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Accountant Resume Examples

An accountant resume example with summaries for new, senior and manager-level accountants, the skills finance teams list, and how to show a CPA license.

What has to be at the top

An accountant resume has to show in its first lines whether you are licensed or on the way (CPA, CPA candidate, or neither), what kind of accounting you do, such as close and reconciliations, audit or tax, and the systems you do it in. After that, each job needs figures a controller recognizes: days to close, accounts reconciled, audit adjustments, money recovered.

The full example

A complete accountant resume example

Every section filled in for a typical candidate. Switch the layout to see the same content on each template, download it, or open it in the editor and replace the details with yours.

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Why this example works

  • CPA appears after the name and again as the first word of the summary, and the license has its own line with the board that issued it, since a firm or a controller checks that before reading on.
  • The company is sized by revenue and the close by business days, so a reader can compare the job with their own department at a glance.
  • Every bullet follows the same order: a verb, the task, then the figure the work is judged on, such as days to close, accounts reconciled or audit adjustments.
  • The audit years stay, cut to two bullets, because public accounting behind a corporate role tells the reader how the person will prepare for an audit.

The accountant resume example as text

The same content as the sheet above, readable without zooming, so you can copy any line.

Marcus Whitfield, CPA
Accountant, General Ledger and Close

Dallas, TXmarcus.whitfield@email.com(555) 016-3348

Summary

CPA with six years in audit and corporate accounting, now running month-end close for a $180M manufacturer in NetSuite. Cut the close from nine business days to five and auditor adjustments from 11 to 2.

Experience
Accountant — Brazos Line ManufacturingApr 2022 – Present
  • Own month-end close for three entities; cut it from 9 business days to 5 by moving 40 accruals to templates.
  • Reconcile 60 balance sheet accounts a month in NetSuite; cleared a $210,000 backlog of open items.
  • Prepare the schedules for the annual audit; auditor adjustments fell from 11 to 2 year over year.
Staff Auditor — Keller Dunn LLPSep 2020 – Mar 2022
  • Audited 12 clients a year in manufacturing and distribution, with revenues of $20M to $300M.
  • Tested inventory and revenue controls; findings went into four client management letters.
Education
BBA and MS in Accounting, five-year professional program, Texas A&M UniversityAug 2015 – May 2020
Licenses and certifications
  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, Jan 2022
Skills

Month-end close, Account reconciliation, US GAAP, Accruals and journal entries, NetSuite, Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP)

Illustrative. Not a real person and not a real employer.

Summaries

Accountant resume summary examples by experience level

The summary is the part of a resume that changes most as a career goes on. The same job at three stages, and what each stage leads with.

  • New graduate or staff accountant

    Accounting graduate (BBA, University of Georgia, 2026) who has passed two of the four CPA Exam sections. Completed a busy-season audit internship at a regional firm, testing cash and payables for three nonprofit clients, and reconciled 25 accounts a month as a part-time bookkeeper for a property manager.

    Say how many CPA Exam sections are behind you and when you expect the rest. An internship and bookkeeping work fill the experience section.

  • Senior accountant

    Senior accountant and CPA with seven years across public accounting and industry, responsible for revenue recognition and fixed assets at a SaaS company with $95M in annual revenue. Set up ASC 606 contract reviews in NetSuite that closed out a material weakness within one audit cycle.

    Name the area or standard you own, such as ASC 606, fixed assets or intercompany, and one audit or close result that came from it.

  • Accounting manager or controller

    Accounting manager and CPA with 12 years of experience, leading a team of six through the monthly close and annual audit of a $600M distribution company. Moved reconciliations from Excel to BlackLine, shortened the close from eight days to four, and has had no audit adjustments for three years running.

    The team you lead, the size of the company and the length of the close are the three figures a CFO reads for at this level.

Skills

Skills for an accountant resume

Finance teams search by system and by standard, so copy the posting's terms: NetSuite, SAP or QuickBooks, ASC 606 or SOX. The CPA goes in a licenses section with the state, not in this list, and "detail-oriented" is better proven by a clean audit than claimed.

Hard skills

Accounting and close

  • General ledger
  • Month-end and year-end close
  • Account reconciliations
  • Journal entries and accruals
  • Revenue recognition (ASC 606)

Reporting and audit

  • US GAAP
  • Financial statement preparation
  • Audit support
  • Internal controls (SOX)

Systems

  • NetSuite
  • QuickBooks Online
  • SAP
  • Advanced Excel
  • BlackLine

Soft skills

  • Accuracy under deadline
  • Explaining numbers to non-accountants
  • Confidentiality
  • Professional skepticism
  • Organization
  • Teamwork

Name two or three of these in the skills section at most. They count for more when a bullet shows one at work.

Bullet points

Accountant resume bullet points, before and after

Five lines as people first write them, and the same lines rewritten so the result comes last, where the eye lands. The numbers are illustrative; use your own.

  • Managed budget for department.

    Built and tracked the $2.4M operating budget for a four-department plant, reporting variances to the plant manager each month; the plant finished the year 3% under budget.

  • Did account reconciliations.

    Reconciled 45 bank, payroll and intercompany accounts every month and cleared $86,000 in items older than 90 days within one quarter.

  • Helped with the annual audit.

    Prepared 30 audit schedules and answered auditor requests within two business days; fieldwork finished a week early with no audit adjustments.

  • Processed accounts payable.

    Processed 1,200 vendor invoices a month and set up three-way matching in NetSuite, which stopped $38,000 in duplicate payments in its first year.

  • Prepared financial reports.

    Produced the monthly management reporting package for the CFO, including a new 13-week cash forecast that landed within 4% of actual for eleven months in a row.

Starting every bullet with the same verb? Synonyms for overused resume words →

These bullets are waiting in the editor

When you write your experience in our CV builder, pick "Example phrases" under a job and add the accountant bullets from this page in one click. Every number is left as [X], so the figures on your CV are your own.

Beyond experience

Accounting licenses and certifications

The CPA is a state license, not a course certificate, and it gets its own section with the state that issued it. The other credentials below mark a specialty: management accounting, tax representation, or the software a client's books live in.

  • CPA license

    A CPA is licensed by a state board of accountancy after meeting its education, exam and experience requirements, and those requirements differ from state to state. Write it as "Certified Public Accountant, Texas" with the year it was issued; the license number can stay off.

    Issued by your state board of accountancy (see NASBA)

  • Uniform CPA Exam

    Four sections, taken separately, with 16 hours of testing in total. You apply to sit for it through the board of the state where you plan to be licensed. Until the license is issued, list your progress, such as "CPA candidate: two of four sections passed, licensure expected 2027", rather than the letters CPA.

    Issued by AICPA

  • Certified Management Accountant (CMA)

    The management accounting certification from the Institute of Management Accountants, covering areas such as planning, budgeting and forecasting, cost management, internal controls and financial statement analysis. It fits corporate roles in cost accounting, FP&A and controllership.

    Issued by Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)

  • Enrolled Agent (EA)

    Awarded by the IRS for passing its three-part exam on individual and business tax returns, or through experience as a former IRS employee, and it carries unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS. It requires 72 hours of continuing education every three years. List it first for tax roles.

    Issued by Internal Revenue Service

  • QuickBooks certification

    Intuit certifies accountants in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Desktop, and asks for a short recertification exam every year. Worth a line for small-business, bookkeeping and outsourced accounting roles; give the product and the year you last recertified.

    Issued by Intuit

How to list certifications on a resume →

Template

Which template to use for an accountant resume

Classic. Accounting firms and corporate finance departments are the traditional readers Classic was made for: uppercase section rules and dates beside each role, in a single column that applicant systems read in order. Its roomier spacing costs lines, which is why this sample keeps to five bullets, one education entry and a single license. With a longer history, or when a posting asks for a plain file, use Basic, which downloads free without a watermark.

What makes a template ATS-friendly →See all templates filled in →

Accountant resume questions

What should an accountant put on a resume?

Your license status (CPA, CPA candidate with sections passed, or neither), the kind of accounting you do, the systems you use, and jobs written with figures: days to close, accounts reconciled, audit adjustments, money recovered. Add your degree and school, and certifications with the year.

What is a good summary for an accountant resume?

Two or three sentences that say what you are licensed as, which area you work in and for what size of business, and one result from your close, audit or tax work. "CPA with six years in close and reconciliations for a $180M manufacturer" tells a controller more than a line about being detail-oriented.

What are the top 3 skills every accountant needs on a resume?

Reconciliation and close work, a working command of GAAP, and the accounting system the employer runs, such as NetSuite, SAP or QuickBooks. Advanced Excel sits underneath all three. Show accuracy through results such as clean audits or cleared reconciling items, instead of listing it as a trait.

How do I write an accountant resume with no experience?

Lead with your degree and your CPA Exam progress, then list internships, volunteer tax preparation, bookkeeping for a family business or the books of a campus organization as experience, each with a figure. Coursework in audit, tax or accounting information systems can take one line under education.

Should I put CPA after my name on my resume?

Yes, once you are licensed: put it after your name in the header and give the license a line of its own with the state. Until the license is issued, write "CPA candidate" with the sections passed instead of the letters.

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