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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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 summary | Generic duties with no metrics |
| Quantified bullets (cost savings, accuracy %) | Tables or graphics that break ATS parsing |
| Core skills + ERP/software keywords | Outdated or unrelated roles |
| CPA / CMA certifications | Dense paragraphs instead of scannable bullets |
How to write an accounting resume
- 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.
- 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.
- 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".
- Feature certifications and education. Place CPA or CMA credentials prominently, then list your degree and any continuing education relevant to the target role.