Accountant Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a licensed CPA with about six years of experience who started in public accounting and moved into industry. The name and employers are made up. If you are a staff accountant or a new graduate, keep the layout and scale the scope down; there are summaries for both further down the page.

Accounting hiring managers and the recruiters who screen for them told us the same short list. If these four are easy to find, they read the whole page.

• CPA status, exactly as it is. Licensed, passed sections, exam candidate, or eligible (150 credit hours). "CPA" in the header without a license is the fastest way to lose the interview later, so be precise.
• Scope of the close. Did you own the close or post entries in it? How many entities, reconciliations, dollars of revenue? "Assisted with month-end close" tells them nothing about your level.
• Systems. The ERP (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks), the close or reconciliation tool (BlackLine, FloQast), the tax software (CCH Axcess, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, ProSeries, Drake) and your real Excel level. Switching ERPs is a real cost to them.
• Public or industry background, and which industry. A manufacturer wants inventory and cost experience; a SaaS company wants ASC 606 revenue; a nonprofit wants fund accounting and Form 990. Say which you have done.

“The first thing I check is whether the CPA in the header is a license or a hope. The second is whether they ran the close or sat next to it. Everything else I can find out in the interview.”

The CPA is a state license, issued by a state board of accountancy after you pass the four-part Uniform CPA Examination (since 2024: three core sections, FAR, AUD and REG, plus one discipline section you choose from BAR, ISC or TCP) and meet that state's education (usually 150 semester hours) and experience rules. Requirements differ by state, so name the state. Here is how to word each stage.

Three or four lines under the header. Title and years first, then what you own, then the systems, then one result. The examples below cover the searches people make most often.

Objective or summary? Use a summary in every case, including as a fresher or new graduate. The entry-level example above is a summary: it says what you have done, not what you hope for.

1. 1Start each bullet with the task in accounting terms (prepare, reconcile, review, file, close), not with "responsible for".
2. 2Add the size: how many reconciliations, entities, returns, invoices, or the dollar amount of the ledger, revenue or budget.
3. 3Add the tool where it matters: the ERP, the tax software, the reconciliation tool.
4. 4End with the result or quality signal: days cut from the close, error rate, audit adjustments, penalties avoided, money recovered.
5. 5Check that a manager could tell your level from the bullet alone. If it could describe an intern or a controller equally, it needs a number.

Seven common accountant bullets, rewritten:

Keep the skills section to 12 to 15 items and make it specific. "Accounting" is not a skill on an accountant's resume. Group them if you like: accounting, systems, then anything else.

Accounting and reporting skills:

• Month-end and year-end close; journal entries, accruals, prepaids
• Balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis
• US GAAP; name the standards you have applied (ASC 606 revenue, ASC 842 leases, ASC 350 intangibles)
• Financial statement preparation and management reporting
• Fixed assets, inventory and cost accounting (if industry)
• Accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll accounting
• Federal and state tax compliance: Forms 1040, 1120, 1120-S, 1065, 990, sales and use tax
• Audit support and internal controls (SOX 404 if you have worked at a public company)
• Budgeting, forecasting and cash flow projections

Software (list the ones you have used, spelled as the vendor spells them):

• ERP and general ledger: NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Fusion, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero
• Close and reconciliation: BlackLine, FloQast
• Tax: CCH Axcess, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, ProSeries, Drake, GoSystem Tax RS
• Audit: CaseWare Working Papers, IDEA, TeamMate
• AP, expense and payroll: Bill.com, Concur, Expensify, ADP, Paychex, Gusto
• Sales tax: Avalara, Vertex
• Excel: state the level honestly (pivot tables, XLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH, Power Query, macros). Many employers give an Excel test.
• Reporting: Power BI, Tableau, Google Sheets

Skills managers value but rarely see written well: hitting a fixed deadline every month, explaining a variance to someone who is not in finance, and writing a clear reconciliation note that an auditor can follow. Show those in your bullets rather than listing them.

Accounting is one of the few fields where a new graduate's resume has real content: credit hours toward the CPA, exam sections passed, a busy-season internship, and volunteer tax preparation all count as experience to a hiring manager. Here is what to include and how.

• Education at the top, with the degree, graduation date, GPA if 3.3 or higher, and the credit hours if you have or will have 150 ("150 semester hours, CPA exam eligible").
• CPA exam progress, even one section. "FAR passed, AUD scheduled" is one of the strongest lines an entry-level accounting resume can have.
• Relevant coursework, briefly: Intermediate Accounting I and II, Cost Accounting, Auditing, Federal Income Tax, Accounting Information Systems.
• Internships written like jobs: number of returns prepared, reconciliations completed, audit areas tested, hours worked in busy season.
• VITA (the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program) or a campus tax clinic: certify at the Advanced level and list the number of returns.
• Beta Alpha Psi membership or officer roles, accounting case competitions, and any bookkeeping for a family business or student organization treasurer role.
• Excel skills tested by a certification if you have one (Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel Expert) or by a specific line ("built a 3-statement model in Excel for a class project").

• Length: one page up to about 10 years of experience. Two pages are normal for senior accountants, controllers and CPAs with 10+ years or long public accounting client lists. Never a third.
• Order for experienced accountants: header (with CPA if licensed), summary, experience, skills, certifications, education. For entry level: header, summary, education, experience, skills.
• Reverse chronological. Accounting managers want to see progression (staff, senior, manager) and tenure. Skills-based formats read as hiding something.
• Layout: a clean single-column template such as cvplex corporate-navy. Conservative fonts, no photo, no graphics, no skill bars. Firms and large companies put resumes through applicant tracking systems that read text, not design.
• Dates by month and year. Show a promotion within the same firm as two titles under one employer (as in the sample) so the ATS and the reader both see the growth.
• Send a PDF unless the posting asks for Word. Name it Firstname-Lastname-CPA-Resume.pdf or Firstname-Lastname-Accountant-Resume.pdf.
• Keywords to mirror from the posting when true for you: month-end close, general ledger, reconciliations, GAAP, financial statements, variance analysis, fixed assets, accruals, intercompany, audit, tax compliance, and the ERP by name.
• UK and other countries: the document is a CV, and the qualifications are ACCA, ACA (ICAEW) or CIMA rather than the CPA. Leave the photo off in the UK as well.