How do I write a resume for a staff accountant job?

You write a resume for a staff accountant job by outlining your work history related to accounting and your accounting education.

You then describe the job duties and responsibilities you performed within the roles and obtain relevant professional certifications, such as the Certified Public Accountant designation.

Staff accountants work under a senior accountant, maintaining the general ledger, reviewing financial statements, preparing financial reports, assisting with audits and budgeting processes, and reconciling accounts.

Since this role requires both independent work and teamwork, you should use your resume to highlight the variety of roles and skills that the staff accountant role requires a person to manage.

You will need to include two critical pieces of information on your resume for a staff accountant job. First is your bachelor's degree in accounting. This field is extremely specialized. Therefore, it will be hard to get a job as a staff accountant without an accounting degree from an accredited university.

This section should highlight any relevant or unique coursework that you have taken. While you will not want to include generic accounting courses, if you had a specialized course in international accounting, sports accounting, mergers, and acquisitions, or environmental accounting.

Highlighting these courses will help showcase your specialized knowledge and make your resume stand out to a recruiter or hiring manager. Additionally, you will want to ensure that you include whether you have gained the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation or if you are in pursuit of it.

While being a CPA is not required for most staff accountant jobs, it is a designation that most accountants seek out within their career and will ensure that you can show your potential employer that you take your role as an accountant seriously and want to continue to progress in your career.

In your background experience for a staff accountant resume, you should include any roles related to the accounting and finance industry.

This could include accounts payable, financial analyst, or accounting assistant positions. Anything that shows that you have experience handling financial statements and identifying relevant tax and audit information for individuals and companies.

When describing accounting experience on a resume, it will be important to use keywords to showcase your experience in the field. These may include:

• Compliance

• Accounting Best Practices

• ADP

• Analysis

• Audits

• Quickbooks

• Billing

• Financial Statement

• Excel

• GAAP

• Payroll

• Reconciliations

• Income Reports

• Tax Documents

These keywords will help you describe your experience in accounting in quantifiable ways, which will ensure that your resume stands out to a hiring manager.

Finally, common skills that will help enhance your risk management descriptions include the following:

• Analytical skills

• Organization

• Critical Thinking

• Interpersonal Communication

• Adaptability

• Time Management

• Industry Knowledge

• Spreadsheet Proficiency

• Quickbooks