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Accounting Resume Sample

This professional accounting resume sample shows how to structure your experience, skills, and certifications to pass ATS scans and impress hiring managers. Use it as a model — or have our team deliver a professionally written accounting resume for you. For more on presenting your roles, see our guide on describing your relevant experience.

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Accounting resume sample

Jordan Carter

Senior Accountant

Austin, TX · jordan.carter@email.com · (555) 123-4567 · linkedin.com/in/jordancarter

Professional Summary

CPA-licensed Senior Accountant with 9+ years driving accurate financial reporting and GAAP-compliant close cycles for mid-market companies. Reduced month-end close from 12 to 6 days through process automation and reconciliation standardization. Skilled in technical accounting, audit readiness, and cross-functional finance partnership. Known for translating complex ledger data into actionable insight for leadership.

Core Skills

GAAP & Financial Reporting · General Ledger & Month-End Close · Account Reconciliation · Accruals & Revenue Recognition (ASC 606) · ERP Systems (NetSuite, SAP) · Advanced Excel & Variance Analysis

Professional Experience

Senior Accountant — Lumen Manufacturing, Austin, TX 2021–Present

  • Cut month-end close cycle 50% (12 to 6 days) by automating 40+ recurring journal entries in NetSuite.
  • Owned reconciliation of 30+ GL accounts totaling $85M, reducing unexplained variances by 92%.
  • Led ASC 606 revenue recognition implementation across 3 product lines with zero audit adjustments.

Staff Accountant — Brightway Logistics, Dallas, TX 2017–2021

  • Prepared monthly financial statements for 4 entities, ensuring 100% on-time GAAP-compliant delivery.
  • Identified $310K in duplicate vendor payments through AP audit, recovering 100% within two quarters.
  • Built standardized accrual templates that reduced period-end adjusting entries by 35%.

Junior Accountant — Hartwell & Co. CPAs, Dallas, TX 2015–2017

  • Processed 200+ client transactions monthly with 99.8% accuracy across multiple industries.
  • Assisted on 15+ external audits, preparing PBC schedules that shortened fieldwork by 20%.
  • Reconciled bank statements for 25 clients, resolving discrepancies averaging under 24-hour turnaround.

Education

B.B.A. in Accounting — University of Texas at Austin, 2015

Certifications

Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Texas · QuickBooks ProAdvisor · NetSuite Certified Administrator

An accounting resume has to do two jobs at once: prove your technical command of the numbers and show the business impact behind them. Whether you are an entry-level accountant or a senior finance leader, the accounting resume example above follows the structure recruiters and applicant tracking systems expect — a sharp professional summary, a skills section dense with the right keywords, and experience bullets that quantify results.

Use this accounting resume template as a starting point for your own. Mirror the section order — Summary, Core Skills, Professional Experience, Certifications, and Education — then tailor each line to the role you want. For staff and senior accountant roles, lead with month-end close, reconciliations, and reporting accuracy. For management or controller roles, foreground team leadership, process improvement, and the dollar value of the budgets and audits you owned.

The strongest accountant resumes read as evidence, not a job description. Every bullet should answer “so what?” with a number: money saved, errors reduced, days cut from a close cycle, or the size of the ledgers and teams you managed. Pair that proof with the certifications (CPA, CMA) and software (SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks, advanced Excel) that hiring managers filter for, and your resume will clear both the ATS and the six-second human scan.

What a strong Accounting resume includes

Quantified achievements

Numbers prove impact — cost savings, faster month-end close, and audit accuracy beat generic duty statements.

ATS-friendly formatting

A clean single-column layout with standard headings so applicant tracking systems parse every section.

Core accounting skills

GAAP, reconciliations and financial reporting, plus ERP tools like SAP, Oracle and QuickBooks.

Certifications up front

CPA, CMA and relevant credentials placed where recruiters scan first.

Accounting resume: what to include vs. what to avoid

✓ Include✗ Avoid
A results-focused professional summaryGeneric duties with no metrics
Quantified bullets (cost savings, accuracy %)Tables or graphics that break ATS parsing
Core skills + ERP/software keywordsOutdated or unrelated roles
CPA / CMA certificationsDense paragraphs instead of scannable bullets

How to write an accounting resume

  1. Open with a results-focused summary. Write 3–4 lines stating your specialisation (corporate accounting, audit, tax), years of experience, and a headline achievement such as a cost saving or faster month-end close.
  2. List core accounting skills and software. Group hard skills (GAAP, reconciliations, financial reporting) and tools (advanced Excel, QuickBooks, SAP) so both recruiters and ATS parsers find the right keywords.
  3. Quantify your experience bullets. Show impact with numbers — for example "Reduced month-end close from 10 to 6 days" or "Managed a $4M AP portfolio with 99.8% accuracy".
  4. Feature certifications and education. Place CPA or CMA credentials prominently, then list your degree and any continuing education relevant to the target role.

Accounting resume — frequently asked questions

What should an accounting resume include?
An accounting resume should include a results-focused professional summary, core accounting skills (GAAP, reconciliations, AP/AR, month-end close), software proficiencies (Excel, QuickBooks, SAP, NetSuite), quantified achievements, certifications such as CPA or CMA, and relevant education. Lead with measurable results like cost savings, audit accuracy, or faster close cycles.
What skills do employers look for on an accountant's resume?
Employers prioritise financial reporting, general ledger, reconciliations and tax preparation, ERP/software proficiency (SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks, advanced Excel), and regulatory knowledge (GAAP, IFRS, SOX) — alongside analytical accuracy and attention to detail. Certifications like CPA or CMA strengthen the profile.
How do I make my accounting resume ATS-friendly?
Use a clean single-column layout with standard section headings and keywords drawn from the job description (for example "accounts payable", "month-end close", "GAAP"). Avoid tables, text boxes and graphics that applicant tracking systems misread, and save as a .docx or text-based PDF that preserves the text.
How long should an accounting resume be?
One page for early-career accountants and two pages for those with seven or more years of experience or senior and managerial roles. Prioritise the most recent and relevant 10–15 years, and trim older or unrelated roles to keep the document concise and scannable.