Intro: From the author of the upcoming book, "Think Like an Interviewer: Your Job Hunting Guide to Success comes this article helping you create a winning accounting-related resume. Written by someone who's taught accounting and job-hunting,
Step 1: **Neatness counts**
The first thing you should understand is that accounting is a field where neatness and proper formatting do matter! In other words, it's a very structured subject and profession.
For example, assets on a balance sheet are listed in a very specific order. That means cash would always come before inventory and fixed assets. And conforming to GAAP rules is also very important. So accounting is very check & balance and structured by nature.
Step 2: **How this applies to you**
Knowing all this means you'll have to be very in-tune with neatness and formatting. In other words, because accounting is a profession where dotting your Is and crossing your Ts matters, your resume must display this too!
So make sure your resume is properly formatted, making sure to dot your Is and cross your Ts. It must also convey someone who follows the rules of the game and is highly knowledgeable.
Step 3: **Resume do's**
Here are some general guidelines you should follow when creating your resume. You want to:
a) Use fonts that convey professionalism and are easy to read. This is what they'd expect when you prepare financial reports and statements. So doing this on your resume will mean you'll do it there too. Limit yourself to more standard fonts like: Courier, Helvetica, Arial, and Times or Times New Roman.
b) Be consistent in your fonts and formatting. Accounting is a field where people like things neat and clean. You wouldn't have the heading for Cash from Operations formatted differently than Cash from Investments on a cash flow statement. So your resume needs to convey this same attitude.
That means making sure all your headings are formatted the same way. And that all information within each section is formatted in the same way. May look boring, but in accounting, a boring yet professional look is what's required and expected! In other words, accounting has a less creative look and more business-like feel to things.
c) Show you understand the lingo, terminology, and concepts. For example, it's all right to use acceptable abbreviations. Examples would be A/P, AR, or GL. A/P is a common abbreviation for accounts payable. AR means accounts receivable. And GL means general ledger. Doing this shows command of the subject. And in accounting, that's super important and an absolute must if you want to be successful and get hired!
d) Only list relevant experience, training, and certifications! That's really important with accounting-related jobs because accounting is a profession where relevance matters. Financial and accounting information must be relevant and accurate! So your resume must convey this.
e) Be truthful! Again, accounting is a field where accuracy and trust are important. Sarbanes-Oxley came into being as a way to re-establish credibility after the Enron debacle. So appearing extremely trustworthy and responsible is super important! Your resume must convey these if you want to get hired.
Step 4: **Objective**
An objective's purpose is to help guide the employer by indicating what type of work you're seeking. But I should point out that having an objective isn't required! It's a personal choice.
Your cover letter will tell the employer what you want. But if you want to put it on your resume, that's your decision.
I generally suggest not having an objective on your resume. Why? Because there may be jobs you aren't aware of that are perfect for you. Perhaps they haven't advertised it yet, or had it listed in another section or paper.
My point is that when you're job-hunting, I feel it's best to do everything possible to have employers contact you. If it's a position that doesn't interest you, then you can politely decline. But at least they approached you!
TIP: If you use an objective, it must be specific!
Remember, accounting is a very detail-orientated field. So a broad objective just doesn't cut it. Financial reports have specific points that need to be made. Your objective needs to convey a specific point--the work you actually want.
Step 5: **Be brief**
In accounting, things are short, sweet, and to the point. So your qualifications and job duties need to be concise and relatively short. A paragraph won't do this!
Bulleted points are a great way to get things across and look very professional and clean. They're easy to read, and separate out various pieces of key information. So use them to your advantage!
TIP: Don't get overly fancy with your bullets!
Again, accounting is very business-like and less creative when it comes to financial reporting. The employer will be picturing you on the job, gathering and entering information, and perhaps preparing various reports. So I suggest sticking with more business-like and less fancy bullets.
Step 6: **Stress your credentials and training**
Accounting is one of those professions where formal training matters! That's also true with medicine. Would you want a doctor who didn't go to medical school and just learned it on the job working on you? No!
The same goes for accounting. Yes, you can learn some things on the job, but formal schooling is also important. Why? Because there are strict ways of doing things and complex concepts to master. Even entry-level accounting jobs will ask for some schooling.
So be sure your resume stresses your solid training and expertise!
TIP #1: If you're a student or recent graduate without practical experience, mention what you've learned and done in school.
In other words, show the employer what you've learned and that you do understand accounting. Yes, you may not have actually done it in the working world, but if you have the schooling behind you, then I can teach you how we do things at my company.
TIP #2: If you're a student or recent graduate without practical experience, don't list accounting class names.
These vary widely from school to school. So I suggest listing the types of classes you took. For example, financial and managerial accounting. Financial statement creation and analysis. This tells the employer what you've learned and are capable of doing in a way we'll all understand.
But saying Accounting I and Accounting II are more vague. Many would assume Accounting I is financial accounting and Accounting II is managerial. But it's possible that Accounting I focused on sole-proprietorships, while Accounting II concentrated on corporations.
My way makes things much clearer. And in accounting, accuracy and being concise are extremely important!
Step 7: **CPA or C.P.A.?**
With college degrees, there are proper ways of writing various degree designations and wrong ways. For example, BA is incorrect! It's B.A., which stands for Bachelor of Arts.
So is it CPA or C.P.A.? Well it stands for Certified Public Accountant and should be listed as CPA!
A Certified Management Accountant would have a CMA. And a Certified Payroll Professional would have a CPP.
Once again, it's a test of your accounting knowledge and something you should know or have learned in school. And if you didn't, then you should have researched it to see how it's done. Accounting often requires researching and investigating, so you definitely have to know how to do it. And that applies to bookkeeping too!
For example, you may have to research a particular transaction to see why it was recorded a certain way. Or investigage why your trial balance is off.
Step 8: **Accounting software**
The two biggest accounting packages used today are Peachtree and Quickbooks. Some schools teach one and not the other. I've taught both myself and they are pretty similar. So if you have experience in one or both of these, then make sure you put that on your resume.
Many schools teach one or both of these programs. Others use their own software just to make things easier for students. However, these are the two big commercial packages that most companies actually use! So experience in either or both bump you up a notch.
Step 9: **Key skills needed**
As I've already mentioned, accounting and bookkeeping are professions where researching and investigating are important skills. Additional ones include: attention to detail, ability to multitask, working more independently, meeting multiple deadlines, and an ability to draw conclusions and make inferences based upon your reading of the figures and information.
Your resume should draw attention to these and how good you are at them!
One other thing you should understand is that accounting and bookkeeping require your being kept updated on rule changes. Laws and ways of handing things will often change. And so you must always be kept abreast of those updates so your information is accurate. And quite often, you may have to go back and re-adjust past things in order to bring them up to compliance with newer rules.
Intro: From the author of the upcoming book, "Think Like an Interviewer: Your Job Hunting Guide to Success comes this article helping you create a winning accounting-related resume. Written by someone who's taught accounting and job-hunting,
Step 1: **Neatness counts**
The first thing you should understand is that accounting is a field where neatness and proper formatting do matter! In other words, it's a very structured subject and profession.
For example, assets on a balance sheet are listed in a very specific order. That means cash would always come before inventory and fixed assets. And conforming to GAAP rules is also very important. So accounting is very check & balance and structured by nature.
Step 2: **How this applies to you**
Knowing all this means you'll have to be very in-tune with neatness and formatting. In other words, because accounting is a profession where dotting your Is and crossing your Ts matters, your resume must display this too!
So make sure your resume is properly formatted, making sure to dot your Is and cross your Ts. It must also convey someone who follows the rules of the game and is highly knowledgeable.
Step 3: **Resume do's**
Here are some general guidelines you should follow when creating your resume. You want to:
a) Use fonts that convey professionalism and are easy to read. This is what they'd expect when you prepare financial reports and statements. So doing this on your resume will mean you'll do it there too. Limit yourself to more standard fonts like: Courier, Helvetica, Arial, and Times or Times New Roman.
b) Be consistent in your fonts and formatting. Accounting is a field where people like things neat and clean. You wouldn't have the heading for Cash from Operations formatted differently than Cash from Investments on a cash flow statement. So your resume needs to convey this same attitude.
That means making sure all your headings are formatted the same way. And that all information within each section is formatted in the same way. May look boring, but in accounting, a boring yet professional look is what's required and expected! In other words, accounting has a less creative look and more business-like feel to things.
c) Show you understand the lingo, terminology, and concepts. For example, it's all right to use acceptable abbreviations. Examples would be A/P, AR, or GL. A/P is a common abbreviation for accounts payable. AR means accounts receivable. And GL means general ledger. Doing this shows command of the subject. And in accounting, that's super important and an absolute must if you want to be successful and get hired!
d) Only list relevant experience, training, and certifications! That's really important with accounting-related jobs because accounting is a profession where relevance matters. Financial and accounting information must be relevant and accurate! So your resume must convey this.
e) Be truthful! Again, accounting is a field where accuracy and trust are important. Sarbanes-Oxley came into being as a way to re-establish credibility after the Enron debacle. So appearing extremely trustworthy and responsible is super important! Your resume must convey these if you want to get hired.
Step 4: **Objective**
An objective's purpose is to help guide the employer by indicating what type of work you're seeking. But I should point out that having an objective isn't required! It's a personal choice.
Your cover letter will tell the employer what you want. But if you want to put it on your resume, that's your decision.
I generally suggest not having an objective on your resume. Why? Because there may be jobs you aren't aware of that are perfect for you. Perhaps they haven't advertised it yet, or had it listed in another section or paper.
My point is that when you're job-hunting, I feel it's best to do everything possible to have employers contact you. If it's a position that doesn't interest you, then you can politely decline. But at least they approached you!
TIP: If you use an objective, it must be specific!
Remember, accounting is a very detail-orientated field. So a broad objective just doesn't cut it. Financial reports have specific points that need to be made. Your objective needs to convey a specific point--the work you actually want.
Step 5: **Be brief**
In accounting, things are short, sweet, and to the point. So your qualifications and job duties need to be concise and relatively short. A paragraph won't do this!
Bulleted points are a great way to get things across and look very professional and clean. They're easy to read, and separate out various pieces of key information. So use them to your advantage!
TIP: Don't get overly fancy with your bullets!
Again, accounting is very business-like and less creative when it comes to financial reporting. The employer will be picturing you on the job, gathering and entering information, and perhaps preparing various reports. So I suggest sticking with more business-like and less fancy bullets.
Step 6: **Stress your credentials and training**
Accounting is one of those professions where formal training matters! That's also true with medicine. Would you want a doctor who didn't go to medical school and just learned it on the job working on you? No!
The same goes for accounting. Yes, you can learn some things on the job, but formal schooling is also important. Why? Because there are strict ways of doing things and complex concepts to master. Even entry-level accounting jobs will ask for some schooling.
So be sure your resume stresses your solid training and expertise!
TIP #1: If you're a student or recent graduate without practical experience, mention what you've learned and done in school.
In other words, show the employer what you've learned and that you do understand accounting. Yes, you may not have actually done it in the working world, but if you have the schooling behind you, then I can teach you how we do things at my company.
TIP #2: If you're a student or recent graduate without practical experience, don't list accounting class names.
These vary widely from school to school. So I suggest listing the types of classes you took. For example, financial and managerial accounting. Financial statement creation and analysis. This tells the employer what you've learned and are capable of doing in a way we'll all understand.
But saying Accounting I and Accounting II are more vague. Many would assume Accounting I is financial accounting and Accounting II is managerial. But it's possible that Accounting I focused on sole-proprietorships, while Accounting II concentrated on corporations.
My way makes things much clearer. And in accounting, accuracy and being concise are extremely important!
Step 7: **CPA or C.P.A.?**
With college degrees, there are proper ways of writing various degree designations and wrong ways. For example, BA is incorrect! It's B.A., which stands for Bachelor of Arts.
So is it CPA or C.P.A.? Well it stands for Certified Public Accountant and should be listed as CPA!
A Certified Management Accountant would have a CMA. And a Certified Payroll Professional would have a CPP.
Once again, it's a test of your accounting knowledge and something you should know or have learned in school. And if you didn't, then you should have researched it to see how it's done. Accounting often requires researching and investigating, so you definitely have to know how to do it. And that applies to bookkeeping too!
For example, you may have to research a particular transaction to see why it was recorded a certain way. Or investigage why your trial balance is off.
Step 8: **Accounting software**
The two biggest accounting packages used today are Peachtree and Quickbooks. Some schools teach one and not the other. I've taught both myself and they are pretty similar. So if you have experience in one or both of these, then make sure you put that on your resume.
Many schools teach one or both of these programs. Others use their own software just to make things easier for students. However, these are the two big commercial packages that most companies actually use! So experience in either or both bump you up a notch.
Step 9: **Key skills needed**
As I've already mentioned, accounting and bookkeeping are professions where researching and investigating are important skills. Additional ones include: attention to detail, ability to multitask, working more independently, meeting multiple deadlines, and an ability to draw conclusions and make inferences based upon your reading of the figures and information.
Your resume should draw attention to these and how good you are at them!
One other thing you should understand is that accounting and bookkeeping require your being kept updated on rule changes. Laws and ways of handing things will often change. And so you must always be kept abreast of those updates so your information is accurate. And quite often, you may have to go back and re-adjust past things in order to bring them up to compliance with newer rules.
