Accountant resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 16 skills, tools and credentials that come up in accountant job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 11
- GAAP (used in Grace's sample resume)
- General ledger (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Month-end close (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Account reconciliation (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Journal entries (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Financial statements (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Accounts payable (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Accounts receivable
- Audit (used in Grace's sample resume)
- Accruals
- Sales tax (used in Grace's sample resume)
Tools & software · 4
- NetSuite (used in Grace's sample resume)
- QuickBooks
- SAP
- Excel (used in Grace's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 1
- CPA (used in Grace's sample resume)
12 of 16 appear in Grace's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Month-end close
Weak: Skills: Month-end close
Strong: Lead month-end close for 3 entities with $180M in combined annual revenue
Audit
Weak: Skills: Audit
Strong: Prepared schedules for the annual external audit, which closed with no material adjustments
Accounts payable
Weak: Skills: Accounts payable
Strong: Managed accounts payable for 600+ vendors and about $3M in monthly payments
Sales tax
Weak: Skills: Sales tax
Strong: Prepared sales tax filings in 12 states with zero penalties
Strong bullets come from Grace's sample resume and our accountant bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If an accountant post asks for CPA and you've used it, say CPA, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If an accountant post says "GAAP", write "GAAP", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on General ledger — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Accounts payable. A bullet like the one under Staff Accountant in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
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/ Questions
Accountant keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should an accountant resume have?
There's no magic number. Grace's sample resume uses 12 of the 16 terms on this page — the ones that fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If an accountant post says "CPA", write "CPA" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Grace's sample, CPA, Month-end close and Audit are in the summary and Accounts payable shows up in a bullet under Staff Accountant. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on an accountant resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in accountant posts include NetSuite, QuickBooks, SAP and Excel. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list CPA on my resume?
Spell it the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
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