Staff Accountant Resume: Template for Download & Essential Examples

get started today

As a Staff Accountant, you’re used to reviewing and preparing financial documents, but are you having trouble arranging your own resume? It’s your turn to have someone get your documents ready. Our custom-made resume templates can put the numbers in your favor to get hired.

Staff Acccountant Resume Example MSWord®
Ensure your operation goes to plan and download our Staff Account Resume template in Word.

View in fullscreen

View in fullscreen

Download template

ResumeGiants » Examples » Staff Accountant Resume

So, the knack for numbers steered you into the accounting profession. 

Every company requires a competent staff accountant to manage its finances, and every staff accounting applicant needs to show up to the occasion with a well-crafted resume for the position. 

A carefully orchestrated resume places you higher in the corporate pecking order, where you will be trusted with higher-level tasks—like planning purchases, preparing financial statements, and budget expansions.  

Education, experience, extracurricular activities, practical work, and more—all these aspects are vital in creating a valuable staff accountant resume. 

But, in a job market within an infinitely deep pool of candidates, your qualities can be easily drowned out if you can’t attract the attention of HR personnel.

With an average annual salary of $73,560 and a projected 135,000 openings for accountants per year, it makes for a solid career. 

And it is the right career move that offers countless employment opportunities because it doesn’t limit you to a given industry.

A big plus in our eyes!

First impressions matter. That’s why we are going to teach you how to write a resume to land you your dream staff accountant position.  

If you are a new job seeker or contemplating a change of work environment, we can help you tailor the perfect resume that encapsulates all the qualities that make you a top candidate.  

Staff Accountant Resume Sample

Questions about the proper font size and style, length, and style of your resume are on the rise. 

To paint you a better picture, Let’s not beat around the bush. 

Here is a staff accountant resume to swear by:

resume Example

Copy to clipboard

Copied!

[Joe Smith]

[Staff Accountant]

[Pittsburgh, PA, 15106 | 123-456-7890 | jsmith@randomemail.com]

Summary

Proactive staff accountant with 7+ years of experience in accounting auditing and bookkeeping services. Expertise in project management, financial auditing, and budget planning. Identified ways to lower variable costs by 19% and saved $1.3M annually. Spotted and fixed a recurring accounting error that saved another $300,000.

Experience

Global Logistics Inc., Pittsburg, PA

Senior Staff Accountant

February 2014– June 2020

• Provided accounting and financial analysis during the preparation of financial statements. Performed work 100% error-free thanks to rigorous self-checking.
• Completed month-end close duties and reconciled balance sheet accounts. Found and fixed a recurring mistake, saving $1.3M per year.
• Tasked with conducting deep account analysis. Found ways to cut variable costs 19%.

Education

Pennsylvania State University

Bachelor’s Degree in Business Accounting

2012–2014 GPA 3.8

Skills

• Licensed Certified Public Accountant
• Account analysis
• Financial reporting
• Asset management
• Strong attention to detail

Activities

• Marathon swimmer
• Numismatist focusing on medieval coins

The desks of HR managers are overcrowded with piles of resumes, and on average, each resume is only reviewed for a couple of minutes before another one comes along.

There are several options when designing your resume and deciding on its format.

Let’s have a look at the three main formats:

• Functional Format: Accentuates your capabilities by focusing on the staff accountant resume skills you possess;
• Reverse-chronological Format: Highlights your experience by presenting  career progression; 
• Combination Format: The name says it all. It’s a mix of the previous two, how you balance it out, skill vs experience depends on the job requirements.  A lot of recruiters prefer a combination format with the Skills/ Core Competencies section on top of your resume, followed by your Work Experience section in reverse-chronological format.

You can use our staff accountant resume templates to implement the proper format that advertises a true professional. 

Your staff accountant resume needs to include crucial details. Here are a few top tips:

• The resume header gets reserved for contact details;
• Relevant details take front stage, and the reverse-chronological layout is the perfect format;
• Select a font with a serious tone; 
• Package the content in a PDF file; 

Remember, you are writing a resume, not an autobiography, keep it under 2 pages! 

Considering the severe competition in this professional field, it’s important to have a resume summary that helps you stand out among other candidates.

A proper staff accountant resume will include a resume summary or an objective section, yet, using either section will depend on your professional experience. 

Namely, juniors with little professional experience can include an objective section in their resume, where they can showcase their professional assets and goals. 

On the other side of the spectrum, for senior accountants, the summary section is a treasure trove of information concerning past achievements and experiences in areas relevant to the position applied for. 

Having an eye-catching staff accountant resume summary is imperative because many hiring managers take only seconds to decide if they should devote more time to a candidate.

Let’s get into some samples that can be your guide.

Staff Accountant Resume Summary Example

The resume summary should be a 3-sentence highlight section emphasizing your biggest professional achievements.

A well-crafted resume Summary includes information such as:

• Current job title; 
• Experience in the industry; 
• Primary responsibilities;
• Career accomplishments; 

The point of the staff accountant resume summary is to demonstrate that you are qualified to handle the responsibilities that come with the position.

I know we’re not your boss—but try not to skip sections and deviate from our guidelines too much. Laziness can produce a subpar resume that will hurt your chances for future employment

Let’s examine a couple of staff accountant resume examples, where they went wrong, and how you can be better:

This example summary lacks motivation and will not inspire confidence in the hiring manager that the person possesses the go-getter mentality needed in a senior staff accountant. 

Alternatively, we can see a correct example of a staff accountant resume summary:

Don’t beat around the bush—use to-the-point language. 

Identify the elements of your career that you are most proud of and present them succinctly.

How to Write an Entry Level Staff Accountant Resume Objective

Lack of work experience shouldn’t be a discouraging factor when job hunting. Plenty of companies are searching for talent they can shape that is brimming with enthusiasm. 

The building block of an entry-level resume objective ought to convey the following applicant information:

• Personal character traits;
• Education information;
• Specific skills;
• Reasons for applying for that position;
• Your future goals;

Honesty will likely be rewarded, but don’t be shy to promote your professional attributes too. 

The entry-level resume objective is a beneficial section option for interns or recent graduates resumes.

Entry-Level Staff Accountant Resume Objectives

The resume objective is the perfect platform to explain why you deserve a chance to be part of an organization. Managers are always on the lookout for entry-level staff accountants that have the potential to climb the company ladder. 

Let’s have a look at a properly composed entry-level staff accountant resume example:

The experience section in a staff accountant’s resume is always tailor-made much like a fine suit—often depending on the richness of information needed to update your resume. 

However, there are a few points to stick to if you’d like to ensure that you transmit the core values of your work history correctly. 

Namely, focus on the big projects you managed throughout your career. Don’t forget to include your success rates and different specialty areas that were your responsibility.  

The evaluation of your staff accountant resume focuses on the contribution made to improving productivity and revenue for your previous employer. Numbers clearly quantify your achievements, so use them whenever possible.

Now, check out this example of how you should present your work experiences:

It’s not boastful to accentuate your achievements, but a smart tactic to draw attention to your capabilities.

Entry-Level Staff Accountant Resume: Experience Section

The good news is—you are not the first person to start a career. Everybody begins with a clean slate, and the resume progressively gets layered with projects.

Most bosses prefer some form of work experience, but there are alternative ways to impress a hiring manager. 

Entry-level candidates can include old college projects, voluntary work, or relevant internships in their resumes where they lack contracted work experience.   

Also, conferences, professional memberships, and seminars you have attended are a practical way to signal you have the required knowledge for the job.

Here is an example of an entry-level staff accountant’s experience section.

The education section indicates the level of training you received. 

Following your experience, education is the second key factor that hiring managers weigh in before deciding on a staff accountant applicant.

Don’t make a rookie mistake by only listing the college where you obtained your degree.

Instead, expand the section with other relevant information to convince employers to schedule an interview.

Here are the details we recommend showcasing in the Education section of your staff accountant resume:

• Your GPA, especially if it is high;
• All professional certifications you have earned;
• School achievements that indicate relevant accounting skills;

It’s a no-brainer—education equals qualification. The more of it you have, the better your chances of a callback.

Don’t leave it out!

Staff Accountant Resume Education Section

We learn by example and the visual form is the best representation of our recommendations, so let’s see two approaches for an education section.

We’ll start with the not-so-good method:

As you can see, this is just raw data without specific insight. To be a step ahead of the competition, you must give your resume a little substance and flare.

Here is a solid resume education example to consider. It includes a high GPA, a license, and a professional certification.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to polish an education section, but the final result stands head and shoulders above the rest. 

Don’t just stuff the staff accountant resume with every skill you possess, thinking it won’t hurt your chances of getting the job. 

At the end of the day, resumes should be highly customized to the job you are targeting.

When your experience doesn’t match the requirements, include transferable skills from similar projects or non-accountant jobs.

The resume’s skills section could include soft and hard skills, such as those listed below:

Executives focus on professional competency, but they also want to get a feel for the character of the person they may be employing.

University degrees and proficiency with a respective software don’t reveal much about one’s mentality. 

That’s why it’s wise to incorporate other sections that will highlight your hobbies, volunteer work, and accomplishments outside of work.   

Make your resume enticing with your personal activities that you take pride in.

Staff Accountant Resume Sample “Other” Sections

The best option when creating the Other section is to subdivide the resume into related categories. 

Depending on your personal affinities and career path, select elements you think will help define you as a person and professional.

Let’s see a few examples of how other sections can get implemented in your resume.

It’s been an in-depth learning session, but the time has come to put the knowledge you’ve gained from this guide into practice. We know you’ll create the best staff accountant resume by following our guidelines and using one of our modern templates—our readers have said so themselves!

If your concentration failed you during this article, here are the key takeaways to keep in mind:

• Select a resume layout that conveys your present career situation;
• The resume header includes job title and contact info;
• List skills that match the job description;
• The summary should be concise by specific about goals and accomplishments;
• Incorporate metrics that reveal the impact you made in previous jobs;
• Include hobbies that demonstrate you are a team player.

Stick to the bits of advice given in our sample resume for the staff accountant position and the only problem you will face is the decision of which job interview to prioritize!