Accountant Resume Example

Writing an outstanding staff accountant resume is the key to success in your job search. A resume is your professional business card. It shows your level of qualification, skills, and experience, and, thus, helps you land a job.

But, how to make your accounting specialist resume flawless? In this post, our executive resume writing service created a winning accountant resume example and lots of handy tips for writing yours!

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, o BLS, pegs the average accountant’s salary at $77,250 per year and $37.14 per hour. Hire a finance resume service expert today to make it happen faster.

How to Write an Accountant Resume?

If you are just about to start building your accountant career, you are probably wondering how to write a resume that will help you land the job of your dreams.

Here are the key tricks our specialists use to write a job-winning accountant resume example:

1. Mention all your certifications and licenses

All sorts of licenses and certifications look good on any accountant resume sample. Mentioning them in your resume will drive more attention to you as a candidate and will raise your chances of landing a good job.

2. Showcase your skills

Your next big step to a flawless accounting sample resume is shaping a strong skills section. Make sure to include all the relevant skills that make you the right candidate for a specific position. However, here is one more tip to ensure success - don’t focus only on accounting skills. Today, employers are also looking for a variety of additional hard and soft skills. So, if you have them, be sure to list them in your resume.

3. Make a good summary or objective

Stating your career objective and making a short summary of your resume is also important. Later in this article, you will find practical tips on how to do it right.

4. Emphasize your experience

Finally, be sure to tell about all the professional experience you already have to impress the hiring manager.

Choose the Best Format for an Accounting Resume

One main trait that distinguishes accountants from other specialists is their attention to detail. And a good accountant resume should highlight it.

Your job application has to show that you see the details like nobody else. Thus, in your accounting resume, recruiters and employers will seek perfect layout and structure, and to ensure it, you need to choose the right format for your resume.

As you may already know, there are several most common resume formats:

• Chronological - makes emphasis on experience
• Functional - makes emphasis on the key skills and abilities
• Combination - a blend of chronological and functional formats
• Targeted - tailored to a particular role

So, which format works best on sample accounting resumes? Although you can find a good accountant resume example completed in different formats, our experts with vast experience in writing business suggest using the chronological format.

This format looks the most beneficial in resumes for accounting. Specialists suggest that job seekers only have seven seconds to engage and impress the hiring manager and the chronological format shows your most recent achievements first, which helps you grab the recruiter’s attention and showcase your strong sides.

One more tip for formatting your accounting resumes right is to showcase your presentation skills. Make sure that your resume’s design is neat and thoughtful.

Write an Accountant Resume Summary or Summary Objective

As was mentioned earlier, your resume typically gets less than 10 minutes of attention. If you fail to impress the recruiter with the first lines of your resume, you will not be likely to land an interview.

To receive an interview invitation and get employed, you need a killer resume summary. In a nutshell, an accounting resume summary or summary objective is a brief intro to your resume that drives attention and shows the best of you.

To learn how to create a good objective for accounting resume, look at the examples below.

Poor entry-level accounting resume objective example:

Skilled and experienced CMA and CPA looking for a well-paid position at a high-end company. I possess a BA degree in Accounting and have strong financial reporting, account reconciliation, and IT skills.

Strong accountant resume summary example:

Result-oriented senior CMA and CPA with 5+years of experience in large firms like Cisco and Amex. Seeking to leverage strong IT and account reconciliation skills for [the company’s name]. Improved Cisco’s cloud-computing practices to minimize department hours per year. Discovered an effective solution to a recurring issue that saved the company over $2 million annually.

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Describe Your Accounting Experience

Almost all, even some entry level accounting jobs have certain requirements for the professional experience of applicants. Thus, every good accountants resume example should have a solid experience section.

Depending on the specific role you are looking to get, the requirements for work experience can be different. The main trick here that can help you get more interviews is to match your work experience section with the needs and requirements of potential employers.

When talking about your accountant experience, be sure to include the following info about each place of work:

• The name of the company and its location
• Your role in the company
• The time frame of your work there
• Key responsibilities and duties you’ve performed

These are the basic details you should include. Apart from this, you can also write about any accomplishments and honors that can make you stand out and boost your chances of being hired.

How to Write a Resume for Accounting Internship with No Experience?

Let’s say you are a student or a recent graduate who hasn’t yet gained any work experience. Does this mean that you can’t land an accounting job? Not at all! There are plenty of great internship opportunities out there that will help you make a good start in your career. And, with a solid resume for accounting internship with no experience, you will get it!

So, how to write an accounting students resume if you have no experience? If you can’t boast of impressive employment history, you can focus on the skills and knowledge you have. Also, a huge benefit would be if you have some academic achievements in a relevant field. Finally, if you used to have jobs that were not related to accounting, you can still list them in your resume, making emphasis on your transferable skills.

After all, if you feel like you still lack solid footing for your resume, you can gain the needed experience through:

• Online job
• Job shadow
• Volunteering
• Doing free work for people you know

Entry-Level Accounting Resume Samples [No Experience]

If you are looking not for an internship, but for a full-time job in accounting and don’t have any relevant experience, you can still get a job! Of course, having no prior employment history in the field of accounting, you should not expect to land a senior, top management, or executive position. However, you might have enough skills and knowledge to get invited to an entry-level job. And, again, the quality of your resume will have a huge impact on your success.

To create a job-winning entry level accountant resume with no experience, you should focus on your education and skills. Having a degree in accounting or related spheres will be a huge benefit. Often, companies are willing to hire new specialists and train them. And the higher your degree is, the more chances you have of being hired.

As for the skills, they are also very important. If you don’t have any professional experience yet, your skills and other experiences will be the main point of interest for recruiters, so you should list them right.

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Check out two entry level accounting resume samples below to learn how you should and how you should not list your experiences.

Put Your Education on Resume for Accounting

None of our accounting resume examples would look complete without this section. In the field of accounting, education and different certifications can be a weighty reason to recruit you. Accounting has never been one of those fields that don’t require education. In fact, to become an accounting specialist, you have to get at least a Bachelor’s degree in accounting or related fields.

It is fair to note that accounting clerks may be hired with only a high school diploma. This is possible if the company provides on-site training. However, be sure that having a higher education will only be to your benefit. Both recruiting firms and employers will prefer a candidate with relevant education on resume. Keep in mind listing education on a resume.

Given everything said earlier, we can say that the education section in every accounting resumes sample plays a decisive role, so you should do it right.

Basically, all the information you need to include is the obtained academic level, school name, and location. These are the basic details. Additionally, you can add a few words about your academic achievements if you feel like mentioning them can help you craft a winning resume.

Here is how a typical education entry in an accounting resume example should look like:

Northeastern University, 2010-2014

MBA

• Student Leadership award
• 4.0 GPA

Put Skills on an Accountant Resume

Your accounting resume skills summary is one of the most important sections. Depending on the position, the company’s vision and core values, as well as many other factors, HRs may be looking to employ people with different skill sets. Thus, it is vital to ensure that every accountants resume sample includes the right skills to match a particular job.

So, what are the key accounting resume skills? Here is a complete accounting skills list:

• Attention to Detail
• Asset Management
• Collections
• Account Analysis
• Payroll
• Payroll Taxes
• Financial Statements
• IT Skills
• Regulatory Filings
• Account Reconciliation
• MS Office
• Revenue Projections
• State Tax Law
• Tax Compliance
• Corporate Tax
• Tax Returns
• Budgets
• General Ledger
• Paychex
• Mathematics
• Quickbooks
• Profit and Loss
• Communication
• Business Knowledge
• Income Tax
• Leadership Skills
• Invoices
• Organization
• Critical Thinking
• Time Management
• Detail Oriented

And how to list your skills for accounting resume the right way? A good tip to form your accounting skills resume section is to not just list all your skills, but also support them with real cases from your work experience like here:

Thanks to strong account analysis skills, identified a possibility for a 15% reduction of certain variable costs to save the company $1.5 million annually. If you need any  resume help, don't hesitate to hire professional it resume writing services on Skillhub. It's professional, no effort and polite.

Don't forget about highlighting your skills in a a cover letter! 77% of recruiters said they would give preference to a job candidate who apply a cover letter. Do it yourself (smart hint - just google cover letter examples and choose the best) or skill up your resume with the help of the cover letter writing services on Skill hub.  

Add Contact Info to Your Resume

Resumes for accountant jobs can’t do without the contact info section. If you look up a sample accountant resume on the internet, you’ll find plenty of options, and each of them will have contact details.

Why give such an obvious tip you may wonder? Of course, this one should go without saying. However, you could be surprised that quite a few job seekers actually forget to add all the necessary contact info to their applications. And this kind of mistake can really cost you a job.

What contact info are you expected to share? Typically, writing a resume for accountant you should mention all the basic details starting with your full name. Also, most resumes contain a physical address, including a street address, city, state, and zip code. Finally, you should add your contact phone number, email address, and extras such as links to your LinkedIn account or personal website.

Show Certifications in a Resume

One more thing inherent in all professionally-written accountant resumes examples is a section that lists all sorts of certifications. Not all jobs require having a certification. But, accounting is an exception.

When it comes to different accounting positions, employers look to hire humans with certain qualifications. And what can possibly showcase your qualifications better than your certification? Thus, be it a senior or entry level accounting resume, if you want to look like the right employee for a chosen company, ensure that you do include your certifications in your public accounting resume.

How do we list certifications on our accountant resume samples? All in all, there are three places where you can put your certifications on a resume accounting:

• After your name
• In the summary part
• In a separate section

If you decide to put certifications in a separate section, here is how it should look:

Certifications

• CPA
• CIA
• CMA

Use Key Action Verbs

Some accounting resumes examples look awesome and get lots of attention from recruiters. At the same time, some other accountant resumes samples get lost in piles of applications. Do you know why? The answer may not be very obvious but it is thanks to the use of the right resume keywords.

Keywords and action resume words don’t only help you bypass the ATS system (applicant tracking system), but will also help to make the right impression. Keywords and action verbs help your resume to get noticed during the applicant tracking process and allow you to avoid common cliches.

Here are the best action verbs to include in your accountant sample resumes:

• Accelerated
• Acclimated
• Balanced
• Bargained
• Calculated
• Canvassed
• Decided
• Decentralized
• Earned
• Eased
• Facilitated
• Familiarized
• Gained
• Gathered
• Handled
• Identified
• Illustrated
• Launched
• Lectured
• Lead
• Maintained
• Managed
• Observed
• Obtained
• Participated
• Passed
• Raised
• Ranked
• Safeguarded
• Salvaged
• Scheduled
• Screened
• Secured
• Supervised
• Tabulated
• Tailored
• Uncovered
• Undertook
• Validated
• Valued
• Voiced

Tax Accountant Resume Sample

To land a good job as a tax accountant, a candidate needs to craft an extremely strong resume. The best tax accountant resume sample can follow the same format and structure as other accounting resumes. However, it should really highlight a candidate’s responsibility, professionalism, and qualifications.

One more thing that makes a tax accountant resume different is that it should be minimalistic. Although earlier we said that presentation skills are very important for accountants, this is not the case. Tax accountant resumes should be rather formal and simple. It also should be clear, concise, and not include any irrelevant information. And it needs to contain the right keywords to get through any ATS.

Every good tax accountant resume sample should list a number of job-specific skills, such as:

• Payroll Taxes
• State Tax Law
• Tax Compliance
• Corporate Tax
• Tax Returns
• Income Tax

Apart from these specific skills, there should also be some general accounting skills such as communication, analytical thinking, leadership, business knowledge, and others.

Accounting Manager Resume Sample

To land a job as an accounting manager, you should ensure that your resume has a winning combination of the right presentation, key skills, professional experience, and accomplishments.

We recommend making a special emphasis on the accomplishments. A job-winning accounting manager resume sample should indicate that you have all the necessary skills to do the job. But, at the same time, it should also include real cases of your success at the workplace to show that you can do the job well. Thus, you should always present quantifiable accomplishments in such a resume.

Your resume should also include numbers that would represent your experiences and successes. Thus, getting specific with numbers is the key to crafting a killer accounting manager resume.

Senior Accountant Resume Example

Compared to entry-level resumes, a senior accountant resume example should have a solid footing and showcase the professionalism and experience of the candidate. Such a resume should contain all the same sections as other accounting resumes, including a summary, education, experience, certifications, and skills section.

What makes a senior accountant resume different? All in all, since it is a senior position, such a resume must include extensive professional experience that includes some executive and top-management positions. Thus, writing a resume for this role, you should make the biggest focus on your experience.

Apart from work experience, you should also pay enough attention to the education and certification sections. Typically, senior jobs have pretty high education requirements, so you need to ensure that you have this section in your resume. And as for the certifications, we’ve already discussed that they can have a significant impact on your chances of being hired.

Your CV and resume matters a lot once you apply for a job! Be sure you have it professional and tailored to a job description. If you need help, keep in mind you can always rely on our professional cv writing services. It's fast, easy and very helpful.

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