Even though most job searches today happen online and with digital communication, it’s still important to write a high-quality curriculum vitae. In order to get pushed to the next step of interviewing with your chosen company, you’ll need to use your CV to get a hiring manager to notice you.
That is why smart jobseekers work extremely hard to make their CV attention-grabbing and perfect. Below, you can see the accountant CV example and get useful tips you can apply to your own CV.
123 Fake Street, City, State, Zip Code
E: email@email.com P: 000-000-0000
Accomplished Certified Public Accountant with 11 years of experience in accounting and finance. Experienced in bookkeeping, tax calculating, and reporting for business clients and organizations. Capable professional with expertise in many of the most common accounting software programs. Strong work ethic and commitment to integrity and accurate record keeping. Eager to join a team and help improve an organization’s financial focus.
- Proficient in operating accounting computer software such as Intuit QuickBooks, Sage 50 Accounting, Fund Accounting Software, Tax Software, and others.
- Exceptional knowledge of mathematical concepts, accounting and finance topics, tax code, and banking principles.
- Top attention to detail and focus on making sure records and information systems are kept accurate and true.
- Strong reasoning skills and analytical abilities to help determine best practices when it comes to the finances of each organization I work with.
- Excellent communication skills when writing reports or memos or when speaking in front of a group of people during a presentation.
- Review company financial records, reports, and other information to check for accuracy and ensure details align with company goals and procedures.
- Discuss the status of the company’s current financial standing with upper management and the owners of the organization.
- Designed and used a computer record-keeping program that has helped reduce wasteful spending by 19%.
- Audited financial records from previous years and the current fiscal year in order to assess the company’s record-keeping techniques.
- Calculated the organization’s tax responsibility each pay period in the form of payroll taxes, and completed corporate tax returns each year.
- Maximized the company’s use of tax incentives and credits to help save the organization $15,000 in one calendar year.
- Managed a new system of record keeping for employees to input all spending and record all company payments and invoices.
- Assessed the organization’s yearly budget and helped maintain the focus on quarterly budget goals with spending and cost reports.
- Recommended several money-saving steps be taken during the first few months of my employment, which helped lower the cost of operations by 12%.
I am dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and participate in many different sports and activities in my spare time. During the summer, I am often on the road or a mountain trail with my bike. Sometimes, I will do all-day hikes on the trail as well. When it starts to get cold during the winter, I spend a lot of time hitting the slopes on the toughest hills, either skiing or snowboarding.
Questions for Your Certified Public Accountant CV
How should you structure your accountant CV?
A neat CV structure is the first step in improving readability. You can refer to our accountant CV sample for an idea of how to structure your own, but let’s break down the components of our sample structure. The curriculum vitae begins with a header with contact information, followed by a three-line professional summary and a list of searchable keyword skills optimized for applicant tracking system algorithms.
The heaviest section by far is the experience section, with 10-15 years of work history. Close out with a succinct education section outlining only relevant, recent education and degrees.
How do you list certifications on your accountant CV?
Certifications for accountants can be tricky. For instance, if you’re a CPA you want to include that after your name in your header and even in your professional summary. However, you can’t stack every certification into your header or summary. You’ll lose all meaning and bog down your description of your accomplishments and qualifications.
Instead keep the majority of your certifications in your education section. List them after your degrees, in order from most recent to oldest.
What technical skills should you put on an accountant CV?
Technical skills should focus on specializations in accounting software. Our accountant CV sample focuses on QuickBooks, but you should call out any software where you have areas of expertise. This includes Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, and Peachtree. You’ll note that in our sample we don’t include a separate technical skills section but instead integrate them into the list of skill keywords.
How many bullet points do you include with each job in an accountant CV?
The recommended maximum length is eight bullet points, and for your most recent job you’ll want to find the sweet spot between six and eight bullet points. Older jobs can be shorter, but your most recent job should carry the most weight when demonstrating your career progression and increasing list of accomplishments. The exception to this is if your most recent job is new or temp work with short tenure.
If you’re still searching for help with narrowing down your work history, review our accountant CV sample for a few ideas, or try out our CV builder. Our industry-specific text examples will guide you in optimizing and trimming your employment history to the perfect length.
How do you list schools in an accountant CV?
Schools belong in the education section, at the very bottom of your CV, contrary to older formats that listed the education first. Employers now want to see your professional qualifications and work history first, education last. List the names of any degrees or certifications, your completion date, and the name of the school, agency, or institution.
Keep everything in reverse chronological order, starting with newest and descending to oldest. However, you can often cut older training entirely when in the fast-moving job market, training older than five to 10 years may be obsolete.
Accountant CV Must-Haves
What Does an Accountant Do?
Accountants are essential people in the world of private industry or public service. Their primary role is related to the financial health of an organization. Accountants manage the financial records of a company and record details about where the money is going and how it’s coming in. They can sometimes be asked to do an audit of the financial records and carefully investigate all of the money spent and received over a period of time.
Accountants typically rely on computer software to help them keep accurate financial records and are often working out calculations. As demonstrated in the accountant CV example, this job may also work on tax filings for a company, which could be completed each year or twice a month during pay periods.
Tips for Creating a Great Accountant CV
Making your accounting CV great is something that could enhance your eligibility for a coveted job in this field. Here are some other things to consider when writing your CV:
- Make a detailed list of the computer programs you have experience with in the accounting and finance industry so an employer can see your capabilities.
- Include times when you saved a company money or when you helped improve a process; be sure to indicate dollar amounts whenever possible.
- Use a varied list of clear and precise action verbs when explaining your previous positions of employment to give the reader a clear picture of your impact.
- List your work experiences and education credentials in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent jobs.
- Give some insight into who you are as a person with a paragraph discussing your hobbies and interests outside of work.
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