RESUME EXAMPLE · OFFICE, FINANCE AND LEGAL
Accountant resume: example for staff and senior accountants, plus tips
An accountant resume gets judged on three questions: which parts of the accounting cycle you own (journal entries, reconciliations, month-end close, financial statements), which standards you work under and which tax filings you’ve prepared or reviewed. Everything else is context.
Hiring managers also look at the size and type of company: keeping the books for a small services firm is not the same as running the monthly close for a subsidiary that reports to a parent company. Include the number of entities, close timelines or transaction volume when you know them, and name the ERP and accounting software you use.
US companies generally report under US GAAP, and many postings ask for a CPA license or CPA eligibility, with requirements set by each state’s board of accountancy. Below is a complete example for a senior accountant in Denver, plus tips for public accounting and industry roles. If your work leans toward financial planning, analysis and reporting, also see our data analyst resume example.
Accountant resume example
Danielle Tran
Senior Accountant, CPA | Month-End Close, US GAAP and Sales Tax
Denver, CO · danielle@example.com
Professional summary
CPA with eight years of experience at distribution and logistics companies. Lead the month-end close, bank and balance sheet reconciliations and the preparation of financial statements under US GAAP. File sales and use tax returns and annual 1099s, and support the outside tax advisors with the income tax provision and the external auditors with the annual audit. Work daily in NetSuite and Excel (pivot tables, Power Query). Seeking a senior accountant or accounting manager role at a growing company.
Experience
Highline Freight & Logistics · Denver, CO
- Cut the month-end close from 10 to 6 business days with a close calendar and weekly instead of monthly reconciliations.
- Prepare US GAAP financial statements for two entities, plus the schedules and footnote support for the annual audit.
- File sales and use tax returns in five states, with no late-filing penalties since joining.
- Partnered with IT to map payroll journal entries from ADP into NetSuite, eliminating manual re-keying.
- Supervise two staff accountants on AP invoice coding and vendor reconciliations.
Larkspur Packaging Supply · Aurora, CO
- Reconciled six bank accounts and the receivables of about 400 customers every month, clearing old unidentified items.
- Prepared the annual Form 1099 filings and answered state tax notices with support organized by vendor.
- Built a fixed asset register in Excel with automated depreciation that replaced several scattered spreadsheets.
- Delivered reconciliations and account analyses to the external auditors on the agreed timeline.
Bauer & Klein CPAs · Lakewood, CO
- Recorded purchases, sales and payroll for 15 small business clients in QuickBooks Online.
- Drafted quarterly payroll tax returns (Form 941) and state sales tax returns for review by the engagement manager.
- Organized digital source documents by client and period, which sped up the firm’s year-end work.
Education
Front Range State University
Front Range State University
Skills
Languages
English · Native Vietnamese · Conversational
Certifications
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Colorado
Accountant resume summary: 3 examples
Your summary is the first thing a recruiter reads. Pick the one closest to your situation and rework it until it sounds like you. You will find more formulas in our resume summary guide.
Accounting student graduating in May with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a busy-season internship at a regional CPA firm: recorded client transactions, reconciled bank accounts for small business clients and helped prepare quarterly sales tax returns. Comfortable in Excel and trained in QuickBooks Online and NetSuite through coursework and the internship. Seeking a staff accountant role to work through the full cycle up to the close, on track to become CPA-eligible.
Staff accountant with five years in manufacturing, handling the general ledger end to end: journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, month-end close and financial statements. Review tax filings before they go out and prepare budget-to-actual variance analysis for management. Work daily in SAP (FI) and have been the main contact for the external auditors for the past two audits.
Accounting manager with 11 years of experience, the last four leading a team of five at the US subsidiary of an international group. Oversee the monthly close and reporting to the parent company, intercompany reconciliations and the relationship with auditors and tax advisors. Led an ERP implementation and a redesign of the chart of accounts, and prepare reporting under both US GAAP and IFRS.
How to describe your experience as an accountant
Start each bullet with an action verb and, whenever you can, add the result. Use these lines as a starting point: swap in your own details and delete anything you have not done.
- Cleared reconciling items more than a year old and brought all [number] bank accounts current.
- Introduced a shared close checklist that cut post-close adjustments by [number]%.
- Caught a recurring sales tax calculation error and corrected it before it triggered a state notice.
- Automated bank statement imports with Power Query, saving [number] hours of manual reconciliation a month.
- Prepared the provided-by-client (PBC) schedules for the annual audit, which closed on schedule with an unmodified (clean) opinion.
- Coordinated intercompany reconciliations for [number] entities on a shared calendar.
- Built the annual budget by cost center with [number] department heads.
- Redesigned the chart of accounts during the ERP migration, removing [number] duplicate or unused accounts.
- Built the 13-week cash flow forecast the CFO uses to plan payments.
- Managed a state sales and use tax audit, delivering all supporting documentation on time.
- Trained [number] AP clerks and staff accountants on GL coding and invoice entry in the ERP.
Skills for an accountant resume
Hard skills
- General ledger accounting
- Month-end and year-end close
- Bank, AR and AP reconciliations
- Financial statement preparation
- US GAAP and IFRS
- Sales and use tax, 1099 and payroll tax filings
- Fixed assets and depreciation
- Budgeting and variance analysis
- Revenue recognition (ASC 606)
- ERP: NetSuite, SAP, Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics
- QuickBooks Online or Xero
- Advanced Excel and Power Query
- Consolidations and intercompany
Soft skills
- Accuracy and attention to detail
- Meeting close deadlines
- Prioritizing under pressure at month-end
- Explaining numbers to non-finance colleagues
- Confidentiality
- Analytical thinking
- Working with auditors and tax advisors
Only list skills you can back up with an example from your experience. More ideas in our guide to resume skills.
Common keywords in accountant job postings
These terms show up often in job postings for this role. If they truly describe you, use them with the same wording as the posting so both the recruiter and the applicant tracking system (ATS) can find them.
Tips for your accountant resume
State your standards, your tax work and your background
The accounting cycle is universal; standards and taxes aren’t. Say you work under US GAAP, and mention IFRS only if you’ve prepared reporting for a foreign parent. Name the tax work you prepare or review (sales and use tax, 1099s, payroll tax filings, support for the income tax provision) and say whether you come from public accounting or industry, because each one values different things. If you trained or worked abroad, explain which parts of your experience carry over and what you’re learning.
Measure the speed and quality of your close
Days to close, number of entities, audit adjustments avoided or tax notices resolved without penalties are metrics any controller understands. If you don’t have exact figures, use honest estimates. Mi Resumen’s AI assistant polishes the way you describe each job without adding metrics you didn’t give it, so the numbers always come from you.
Separate what you prepare from what you review or sign off on
Preparing a return isn’t the same as being responsible for filing it. Make clear in each role whether you prepare, review, supervise or sign off: that difference marks your level (staff, senior, supervisor, manager) and avoids misunderstandings in the technical interview.
On an accountant resume, name the software and the module
SAP (FI/CO), Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, BlackLine… Say which module you used and what you did in it (journal entries, close, reporting, fixed assets). Applicant tracking systems search for those names exactly as the posting writes them; our guide to the ATS-friendly resume shows how to work keywords in naturally.
Frequently asked questions
Should my resume say accountant, staff accountant or senior accountant?
Use the title that matches both your real level and the jobs you’re targeting. US postings usually use titles like staff accountant, senior accountant, accounting supervisor or manager, and controller, and each one signals a level of responsibility. If your official title was generic, keep it and make your level clear through your bullets, or add the common equivalent in parentheses.
Should I put CPA after my name on my resume?
Only if you’re licensed: add “CPA” after your name and list the license and state in your certifications. If you’ve passed the exam but aren’t licensed yet, don’t use the title; write “Passed all four sections of the CPA Exam” or “CPA candidate, 2 of 4 sections passed” instead. Each state board of accountancy sets its own rules, including how to show an inactive license, so check yours before describing your status.
How do I write an accountant resume with no experience?
Lead with your education (a bachelor’s in accounting, credit hours toward CPA eligibility, an associate degree for bookkeeping roles), internships and the software you’ve used. Add hands-on work from school: a simulated close, a bank reconciliation, a season preparing returns as a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) volunteer. Our guide to a resume with no experience has the structure and examples.
How do I move from public accounting to an industry role?
Translate audit or tax work into what a company’s accounting team does. Instead of “performed substantive testing,” say which areas you audited (revenue, inventory, fixed assets), for what size of clients and what you found. Highlight anything close to the daily work in industry, like reconciliations, journal entries, the close or ERP systems, and leave out client names if your firm requires confidentiality.
Which certifications do employers value for accountants?
In the US, the CPA license is the main one, especially for audit, tax and management roles. In corporate accounting and finance, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) is also valued, and the CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) for internal audit. Software certifications such as QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor help in roles that use those systems. List only what you’ve earned, with the issuer and year, in your certifications section.