How to Write an Accountant Resume

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Discover how to write an accountant resume that can effectively showcase your experience, skills, and certifications.

[Featured image] A person is working on their accountant resume for their new accounting job.

Key takeaways

Your accountant resume can showcase your skills and the methodical, logical, and detail-oriented traits that employers are looking for. 

  • Your resume should include a compelling summary and a detailed description of your professional experience.

  • Highlight your technical skills, such as experience working with payroll, tax returns, invoices, accounting software, and balance sheet reconciliations, on your resume to showcase your accounting knowledge.

  • You can use your accounting resume to apply for various positions in the field, including an auditor, management accountant, cost accountant, or staff accountant. 

Learn more about what accountant positions you can pursue, what skills employers look for, and how to craft a resume that showcases your experience. If you’re ready to build skills to add to your resume, consider enrolling in the Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate. You’ll have the chance to learn how to interpret and analyze financial statements in as little as two months. Upon completion, you’ll have earned a career credential that you can showcase on your resume.

 

Types of accountant positions to pursue

Before writing your resume, you must know what type of accountancy position you want to apply for so that the format and details you choose align with what an employer expects of you. This can help you ensure your resume is properly tailored to the role. Take a look at the job descriptions for various positions you want to apply for and note the essential skills, accomplishments, education, and experience needed to ensure you include all the necessary information in your resume. 

Types of accountant positions you might investigate include:

What do employers look for in an accountant's resume?

An employer or recruiter uses your resume to determine whether you have the accountancy skills, workplace skills, education, and experience relevant to the role. They also want to see that you have any helpful certifications and necessary licenses, especially if you claim to be a CPA and meet all the job requirements. 

On top of this, your resume needs to show that you are professional and enthusiastic about the role. It needs to be error-free, demonstrating your attention to detail. In addition, it needs to highlight your achievements in the accounting field, such as improving efficiency and saving money, which make you stand out above your competition.

7 steps to writing an accountant resume

Writing your accounting resume is as simple as the following seven steps. You can find everything you need to include and details on achieving each section below.

1. Choose a resume format.

Choose an accountant resume format demonstrating your career progression and achievements to date. Ensure your education and certifications are prominent, especially if you are a certified public accountant (CPA).

A reverse chronological resume is well-suited to this profession because it showcases your recent experience and initial accomplishments, which can grab a recruiter’s attention. This hopefully ensures that your relevant information is in a prominent position. Using this resume format typically allows you to write a professional summary after the contact information and title, and in this summary, you can highlight key skills and qualifications for this job.

2. Include your contact information.

Ensure your contact details are clearly visible at the top of your resume. Your name can act as the title of your resume, and below that, before the main sections, list your email address, phone number, full address or city, and LinkedIn address if it is a completed profile that can add value.

3. Write a compelling resume summary.

The first body section of your resume is your summary. A summary draws recruiters in by giving them an overview of who you are, your biggest accomplishments and strengths, and what you want to do. 

Recruiters spend only a few seconds scanning a resume before they decide whether to carry on reading, so your summary needs to be effective enough to keep them interested and prompt them to read on. 

For your accountant resume summary to make an impact, it must highlight exactly what the recruiter is looking for. This means it needs to be highly relevant. Include only details that demonstrate that you are ideal for the job. For example, you might state that you have extensive experience in a leadership role as a project manager. You are answering, “Why should I give you this job?”

Read more: How to Write a Resume Summary + Examples

4. Match your skills to the job description.

Include a designated skills section on your resume that incorporates keywords from the job description, but also include crucial skills throughout the other sections, such as your summary and experience section. You need certain essential skills to be any accountant type. Still, each job description can list some specifics, so look at the job posting and essential criteria of the role you’re applying for, and highlight those skills on your resume. 

Include examples to demonstrate fully that you have the necessary skills. For example, if you reduced costs for your previous employer, you can include the exact percentage and from what department.

The skills section is particularly significant if the recruiter for the position uses an applicant tracking system (ATS) to sift applications, as it is based on keywords. With this in mind, use the exact wording of the skills from the job post. Examples of skills to include are:

Technical skills:

  • Tax returns

  • Invoices

  • Payroll

  • Microsoft Excel

  • Accounting software

  • Balance sheet reconciliations 

Workplace skills:

  • Customer service

  • Communication

  • Organization

  • Time management

  • Problem-solving

  • Leadership

  • Critical thinking

5. Outline your experience.

Your experience section is an essential part of your resume. This is where you list any professional experience, usually in reverse chronological order, meaning your more recent experience is listed first. For each entry, include dates, position worked, and the company name. 

For each entry, it’s important to include not only your responsibilities but also your achievements in each role. A recruiter wants to know what you’ve done that differentiates you from other candidates. Tailor this information to the role to ensure you show how your experience can help you succeed in the new role. 

A good way of doing this is by making sure you show specific knowledge of your profession. As an accountant, you need to understand industry jargon. To convey this, you can incorporate those terms into your resume. For example, when discussing your work with the marketing department at your previous job, you could use the phrase “quarterly marketing budgeting process,” which further confirms to the hiring manager that you have experience in this field. Doing this can also make it more likely that the ATS can single out your resume because of the keywords that connect to accounting. Additionally, you can incorporate examples of actual metrics and data from your previous job to showcase your knowledge and abilities further.

Also, when describing your achievements, use powerful action words to make an impact, such as “spearheaded,” “initiated,” and “maximized,” instead of “helped,” “worked on,” and “made.” Think about what you have personally contributed.

If you have not gained much paid professional experience yet, it’s effective to list internships or volunteer work that gives you valuable experience within this field.

What are the duties of an accountant on a resume?

The job duties you list on your accounting resume will depend on your experience, but some common responsibilities include financial reporting, risk management, compliance, and asset protection. You may also want to share your work with tax documentation, account reconciliation, and data modeling. 

6. List your education.

You can put your education section wherever it best suits your situation. It can appear below your experience or above it, depending on which is stronger and more recent. If you are a recent graduate with little or no accounting experience, listing your education directly under your summary may make the largest impact. This section is usually reverse chronological, like the experience section, and each entry needs to include dates, degrees, and institutions. 

You may want to list your GPA, if it is especially high, along with any relevant projects or coursework you’ve completed as part of your degree courses. You can refrain from listing high school information if you have a degree-level qualification.

7. Add certifications and achievements.

Certifications are important for many accounting positions. You may want to give these an individual section or include them in your education section under a subhead. You can also include certifications in your summary, especially if you are a CPA. It is particularly important to display this prominently if it is required for the role you’re applying for. You can also include any awards, accolades, memberships, and networks. 

Resources for resume writing tips

For more help putting a resume together and ensuring you get an interview for your dream accounting job, take a look at some of these other resources:

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