of the company you’ve worked for, and what your main duties were
  • size of the investments you’ve reconciled
  • number of the contracts you’ve negotiated
  • amount of money you’ve saved or earned the company by applying your knowledge, experience, and efforts

The candidate in our accountant resume sample uses hard numbers to enhance their resume in these three bullet points:

• Trained and supervised 2 new employees, ensuring they maintain high attention to detail
• Create 10+ financial reports per week and support all areas of responsibility within a 5-person finance team
• Manage a $350,000 budget, with a reduction of costs totaling 15% over 2 years

By using hard numbers, employers can see that this applicant has worked with large budgets and helped their previous company significantly reduce costs.

4. Boost your resume with the right accounting skills

Job-relevant hard and soft skills are essential if you want to work in a financial team and advance professionally, so include these key skills on your resume to show the hiring manager you’ll succeed as an accountant.

The basic accounting skills required for an accountant include more technical skills than many other professions, so mention your hard skills.

Essential hard skills for accountants are learned from schooling, training, or practical experience and are critical to highlight on an accounting resume.

For instance, if you specialize in a particular branch of accounting, then include the relevant technical accounting skills on your resume, such as auditing or performing a facilitated risk analysis process (FRAP).

Here are some other important skills for accountants that make good additions to your resume:

• Knowledge of financial regulations
• Industry reporting principles
• Bookkeeping analytics software (Mosaic, Oracle Essbase)
• Payroll processing (ADP, Paychex)
• Enterprise resource planning (Microsoft Dynamics, SAP ERP)
• Financial reporting
• Cost analysis
• Language skills

Soft skills are also important for accountants. Soft skills relate to your work ethic and how you interact with others in the workplace.

For example, you require strong organizational skills to keep up with project deadlines and stay motivated. You must also properly file paperwork (in both physical and digital forms) like receipts and invoices.

If you plan to work as an accountant for private clients, mention your stellar customer service skills. Remaining patient when your client is being unclear about a problem or when they don’t understand your explanation is an asset.

Additionally, excellent communication skills will help you progress in your accounting career. Communicating well is important because accountants often work with several clients or within a team.

Here’s a list of other important soft skills for accountants:

• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership skills
• Management skills
• People skills
• Teamwork skills
• Problem solving skills
• Trustworthiness
• Professionalism
• Time management skills
• Critical observation
• Analytical skills

5. Use key action verbs

Include resume action verbs in your accounting resume to add depth, clarity, and purpose to your work history.

Action verbs make great openers for experience bullet points because they provide employers with more details about your previous roles and make you sound like a confident applicant. Here’s an example of a strong action verb from our resume sample:

• Forecast losses and earnings using quantitative/qualitative analyses to a high degree of accuracy, allowing the company to intelligently manage and invest resources valued at $14 million

A descriptive action verb like “forecast” gives hiring managers a clear idea of the applicant’s work tasks and shows that the applicant is highly analytical and careful with numbers.

Try replacing generic-sounding verbs like “used” or “worked” with powerful accounting-related verbs to make more of an impact on employers. Here’s our list of action verbs for accounting resumes: