Accountant resume example
A complete resume for a CPA who moved from audit to corporate accounting, plus summaries, bullet points and skills for staff to senior roles.
What hiring managers look for
Controllers and finance managers look for accuracy, speed and the right credentials. A strong accountant resume shows your license status, the size of the books you kept, how fast you closed them and which systems you used.
This example shows a CPA with six years across audit and corporate accounting. The ledger-style layout keeps headings in the margin, so a reader can jump to licenses, experience and skills, and every bullet ties a task to a number. Staff, senior, tax and audit accountants can use the same structure.
Accountant resume summary examples
Experienced, 6 years
CPA with 6 years of experience in corporate accounting and public audit. Owns the month-end close for a $150M manufacturer and cut it from 9 days to 5. Strong in GAAP, account reconciliations and NetSuite, with a habit of fixing the process, not just the numbers.
Entry level
Accounting graduate from a 150-credit program with an audit internship at a regional CPA firm. Comfortable with journal entries, reconciliations and Excel, and has passed 2 of the 4 CPA exam sections. Looking for a staff accountant role.
Tax accountant
Tax accountant with 5 years preparing individual, partnership and corporate returns. Prepares 300+ returns a season with a 99% on-time rate and has found $200K in client savings through credits and planning. Enrolled Agent, finishing the CPA.
Accounting manager
Accounting manager with 11 years in software and e-commerce. Leads a team of 5, owns revenue recognition under ASC 606 and built the close process that carried the company through its first audit.
Accountant resume bullet points
Strong bullets start with what you did and end with what changed. Borrow the pattern, then use your own numbers.
- Reconciled 120 balance sheet accounts each month and cleared $2M in old unreconciled balances in the first quarter.
- Built an accruals model in Excel that cut month-end adjustments by 40%.
- Led the move from QuickBooks to NetSuite for 3 entities with no delay to the first close.
- Prepared quarterly sales and use tax filings for 14 states with no penalties.
- Implemented ASC 842 lease accounting for 35 leases ahead of the audit.
- Cut days sales outstanding from 52 to 39 by setting up weekly collections reviews with sales.
- Prepare the budget-to-actual report the CFO presents to the board each month.
- Documented 25 close procedures so new staff could run them after a single training session.
Skills for an accountant resume
Skills job postings ask for
- GAAP
- Month-end and year-end close
- Journal entries and accruals
- Account reconciliation
- Financial statements
- NetSuite, SAP, Oracle or QuickBooks
- Advanced Excel
- Audit preparation
- Internal controls (SOX)
- Tax compliance
Skills to show in your bullets
- Attention to detail
- Integrity
- Meeting deadlines
- Explaining numbers to non-accountants
- Problem solving
List the skills a posting names in its own words, and only the ones you can talk about in an interview. Qualities like these read best as results in your bullets, not as a list.
Tips for writing an accountant resume
- 1
Show your credentials clearly
Put CPA in your headline if you're licensed, or "CPA candidate" with the sections passed if you're not. Many accounting postings filter on it.
- 2
Use numbers that show scale and speed
Company revenue, number of entities, accounts reconciled and days to close all tell a controller what you can handle.
- 3
Name your systems
List NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks or Sage by name, and be specific about Excel: pivot tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query or macros.
- 4
Show improvements, not just tasks
Faster closes, automated reconciliations and clean audits set you apart from a list of routine duties.
Make it yours
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