Money management is essential in both personal and professional lives. And accounting plays a major role in this aspect. It is one of the professions that will always be in demand since business industry need individuals to manage their accounts. Every individual, be it an accounting clerk, accounting assistant, accounts payable clerk, accounts receivable clerk, payroll clerk, auditor, or chief accounting officer, he or she can contribute a lot for the efficient management of capital.
An accountant is an invaluable asset to an organization as he is entrusted with the responsibility of handling money matters and ensuring the company doesn't go bankrupt by maintaining proper financial statements and audit reports. To grab the attention of the accounting firm or a recruiter, it is necessary to write a resume that sells you at par with other candidates. As the competition is high in almost every field, writing a unique selling tool has become important to stand out from the crowd. Use the following tips to draft a professional accounting resume and impress a probable employer.
Choose a format:
Chronological format is the most widely followed format as it is easily understood by the hiring managers and helps in highlighting work accomplishments easily. On the other side, if you have had many gaps in employment or have frequently changed organizations, it's always better to throw light on your accounting skills rather than work history. To do this, you would need to write a functional resume. A combination resume is also in use these days. Before beginning to draft your document, select an appropriate format.
Include contact details:
The personal contact information must always be listed right at the top of the document so that it becomes easier for a recruiter to get connected with you in case you are shortlisted for an interview. It's a short section written at the beginning, and must include only required details. Write your full name, permanent resident address, phone number, and a professionally sounding email address. Avoid giving 2 or 3 phone numbers since it would only confuse the recruiter. Adding a URL to your LinkedIn profile or other social media pages is optional.
Add commonly searched accounting skills:
Hiring managers search for specific keywords, and if they appear in your document, the chances of it being thrown into a trash are greatly reduced. Describe accounting competencies in bullet points by mentioning words like taxation, financial accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting or end-of-period closing process. If you have acquired proficiency in using software's like QuickBooks, GNUCash, ERPNext or others mention it too. Add a line if you have already cleared the CPA (Certified Public Accountants) at the start of the document.
Write a Career Summary:
The next section is about job objective which is used by freshers. This should be catchy and compel the recruiter to scan your entire document. Writing your own objective statement instead of twisting the ones available on the internet can help you cast an impression. You can frame a good sentence by stating the years of experience, promoting your best skills, significant accomplishments, the highest degree and why you fit the position in this part.
Mention relevant work experience:
To prove you are suitable for the position, quantify your past responsibilities. Accounting is a profession related to numbers and your resume must reflect it. While mentioning your experience, add bullet points related to the budgets you managed, investments handled, audits, financial statements or the number of contracts you successfully negotiated. You can also highlight professional awards or appreciation statements given by employers. If you have just started in this field, mention internship experience and different job duties you handled. Always start the bullet points in this section with action verbs, for example, accelerate, calculate, decentralize, handle, maintain, schedule, tabulate,validate and others.
Keep the educational qualification section short:
Whether you have moved to a higher position in your accounting career, or are just a fresher, this section must be placed at the bottom of the document and should only include limited information. Highlight the highest degree you have earned, the school you went, and the grade you have obtained. If you have cleared the CFA levels/ CPA exam or are preparing for the same, mention it. Apart from this, academic awards or major acknowledgement must be highlighted as well. You can also add a sub section which talks about the professional certifications, training courses or license obtained.
Apart from the usual sections, a resume could also include various other sections as they help an individual to stand apart amongst job-seekers. It could be your professional affiliations, honors received, volunteer activities, or relevant hobbies. However, be careful to include only short descriptive points in each section and not make the whole document look too lengthy. Once you have finished drafting your resume, edit it to remove unnecessary points, proofread thoroughly for grammatical errors and spelling typos and tailor it according to the job. Take help of the accounting resume samples below that covers almost all the job profiles in accounting for you to write an outstanding accounting resume.