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Principal accountant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Richard Hale,

Dr. Jennifer Thayer

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical principal accountant skills. We ranked the top skills for principal accountants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 7.0% of principal accountant resumes contained gaap as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a principal accountant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 principal accountant skills for your resume and career

1. GAAP

Here's how principal accountants use gaap:

Complete quarterly GAAP and STAT reporting for various fixed assets
Completed GAAP and SEC cash flow checklists.

2. CPA

Here's how principal accountants use cpa:

Collaborate extensively with CPA's office during preliminary and year-end audit/review process to ensure completeness of financial statements and tax returns.
Aided managers in performing AP duties, generated financial reports for CPA, and reconciled bank accounts for corporate office.

3. Reconciliations

Here's how principal accountants use reconciliations:

Prepared monthly bank reconciliations for miscellaneous revenue and prepared adjusting journal entries as required.
Reviewed and confirmed monthly GL reconciliations and settlement reports prior to manager approval.

4. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how principal accountants use business development:

Tasked with new business development at BPO division of IKON, focused on Utility/Energy accounts.
Founder of national HIPAA product development, business development, and marketing initiatives.

5. Account Management

The process of strengthening the relationship between a company and client is called account management. Effective account management has two key objectives, one is to retain loyal customers and the second one is to help the company grow by creating connections with new customers.

Here's how principal accountants use account management:

Headed agency account management recruiting efforts and trained internal executives in effective interviewing skills.
Provided excellent coverage and guidance while transitioning clients from new sales stage to account management coverage in concert with internal departments.

6. Internal Controls

Here's how principal accountants use internal controls:

Revised and implemented new internal controls, policies and procedures that helped to streamline the budget and grant administrative process.
Oversee the fiscal operations, including cash management; internal controls and provides financial reports on a monthly basis.

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7. Financial Reports

Here's how principal accountants use financial reports:

Prepare financial reports and summaries including income statements generally for Board of management review.
Supervised preparation of accurate, timely financial reports to support operational needs of clients.

8. General Ledger

Here's how principal accountants use general ledger:

Maintained General Ledger Accounting systems and subsystems to ensure data integrity, accuracy, and completeness.
Reconciled general ledger to subsidiary records and resolved accounting discrepancies and prepared appropriate adjusting entries.

9. Project Management

Here's how principal accountants use project management:

Participate in new client demonstrations and meetings, highlighting software and project management benefits and establishing partnerships very early on.
Designed an agency web based project management program utilizing Google Business.

10. SOX

Here's how principal accountants use sox:

Developed, maintained and ensured ongoing compliance with accounting policies and procedures and SOX 404 internal control documentation.
Oversee compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 404 requirements.

11. CRM

CRM stands for Customer relationship management and it is a complete process through which a business or organization monitors and administers its interactions with the customers. A process in which large amounts of data are collected through marketing via a company's website, polls, surveys, and other social media applications. The basic goal of CRM is to target the right audience for their product, and then fulfill their needs, to increase the sales and revenue of the company.

Here's how principal accountants use crm:

Managed Nestl Very Best Family multi-brand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program.
Managed complex pricing structure and maintained SalesForce CRM funnel for forecasting accuracy.

12. Client Relationships

Here's how principal accountants use client relationships:

Build client relationships by creating and implementing strategies that drive revenue, profit growth and engage consumers.
Manage accounts and account growth by actively seeking out business opportunities with new and existing client relationships through analyzing internal opportunities.

13. External Auditors

Here's how principal accountants use external auditors:

Coordinate annual financial audits performed by external auditors.
Provided support and documentation to the external auditors and management for comments on, and data in the 10-Q and 10-K

14. Hyperion

Here's how principal accountants use hyperion:

Create procedural documentation for processes related to close, Hyperion Financial Management, and internal audit reporting.
Used SQL, Excel, Hyperion, Essbase, Tableau, and Business Objects to transform data into meaningful analysis.

15. Process Improvement

Here's how principal accountants use process improvement:

Advised best practice for scorecard development, collection strategies and overall process improvement.
Worked closely with management to implement process improvement initiatives for both foreign regions

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What skills help Principal Accountants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on principal accountant resumes?

Dr. Richard Hale

Associate Professor of Accounting, Berea College

When we meet with practitioners, the most commonly requested skills are:
-The ability to think critically about situations
-Good communications skills in writing
-The ability to speak in public and present ideas
-Working well with others
-The ability to work independently

Notice that these skills are not dependent upon any particular technology or discipline.
An advantage we have at Berea College, a liberal arts college, is that we incorporate these foundational skills into all we do.
Indeed, we also have our students master working with spreadsheets, develop skills in data analytics, and study all aspects of the business from Management, Economics, Finance, and Marketing.
As accounting is the business language, our students have more excellent business knowledge than other studies.

A key distinction for Berea College students is that all students must work for the college while they attend.
These jobs may vary from raising livestock to working in Accounts Payable. But all Berea graduates have years of practical work experience.
A core component of a Berea College education is to value the labor experience. We believe they enter the post-collegiate workforce with a significant advantage over their peers.

What soft skills should all principal accountants possess?

Dr. Jennifer Thayer

Assistant Professor of Accounting, Socrates Award for Excellence in Teaching Recipient, Clarksville Chamber of Commerce APSU Distinguished Faculty Award for Community Service Recipient, Accounting Society at Austin Peay Advisor, Austin Peay State University

From speaking with employers in the industry, the number one soft skill seems to be written and spoken communication. Many current students need to hone their written communication skills to avoid "text speak" when communicating with potential employers and/or clients. Other important soft skills include problem-solving, collaboration, adaptability, and willingness to deal with failure and/or criticism. Especially in the world of COVID and ever-changing work environments, the importance of adaptability and problem-solving have only been highlighted. Since most work environments involve people working in teams, effectively collaborating with others and accepting criticism are vital skills.

What hard/technical skills are most important for principal accountants?

Dr. Jennifer Thayer

In addition to general accounting knowledge, critical thinking, data analytics, and advanced Microsoft Excel abilities are some of the most important skills. Clearly, having a solid foundation in general accounting knowledge is necessary to be a candidate for a job in the accounting field. However, possessing the ability to critically think and analyze data and use Microsoft Excel beyond the basics, such as pivot tables, will only improve a candidate's chances.

What principal accountant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Stephen Moehrle Ph.D.

Professor and Chairman of Accounting, University of Missouri - St. Louis

In the spirit of continuing education I would recommend the following: First and foremost, successfully complete the cpa exam. This is a huge difference-maker in the marketplace. If the young professional has already accomplished that, I would consider developing expertise consistent with their long-term career goals. Potential areas of expertise include data analytics, information systems controls and security, taxation, SEC reporting, or management accounting. There are certificate programs in each of these skills at universities across the country. The internet is also replete with free or relatively inexpensive materials for self-starters.

What type of skills will young principal accountants need?

Delvin Grant

Associate Professor, DePaul University

The ability to problem solve, which requires an understanding of the problem and a structured approach towards the solution. The ability to apply concepts learned in one discipline to another. Quite often, students are unable to see how a concept translates from one domain to another, and this stifles innovation.

Do you want to know more?

List of principal accountant skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a principal accountant resume and required skills for a principal accountant to have include:

GAAP
CPA
Reconciliations
Business Development
Account Management
Internal Controls
Financial Reports
General Ledger
Project Management
SOX
CRM
Client Relationships
External Auditors
Hyperion
Process Improvement
Financial Transactions
Financial Analysis

ERP
Financial Data
Payroll
Internal Audit
C-Level
ROI
Securities
Balance Sheet Accounts
PeopleSoft
Sarbanes-Oxley
Treasury
Fixed Assets
Business Processes
AML
Business Plan
Cash Flow
Shared Services

Ledgers
Strategic Plan
SME
FASB
Variance Analysis
Financial Results
Cafr
A/P
Cash Flow Analysis
Content Marketing
Bank Accounts
Statutory Reporting
Account Analysis
Management System
DCAA

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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