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Senior accounting specialist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Richard Hale,

Thomas King

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior accounting specialist skills. We ranked the top skills for senior accounting specialists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 10.7% of senior accounting specialist resumes contained reconciliations as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior accounting specialist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior accounting specialist skills for your resume and career

1. Reconciliations

Here's how senior accounting specialists use reconciliations:

Review schedules, exhibits and summaries in North American account reconciliations for accuracy and completeness.
Revised reconciliations a prior employee had completed incorrectly so policyholder records were accurate.

2. GAAP

Here's how senior accounting specialists use gaap:

Review Contracts T&C's for proper SaaS revenue recognition in accordance with US GAAP and internal policies.
Leveraged strong knowledge of GAAP, contractual agreements, and internal policies to conduct contract audits.

3. Financial Reports

Here's how senior accounting specialists use financial reports:

Reconcile financial reports for accuracy of data for preparation of annual or quarterly reports.
Prepared and analyzed monthly financial reports and monthly bank reconciliation for MATC Foundation.

4. Payroll

Payroll is the sum of all the compensation that an organization has to pay to employees at a specified time. Payroll is managed by the finance or HR department while small business owners may handle it themselves. Payroll isn't fixed as it varies every month due to sick leaves, overtime, etc.

Here's how senior accounting specialists use payroll:

Performed daily, weekly and semimonthly payroll balancing to ensure timely and accurate commission payments to producers.
Completed Monthly account examination to include liability vs. asset management, payroll and expenditures to budget.

5. SOX

Here's how senior accounting specialists use sox:

Ensured compliance with monthly, quarterly, and annual audit requests (internal and external, including SOX).
Set up current processes and procedures for A/P, A/R for catalog divisions in preparation for SOX.

6. Senior Accounting

Here's how senior accounting specialists use senior accounting:

Provide services as a senior accounting specialist in the accounts payable department.
Promoted to senior accounting technician position to direct accounting functions for a growing telecommunications company.

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7. Strong Analytical

Here's how senior accounting specialists use strong analytical:

Detail oriented with strong analytical insight to recognize and implement efficient problem-solving skills.
Manage special accounting projects requiring strong analytical and computer spreadsheet skills.

8. Account Reconciliations

Here's how senior accounting specialists use account reconciliations:

Reviewed and oversaw all journal entries and account reconciliations related to billing system generated revenue and all other miscellaneous journal entries.
Performed period-end close and reporting tasks, account reconciliations, and management reporting relative to Construction in Progress and Depreciation activity.

9. Cash Management

Here's how senior accounting specialists use cash management:

Perform daily cash management activities including recording and reconciliation of fund transfers such as inter-company, and bank wire.
Researched, managed, and kept abreast on federal compliance regulatory requirements for financial aid fund cash management.

10. General Ledger Accounts

A general ledger account is a practice to keep a record of a company's total financial accounts. The accounts included in a general ledger lists the assets, liabilities, owners' equity, expenses, and income or revenue. It forms the basis of reporting a business's financial statements.

Here's how senior accounting specialists use general ledger accounts:

Compile, analyze and reconcile general ledger accounts and provide explanation of any discrepancies to management.
Reconcile financial data between production reports and general ledger accounts.

11. Financial Analysis

Here's how senior accounting specialists use financial analysis:

Performed monthly financial analysis on corporate financial statements.
Assisted the CFO and the comptroller on financial analysis of balance sheet and P&L accounts.

12. Process Improvement

Here's how senior accounting specialists use process improvement:

Certified Lean process improvement champion and facilitator of accelerated change providing training to all department staff and leading department Lean initiatives.
Develop work plans for process improvements and issue resolution, including system enhancements, vendor management requirements, and financial reporting.

13. Sarbanes-Oxley

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (or SOX Act) is a U.S. government law that expects to secure financial backers by making corporate divulgences more solid and transparent. The Act was created as a result of bookkeeping errors.

Here's how senior accounting specialists use sarbanes-oxley:

Participated in internal & external audits pertaining to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
Perform audit requests and ensure Accounts Payable control and compliance to Sarbanes-Oxley and Accounts Payable Policies & Procedures.

14. Hyperion

Here's how senior accounting specialists use hyperion:

Managed Oracle GL to Hyperion account mapping and set up reporting schedules.
Completed month-end closing duties including assistance with financial consolidation in Hyperion Financial Management, account reconciliation and financial statement analysis.

15. SR

Here's how senior accounting specialists use sr:

Assist Sr. Accountants with journal entries.
Assist Sr. Accountants with account recons.

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What skills help Senior Accounting Specialists find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on senior accounting specialist 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 senior accounting specialists possess?

Thomas King

Department Chair, Director, Master of Accountancy Program, Professor, Accountancy, Case Western Reserve University

The ability to develop working relationships with a wide range of colleagues who have diverse skills.

What hard/technical skills are most important for senior accounting specialists?

Thomas King

Department Chair, Director, Master of Accountancy Program, Professor, Accountancy, Case Western Reserve University

The ability to extract information from unfamiliar data sets and then explain conclusions reached in a clear, persuasive manner.

What senior accounting specialist 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 senior accounting specialists 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.

What technical skills for a senior accounting specialist stand out to employers?

Dr. JP Krahel Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Accounting, Accounting Department Chair, Loyola University Maryland

First, Excel. It's the most basic, essential tool for the accounting professional. If you can come in on Day 1 knowing essential keyboard shortcuts, proper formula and reference use, and how to format a spreadsheet properly, you'll have an immediate advantage over your peers.

Second, believe it or not, is writing. People think that accounting is all about numbers, but really, it's less about the math (which Excel does for you) and more about being able to explain the deeper meaning behind the results. Can you explain complex depreciation methods to an audit client? Give bad news to a tax client in an understandable way? These are big deals.

Third is data analytics. Given the immense volume of data now available to firms, someone who can extract, clean, and present that data using modern software tools will have an edge. It's really another form of communication, and one that early-career accounting professionals would do well to familiarize themselves with before entering the workforce.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior accounting specialist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior accounting specialist resume and required skills for a senior accounting specialist to have include:

Reconciliations
GAAP
Financial Reports
Payroll
SOX
Senior Accounting
Strong Analytical
Account Reconciliations
Cash Management
General Ledger Accounts
Financial Analysis
Process Improvement
Sarbanes-Oxley
Hyperion
SR
Balance Sheet Accounts
External Auditors

Fixed Assets
Close Process
Accruals
Data Entry
Purchase Orders
Financial Data
Shared Services
Credit Card
ERP
Financial Transactions
Vendor Invoices
Tax Returns
ACH
PeopleSoft
A/P
Cash Flow
Variance Analysis

QuickBooks
Bank Accounts
Expense Reports
Bank Reconciliations
Customer Accounts
Bank Statements
Deltek Costpoint
Cost Accounting Standards
Vendor Statements
HR
Account Analysis
IRS
W-9
Reconcile General Ledger
Bank Deposits

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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