Accountant resume tips
An accountant resume should tell a reviewer which books you touched and which part of the close you owned. A credential belongs on it, written the way the issuer writes it. Software is secondary to the workpapers you were responsible for.
Cover letter for an accountant
What to put first
Say industry and setting: public accounting, a company close, a nonprofit, or a practice that serves small businesses. Then name the statements or the areas: revenue, payroll, tax compliance, or consolidations. Put the credential next to your name if you hold one.
The close, in plain duties
Write the recurring work: reconciliations you signed, schedules you prepared, returns you assembled. "Assisted with month-end" is weak if you can name the accounts.
Credential and eligibility
Use the exact license or progress toward one. If you are not yet certified, do not place the letters after your name. A hiring manager knows the difference.
Systems after the accounting
Name the ledger or the workpaper tool you used. Do not list every product in a suite if you only exported a report from one module.
An example line
Adapt this only where it is true for you. It is a shape for a bullet, not a claim that a particular person did this work.
Prepared the monthly revenue reconciliation for a subscription business and the schedule that explained the difference between billings and recognized revenue.
What to leave off
Leave off software you have not posted a journal in, tax areas you have not prepared, and any audit opinion language that belongs to a firm rather than to your own workpapers.
Questions
- Should I list coursework instead of a credential?
- Coursework can support a new graduate. It should not sit where a license would sit once you have real close experience.
- What if I only did accounts payable?
- Then say accounts payable. That is a real job. Do not generalize it into "full cycle" if you never touched the statements.