Accountant CV: example, skills and writing tips

Accountant CV example

The example below shows how the advice in this guide fits together on one page. The person, the companies and all the figures are invented: use the structure, not the content, and replace every detail with your own.

Notice what makes this CV useful to a recruiter: every line says what was done, in what context, with which tool and at what scale. The rest of this guide explains how to build each section in the same way.

Job title and professional summary

Choose a title that reflects your actual role

Your CV title should match, as closely as is truthful, the role you are applying for. Rather than a bare “Accountant”, you can use, when it reflects your experience:

General Accountant – 5 years’ experience
Accounts Payable Accountant – multi-entity environment
Sole Accountant – SME
Assistant Accountant – SME and sole-trader portfolio (accountancy practice)
Accounts Receivable Accountant – credit control and month-end close

The goal is not to stuff in keywords. A precise title lets recruiters, and the search tools they use, identify your specialism quickly.

Accountant, bookkeeper, assistant accountant: which title fits?

Job ads use several titles for accounting roles. Pick the one that describes what you actually do; the scope of each title varies between employers and countries, so always check the job description.

Professional summary example: experienced accountant

The professional summary (often called a personal profile or personal statement in the UK) is three to five lines that answer three questions: what is your profile, how much experience do you have, and what can you take charge of?

General accountant with 6 years’ experience in SMEs. Responsible for day-to-day accounting through to month-end close: bank reconciliations, VAT returns and cash monitoring. Confident user of Sage 100 and Excel for monthly reporting.

Professional summary example: junior accountant

Accounting graduate ([degree], [year]) with first experience in accounts payable and general accounting through a [6-month] placement. Hands-on practice in posting entries, account matching, bank reconciliations and preparing tax returns.

Adapt these examples to your real situation. Never add a responsibility, a software package or a qualification just because it appears in a job ad, and replace generic adjectives such as “motivated” or “dynamic” with concrete facts.

Accountant CV skills by area

An accountant’s work typically covers bookkeeping, reconciliations, tax returns, closing and reporting, using accounting software or an ERP. Do not copy every possible item onto your CV: select the skills you genuinely master and that match the role you are targeting, then phrase them so a recruiter can see how you used them.

A skills line such as this gives little information:

Accounting – Finance – Excel – Rigorous

This one is far more useful:

General ledger · Bank reconciliations · VAT/GST returns · Month-end close · Sage 100 · Advanced Excel

Describing your experience and achievements

Experience is usually the most important section of an accountant CV. Avoid turning each role into a list of generic tasks. For each line, follow this order where possible:

context → your own action → tools or method → scope → result

For example: “In a 120-employee SME (context), I reconciled supplier statements every month (action) in Sage 100 (tool) for two entities (scope), which helped bring month-end close forward by two days (result).” The figures in this sentence are illustrative.

Too vague

Bookkeeping
Invoice management
Bank reconciliations
VAT

More informative

Illustrative figures.

Ran the supplier and general accounting of a 120-employee SME
Checked and posted around 400 supplier invoices a month
Prepared monthly bank reconciliations
Prepared and filed VAT returns
Contributed to month-end close and year-end accounts preparation

The second version shows the scope, the volume handled and your level of autonomy. Add figures when they are accurate, useful and not confidential: number of entities, number of client files, invoice volumes, size of client portfolio, closing frequency or deadlines, size of team.

Achievement examples to adapt

Replace [X] and [Y] with your own verified figures, or leave the line out if you cannot support it.

• Shortened month-end close from [X] to [Y] working days by [introducing a closing checklist / reconciling supplier statements earlier].
• Processed around [X] supplier invoices a month across [Y] entities, with payment runs prepared [weekly].
• Cleared [X] long-standing unreconciled bank items within [Y] months.
• Managed a portfolio of [X] client files (small businesses and sole traders) in an accountancy practice, from bookkeeping to draft year-end accounts.
• Prepared and filed [monthly/quarterly] [VAT/GST/sales tax] returns for [X] companies, meeting every filing deadline over [period].
• Reduced overdue customer balances from [X] to [Y] by setting up a structured follow-up of unpaid invoices.

Accounting software: show how you used it

“Good IT skills” tells a recruiter nothing. Name the software you have actually used and, where helpful, what you used it for. Depending on your background, this may include Sage, SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Xero, QuickBooks, Tally, Excel, or the ERP specific to your employer.

Sage 100: general ledger, supplier ledger and bank reconciliations
Excel: pivot tables, lookups, monthly reporting

This is more informative than:

Sage: expert
Excel: expert

Some tools are mainly used in one country (for example Tally in India, or Cegid and EBP in France) and may be less familiar to employers elsewhere. A few words on what you did with them (ledger, payroll, client bookkeeping) make the line meaningful to any reader. Do not list a tool you have only seen demonstrated: you should be able to talk about it in an interview.

Education and qualifications

On your CV, use the format qualification – specialism – institution – year:

[Degree or qualification] – [specialism]
[Institution] — [year]

Professional accounting bodies differ from country to country: for example ACCA, CIMA or ICAEW in the UK, CPA in the US and Canada, or CA in India. List a professional qualification only if you hold it or are formally registered as a student, and state your exact level. Do not present a qualification from one country as equivalent to another country’s: if an employer needs to compare them, give an accurate description, or an official recognition statement if you have one.

If you are experienced, education can take less space than your most recent roles.

Making your accountant CV easy to read for ATS

Many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) or recruitment software to store and search applications. The aim is not to “beat” or trick an ATS: it is to make sure your key information is extracted correctly and easy to find.

• explicit job titles;
• clearly identifiable employers and dates;
• experience organised role by role;
• skills written as text, not only as icons or rating bars;
• software named precisely;
• qualifications stated clearly.

When a job ad asks for a skill you genuinely have, use its vocabulary. If your CV only says “banking management” while your experience actually includes “bank reconciliations”, the second phrasing is more precise for both the software and the recruiter.

Tailoring your accountant CV to each job

Yes, tailoring helps, especially because accountant roles cover very different scopes. Your background does not change, but you can bring forward the experience and skills most relevant to the job’s main focus.

Before sending your application for an accounts payable, practice or closing role, it helps to see which elements of the job description your CV already covers and which are missing. CVReader compares your CV with a job description and highlights the points of correspondence.

Compare my CV with a job description

Free matching requires an account.

Junior accountant or career changer

With little accounting experience, the same principle applies: be precise about what you have actually done.

• Students and recent graduates: put education higher up, and describe internships, placements and apprenticeships like real jobs, with tasks, tools and volumes.
• Career changers: bring forward transferable experience that is genuinely accounting-related, such as invoice processing, expense checks, purchase orders or Excel reporting in an administrative or sales-support role.
• Training in progress: state the qualification, the institution and the expected completion date, without presenting it as already obtained.

Former sales administrator moving into accounting, currently studying for [accounting qualification]. Two years’ experience processing customer invoices and following up unpaid invoices in [software], with weekly Excel reporting.

Trained or working in France?

If your accounting background is French, a few adjustments make your CV clearer to English-speaking recruiters.

French qualifications

For this occupation, France Travail, the French public employment service, mentions accounting and management training including the DCG, the DSCG, the BUT GEA and several professional bachelor’s degrees (France Travail Métierscope: Comptabilité (in French)). Keep the French name and add a short explanation:

• DCG – Diplôme de comptabilité et de gestion: French national diploma in accounting and management, taken after three years of higher education.
• DSCG – Diplôme supérieur de comptabilité et de gestion: the advanced French diploma in accounting and management, at master’s level.
• BUT GEA – Bachelor universitaire de technologie, Gestion des entreprises et des administrations: a three-year French university technology degree in business and administration management.

There is no automatic equivalence between these diplomas and British, American or other qualifications, so do not present them as equivalent.

DCG – Diplôme de comptabilité et de gestion (French national diploma in accounting and management)
[University] — [year]

French job titles

Translate the role, not the words. A “comptable unique” is a sole accountant, not a “unique accountant”; a “collaborateur comptable” in a firm (“cabinet”) is usually best described by the work you did, for example Assistant Accountant (accountancy practice). “Contrôle de gestion” is closer to management accounting, a different occupation from “comptable”.

French tools such as Cegid, EBP or Pennylane deserve a few words of context, and “TVA” becomes VAT on an English CV.

Mistakes to avoid and final checklist

Staying too generic

“Managed the accounts” does not say what you master. Name your accounting cycles and responsibilities.

Listing software without context

If a tool matters for the role, say what you did with it.

Adding skills only to match the ad

A tailored CV must remain accurate. A keyword is only useful if you can back up the skill in an interview.

Neglecting dates

Recruiters and recruitment software both need to rebuild your career timeline easily.

Using a layout that hides information

Design should never get in the way of job titles, employers, dates, qualifications and skills.

Translating job titles word for word

If your experience is in another language, translate the role, not the words, and keep qualification names in their original language with a short explanation.

Checklist before you apply

• My title states my specialism and, if useful, my level of experience.
• My summary fits in three to five lines and contains facts, not adjectives.
• Each role shows context, my own actions, tools, scope and, where possible, a result.
• Every figure is accurate, verifiable and not confidential.
• Each software package listed is one I have actually used, with its context.
• Foreign qualifications keep their original name, with a short explanation and no claimed equivalence.
• Employers and dates are easy to find, and skills are written as text.
• I have brought forward what matches the job’s main focus.

Accountant CV: frequently asked questions

What skills should I put on an accountant CV?

Choose skills you genuinely master and that match the role: general ledger, accounts payable or receivable, bank reconciliations, tax returns, month-end and year-end close, cash monitoring, account review, reporting and the accounting software you have used.

Which software should I list?

Only software you have actually used, for example Sage, SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Xero, QuickBooks, Tally or Excel, with a few words on what you used it for.

What is the difference between an accountant and a bookkeeper on a CV?

A bookkeeper’s work mainly focuses on day-to-day transaction recording and maintaining accurate ledgers. An accountant role usually extends further into closing, reporting and analysis. The boundary varies by employer and country, so choose the title that matches your real responsibilities.

Is an accountant resume different from an accountant CV?

“Resume” is the usual American term; “CV” is used in the UK and much of the world. For a job application, the advice in this guide applies to both.

Do I need a different CV for every accountant job?

You do not need to rewrite your career each time. It is worth bringing forward the skills and experience that match the scope of the role: payables, receivables, closing, practice work or tax.

Should an accountant CV fit on one page?

There is no absolute rule. A junior profile often fits on one page. An experienced accountant can use two pages if the extra information is genuinely relevant.