Staff Accountant Resume Example

Follow this step-by-step guide to write a great Staff Accountant resume that gets more interviews and job offers. Or have Leet Resumes write yours for free!

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Written by Marc Cenedella
Leading expert on resumes
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Marc Cenedella

Marc Cenedella is a nationally recognized thought leader on careers, resume writing, job search, career management and recruiting, Marc is frequently sought out by national media organizations for his expert commentary on employment, resumes, the job search and the job market.

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Last updated on July 18, 2022
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What Makes a Great Staff Accountant Resume

So you’ve crunched the numbers and it’s time to find a new home for your accounting skills, but you didn’t anticipate the resume process to be so abstract.

What’s the best format for a resume? Do you need a resume objective? Can’t someone just create a formula for this?

If only you could input the numbers and have a pivot table do the work for you.

Luckily, you’ve landed in the right place.

You can skip the multiple-columned and colorful resume templates and just give the recruiter what they want to see: the cold hard numbers that you’re the Staff Accountant for their open position.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a great Staff Accountant resume template that can be customized for each job you apply to – it’s the next best thing to a custom formula with the FV of your time exponentially positive.

Prefer to have someone else write your resume?

We get it. You like the numbers, we’ve got the words.

Leet Resumes – the experts behind this resume example and guide – will write a custom and professional resume for you…and they’ll even do it for free. (Tips for a job well done are always appreciated)

What to Include in a Staff Accountant Resume

There are five key parts to your custom resume template:

  • Professional Headline
  • Summary
  • Work Experience
  • Education
  • Keywords

In this article, we’ll show you how to apply your attention to detail, your penchant for formulas and systems and your magic with numbers to write a great Staff Accountant resume that will get more interviews and job offers.

Having second thoughts?

Maybe you’d prefer that someone else write your resume for you. We can make that happen.

Leet Resumes will write a custom resume for you, and they’ll even do it for free. (Though tips are much appreciated).

Name + Contact

Start with your full name at the top of the page to make it clear who to call for an interview.

Make your name slightly larger than the rest of the text, and use a legible and professional font that’s easy for anyone to read.

Underneath, add your contact information: phone number, email and your current location (city and state will do).

Remember to keep every detail of your resume professional, including your email address. Don’t use an outdated hobby email or personal email address that’s a clever take on your favorite excel formula.

Imagine reciting your email to your future employer. If there’s any awkwardness in that thought, swap out your email for the basic: firstname.lastname approach.

Professional Headline

This is the first impression of your resume.

It’s like the headline of an advertisement or newspaper article: you have three to five words to explain what you’re all about and interest them in reading more.

So what kind of Staff Accountant are you? Are you an Efficient Senior Staff Accountant, or an Industrious Junior Staff Accountant?

To hook your recruiter in with your professional headline, start by choosing an adjective that describes you and your work in a positive light: proficient, professional, expert, or strategic are some ideas.

Follow that with a word that describes your level of experience (junior, senior, executive, assistant), and your official job title (Staff Accountant).

Professional Summary

Your professional headline captured their attention now your professional summary will highlight your accounting expertise.

In the first line, list the job titles you’d accept for your next position. In addition to Staff Accountant, this might include financial analyst, accounting manager or senior accountant. Most importantly, include the exact job title for the position you’re applying for.

The second line is a place to list the most relevant accounting skills that qualify you for your targeted job. Look at the job description to see what kind of Staff Accountant they’re looking for since your official title covers a broad range of skills.

Don’t worry about fitting all your skills here, there’s more room in the keywords section later.

The next two lines are completely optional and if you’re new to the field or don’t have anything to include here, don’t worry about it. Lines one and two of your professional summary are all you need to land that interview.

If you do have the experience and accolades, add your accounting achievements in line three and your promotions and awards in line four.

The Magic of Numbers in Your Work Experience

As a Staff Accountant, you have the advantage of knowing all the numbers of a company and how that impacts the bottom line. From scouting for inefficiencies to mining for lost tenths of cents, your skilled work is sought after by companies of every size.

Just because your impact and role seems obvious, don’t assume your recruiter knows much about what you actually do. In fact, they’d probably ask you a “quick question about excel” if they could.

That’s why it’s a mistake to make the work experience of your resume read like an instruction manual. This is not the place to list the duties and responsibilities of your day to day transactions. This is the place to highlight how your individual contributions affect the financial success of a company - mainly, their bottom line. Here’s how:

Start by listing your previous work experience with your most recent position first. Take a look at the resume example to see how this is formatted with your dates of employment, official job title and previous employer.

Then make a list of bullet points under each position to showcase your success, achievement and positive impact in each role.

Begin each bullet point with a strong success verb followed by specific numbers that highlight your value and expertise, such as:

  • Reduced variable costs by 20% saving $2.1M annually.
  • Increased cash flow by 4% by optimizing accounting methods and streamlining third-party payment processing providers.
  • Boosted cash reserves by discovering $500,000+ in discrepancies through reconciling accounts.

The Numbers

No one needs to sell you on the power of numbers but what you might not know is just how powerful they are in writing an effective resume template.

Numbers are specific. When you’re specific, your future employer can easily visualize how you’ll contribute to their organization. They might not understand the nuances of your financial reports or asset management skills, but they understand the bottom line.

If you can highlight numbers that show how you make a company more money, find more money or save more money, your Staff Accountant resume is likely to find the interview request pile.

Strong Success Verbs

Success verbs not only refer to an action, but to the positive outcome of that action as well.

Strong success verbs in accounting include: boosted, generated, reduced, increased, optimized, or capitalized.

Pairing these success verbs with specific numbers is the winning formula for your Staff Accountant resume.

Promotions

Don’t forget to include each promotion you’ve received in your work experience.

Each promotion reconciles the achievements outlined with your success verbs and impressive numbers to the positive opinion of previous employers. It’s third-party validation that your work is worth rewarding.

Education

This section is a short and factual brief to provide context to the history of your accounting career.

List which educational institutions you attended, the dates of your attendance and the degree(s) you graduated with. If you received any honors or awards, these can be included, too.

As for incomplete degrees or extracurricular activities, they can be left off your resume altogether.

Keywords and Skills for a Staff Accountant Resume

As a Staff Accountant, you can work in a number of departments, companies or firms – all with the same set of skills, but when it comes to your resume template, you’ll want to tailor this section of your resume to the specific position you’re applying for.

The best way to know what your potential employer is looking for is to explore the job description of the original job listing. Here, they’ll list whether they need auditing, account reconciliation, or general accounting services – which might also mean you’re the on-call Microsoft Excel expert to answer everyone’s spreadsheet questions.

In addition to the specific skills they’ve mentioned in the listing, add your own professional strengths from the categories below to create a well-rounded list for your resume.

  • Technical Skills: AR/AP, financial statements, remittances, reconciliations, payroll, tax filings, YE/ME adjustments, auditing, asset management, account analysis, P&L
  • Soft Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking, troubleshooting, time management, detail oriented
  • Technologies: Excel, MS Office, QuickBooks, Xero, Oracle
  • Accounting Certifications: CPA, CFA, CMA, EA, CIA (Certified Internal Auditor, that is)

Once you’ve filled the bottom section of your resume with a robust list of keywords and skills, your Staff Accountant resume template is officially complete.

You can send your resume in confidence and get ready for those interview requests.

Wish someone else would write your resume for you?

That’s an option, too. The experts behind this resume example and guide will write a custom resume for you for free. Try it for yourself today.

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