Accountant resume example

What to put in the summary

State your credential (CPA, CPA candidate, EA), the kind of accounting (audit, tax, general ledger, AP/AR), the systems you work in, and the size of the entity. Accuracy is assumed; what separates you is speed, scope and process improvement.

Staff accountant with four years in general ledger and month-end close for a $60M distribution company. CPA candidate with two exam sections passed. Known for clean reconciliations and for cutting the close from eight working days to five.

Sample bullets with numbers

Use the size of the books (accounts, entity revenue, invoice volume) and a time or error metric. Close days and reconciliation counts are the facts hiring managers trust.

• Shortened month-end close from eight working days to five by moving recurring accruals into a template and agreeing a cut-off calendar.
• Reconciled 46 balance sheet accounts monthly with no unexplained items over $500 at any quarter-end.
• Prepared the fixed-asset roll-forward for a $12M asset base and found $140K of unrecorded disposals during the annual audit.
• Supported the external audit with schedules prepared in advance, reducing auditor follow-up requests by about 40%.
• Processed about 900 vendor invoices a month, holding the payment error rate under 0.5%.
• Introduced three-way matching for purchase orders, which cut duplicate payments to zero over 18 months.

These numbers are invented to show the shape of a good bullet. Use your own, and leave a number out rather than guess.

Key skills to list

• General ledger
• Month-end close
• Account reconciliation
• Accounts payable and receivable
• Fixed assets
• GAAP
• NetSuite
• QuickBooks
• Excel (lookups, pivot tables)
• Audit support
• Sales tax

Name your ERP or accounting package and your Excel level in practical terms (lookups, pivots, Power Query), not just “advanced”.

Common mistakes

1. 1Writing “detail-oriented” instead of a figure that proves it.
2. 2Omitting credential status. State CPA, candidate with sections passed, or in progress.
3. 3Describing only transactions processed, without any process you improved.
4. 4Using an eye-catching template with graphics. Plain and orderly wins here.

A layout that suits this resume

Ledger’s numbered, single-column sections have the orderly feel finance hiring managers expect, and they are simple for payroll and ATS software to read. See the Ledger template, or compare all 22 layouts.