Accounting Assistant Resumes & Writing Guide

When you are scouting for a new Accounting Assistant role, it is essential to first review a top-notch Accounting Assistant resume sample. Accounting Assistants work in large companies, Fortune 500 and global conglomerates, but are also found in medium-sized and small businesses. The demand for Accounting Assistant positions (jobseekers) often surpasses the supply (roles available). Your resume has to stand out from the rest by being both factual and entertaining.

Job titles similar to an Accounting Assistant include Accounting Associate, Account Clerk, Accounting Assistant, Accounting Associate, Accounting Clerk, Accounting Specialist, Accounting Technician, Accounts Payable Clerk, Accounts Payable Specialist, and Accounts Receivable Clerk.

Our guideline below is packed with helpful content that you may use to create an interview-winning resume.

Accounting Assistant Resume Sample

(Free sample downloads are at the bottom of this page)

Accounting Assistant Resume Writing Guide

Resume Sections

1. Contact Information: Name, Address, Phone, Email. Be sure to include alternative contact numbers, as well as your LinkedIn profile or Facebook URL details.

2. Profile Summary: View this as the 45-second introduction to your resume. The summary should be no more than 1-3 sentences providing an overview of your background, years of working experience an achievement or two.

3. Qualifications Summary: You should have a good theoretical foundation in Accounting to apply for an Accounting Assistant position. Normally a 2-year associate degree will get you in, but some companies may require a 4-year Bachelors Degree. Provide accurate details of the qualifications you have completed with the institution, qualification name, and dates. Don’t forget to include qualifications you are currently completing too.

4. Relevant Accounting Experience: Dates of employment should contain the month and the year and include the last ten years of work tenure. Remember brief sentences with bullet points always trumps lengthy paragraphs stuffed with descriptive adjectives.

5. Other Employment Experience: If you are still at an entry or junior level stage, this section will help to beef up your experience. This will include projects or work history outside of formal accounting, but still in a financial capacity. Skip this section entirely if you have more than ten years experience already or just list job title company and duration as to make sure there are no gaps in your employment history.

6. Skills Summary/Key Skills: Incorporate keywords (aka resume SEO) from the job posting and ‘’sprinkle’’ these into your skills section and throughout your job descriptions. This adds much-needed credibility to your resume.

7. Education/Licenses/Certifications/Relevant Coursework/Training: Start with your formal certifications or accreditations. Currently completing a CPA license, for example, would definitely put you on the shortlisting pile. Then include any professional development that better prepared you to work in the accounting field such as bookkeeping courses, financial analysis workshops, or accounting software application training. In fact, any financial courses, whether a three-day workshop or a 6-month program would add value to your resume.

What to Highlight

Accounting Assistants are responsible for maintaining the accounting records of a business department or a company as a whole, by performing various accounting and financial administration duties.

Hiring managers and recruiters would want to see your competencies in ethically and accurately conducting your responsibilities as an Accounting Assistant.

The first aspect to portray within your resume is the extent of your job level, which basically revolves around the organizational size and management structure of your current employer. For example, an accounting assistant for a small business may have a broader range of duties than an Accounting assistant working in the Logistics department of a multinational transport organization.

Next, you may want to provide information about the scope of your position. Are you mainly responsible for data entries, sorting and categorizing invoices, and coding financial records? Alternatively, is your job more geared towards reconciliations, allocating interest charges, and performing financial calculations such as equity ratio’s, cash flow projections and working out accounts receivables or payables?

Accounting Assistants are often also responsible for checking and verification duties. If your role involves quality control of other people’s work, make sure to mention this on your resume as it points to your accuracy and diligence levels.

The financial record keeping of a company has to adhere to generally accepted accounting principles, federal and state laws which may differ by industry and also company category (listed, LLC, private). Your knowledge and experience regarding legitimate accounting principles and ethical financial conduct should be highlighted in your resume.

Also, provide information about your taxation knowledge and experience. For example, completing and submitting tax returns, workers compensation documentation, 401k contribution forms, and other governmental documentation required by the state your company operates in.

Finally, you may want to indicate your responsibility regarding payments and access to the bank accounts of the company you work for. For instance, preparing bank deposits, approving payments, making out checks to suppliers, or facilitating wire transfers to international subsidiaries.

The focus of this ‘’highlighting’’ section in your resume is to assist you in stating your skills in such a manner as to portray the value that you are adding to your current employer, and provide a clear picture of your capacity to meet objectives and adhere to deadlines.

Tools and Tech for Accounting Assistants

Gone are the days where accounting recordkeeping was done on paper, kept in hard binders and financial calculations written up in pages and pages of T-accounts (hopefully)!!!

The Accounting Assistant of the digital age requires tech-savviness, familiarity on financial software applications, and a real neck for electronic spreadsheets. Take your resume from boring to scoring, by listing your ‘’tech talents’’ in table format such as the example provided below.

Accounting Assistant Career Summary

Financial Managers have large numbers of hundreds of resumes to screen and limited time to read them all in detail. Your career summary should be concise and to the point with carefully placed keywords that grabs the reader’s attention.

What would hiring managers like to see in your career summary? Firstly the amount of experience you have (in years), secondly most relevant job responsibilities and finally your theoretical knowledge (degrees, diplomas, certificates).

Be strategic in your approach when writing a career summary by aligning your summary to the primary functions described in the job advertisement. For instance, if the role you are applying to highlights experience in accounts payable reconciliations or compiling trial balances use those similar phrases to align your career summary to the position at hand. Effectively this may entail more ‘’work’’ as you will be customizing your career summary to every role you are applying to, but at the end totally worth it when you end up with your dream job correct?

Example Accounting Assistant Career Objectives:

Career Objective 1

A meticulous Accounting Assistant with four years of hands-on experience in intermediate accounting practices, including reconciliations, trial balances, and supportive accounting functions. Currently studying towards a CPA License and holds an Advanced Diploma in Bookkeeping.

Career Objective 2

An experienced Accounting Assistant with advanced Excel skills and extensive knowledge of tax regulations, global accepted accounting practices. Detail-orientated and efficient with a proven track record of compiling error-free journals and financial reports. Competent is accounting automation software such as Quickbooks, Accpac, and Sage.

Career Objective 3

Professional Accounting Assistant with strong multitasking and organizational abilities to smooth out complex accounting issues pertaining to intercompany reconciliations and cross-border financial transactions. Excellent mathematical ability and a talent for spreadsheets and pivot tables. Completed an Associates Degree in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude.

Accounting Assistant Job Descriptions, Responsibilities and duty Examples

If you envisage a career as an Accountant, considering becoming an Accounting Assistant as a starting point is highly recommended. Financial Managers and recruiters expect to see certain foundational duties and proven technical skills within your job description. Accounting Assistants are categorized into three levels, as depicted by the job description examples below.

Examples

An Accounting Assistant I at entry-career stage (0-1 years’ experience) may:

• Post journal entries, verify invoices, payments, and transfers
• Maintain general ledgers and draft financial statements and managerial accounting reports
• Reconcile accounts with bank statements
• Perform basic bookkeeping duties
• Adjust and rectify entries in accounts receivable and accounts payable folders using Quickbooks
• Compile financial records to be used in the drafting of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports
• Code, categorize and allocate all payments and collections
• Track and trace discrepancies profit and loss accounts and traced profits and losses for the business on a day to day basis
• Responsible for updating prices of products on the inventory system

An Accounting Assistant II at experienced stage (1-3 years’ experience) may

• Reconcile complex intercompany accounts
• Process accounts payable and accounts receivable transactions and reconcile them
• Re-check all account reconciliations before drafting the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow reports
• Review, code and verify transaction reports and journal entries
• Process accounts payable and accounts receivable transactions
• Calculate credit, debit and cashflow totals for client accounts on excel
• Deposit cash and prepare documents for international wire transfers and check payments
• Complete administrative duties related to tax returns, 401k benefit statements
• Conduct payroll administration for all employees in terms of pay rates, social security numbers, and bank account information

An Accounting Assistant III at the senior stage (3-5 years’ experience) may:

• Complete complex calculations and reconcile problematic accounts
• Process group accounts and draft group statements by reconciling departmental income statements, balance sheets, management accounts, and cash flow reports
• Oversee and approve payments, wire transfers and intercompany transfers to international subsidiaries
• Compile budgets and forecasts for headquarters reports
• Facilitate and coordinate the filing process for quarterly and annual taxation submissions
• Establish internal controls for the preparation of monthly statements such as cash flow, cash disbursements, and income and expenses
• Compare projected budgeting reports with actual monthly income and expenses statements
• Responsible for all pay runs and transfer of salaries, commission, and reimbursements to staff members

Highlight Your Accomplishments

Under your experience section, don’t be tempted to merely type the duties as conveyed in your job description or KPI sheet. You want to create ‘’visibility’’ of your potential value add to the person skimming through your resume. To do this you need to use accomplishment statements, quantified by values, metrics, milestones, percentages and time frames which provides substance and credibility to your resume.

Examples:

– Reduced month-end closing process from the 15th to the 10th by automating data entries which generated error-free financial reports on capital project expenditures.

– Implemented financial controls to successfully scale company growth from 5 million to 15 million per year in revenue, by syncing all departmental reports in real-time, resulting in a 100% clean audit rating achieved for two consecutive years.

– Developed a cross-check functionality in excel to pick up on any human errors relating to manual data entry resulting in marginal error rates decreasing from 25% to only 3%.

Accounting Assistant Education Section

The education section plays a vital part in your Accounting Assistant resume. This is the part where you are showcasing the theoretical foundation and core knowledge gained via academic training and professional development learning activities.

Information regarding your qualifications, licenses, and accreditations obtained should be listed first, but feel free also to include any courses, workshops, or training programs you have completed. Remember also to include current qualifications you are in the process of acquiring.

Start with the commencement date and completion date for diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor degrees. For courses, you can just list the date of completion. Next, provide the full name of the qualification, then the name of the institution and then the City and abbreviated State name. High school diploma details should only be mentioned if you have less than five years of working experience.

Here are some examples of an Accounting Assistant Resume with more than five years’ experience:

2016 – Certified Accountant, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Tampa, Florida

2015 – Member of the American Accounting Association (AAA), Lakewood Florida

2014 – Certificate in Advanced Bookkeeping, Highline College, Des Moines, IA

2012 CPA Preparation Certificate, Harper College Palatine, IL

If you have less than five years’ experience, you may also add your majors, minors, GPA scores and accolades, and honors awards:

2016 – 2018 Associate’s Degree in Accounting Sciences, Oloma University, Bloomfield, NJ
GPA: 3.8
Majors: Principles of Accounting, Payroll Accounting
Minors: Financial Document Processing, Computer Applications, Individual Tax Accounting
Accolades: Deans Honors List

2015 – Advanced Accounting Certificate, Harold Washington Colleg, Brooklyn, NY

2013- 2014 Accounting Assistant Trade School, Merrick Business School, Baltimore, MD

2012 – GED High School Diploma, Florida Keys High School, Miami, FL
Awards: Member of the Golden Key Academic Society, 2010 – 2012
Leadership: Tuckshop Treasurer, 2012

Accounting Assistant Skills Summary

Although the accounting field requires particular technical skills, employers also look for other skills, called soft skills. These are the main types of skills that indicate to your fit as an Accounting Assistant who will add value, has adequate knowledge, sufficient experience to retain and expand client portfolios. Incorporate these into your summary, or profile, and into your accomplishment statements.

Technical Skills Examples

• Educational Attainment: An Associates university degree is generally required to become an Accounting Assistant, and the top suggested degrees are Financial Management, Accounting, and Auditing. If you are planning to progress to an Accountant level and Bachelor’s or Certified Public Accounting license is recommended.
• Technical Aptitude: Accounting Assistants require mathematical adeptness to perform reconciliations and financial calculations. They have to be extremely meticulous to examine financial statements in accordance with state and federal regulations and inspect books to find discrepancies. Accounting Assistants require excellent multitasking abilities to manage multiple spreadsheets simultaneously. They have to keep abreast of new rules and regulations regarding tax preparation and generally accepted accounting principles by doing continuous research.
• Other Technical Skills: Tax Preparation, Accounting Procedures, Financial Administration, Bookkeeping, Financial Recordkeeping, Budgets, Strategic Forecasting, Research, Analytics, MS Excel, Tax Reporting, Variance Analysis, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, P&L Reporting, Investment Accounting, Reconciliations, Auditing, Mathematics, Statistics, Report Writing, SQL, Visual Basic, Quickbooks, Cognos, Excel and Banner

Soft Skill Examples

• Ethical
• Integrity
• Initiative
• Regulatory
• Self-Control
• Collaboration
• Persuasion
• Persistence
• Social Perceptiveness
• Service Orientation
• Scrupulous
• Perseverance
• Dedicated
• Realistic
• Conflict Handling
• Problem-Solving
• Prioritization
• Deadline Driven
• Meticulous
• Numerical
• Process Driven
• Task Orientated
• Time Management
• Analytical
• Accurate
• Detailed
• Focused

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Accounting Assistants

Action Verbs for your Accounting Assistant Resume

Industries Using Accounting Assistants:

• Construction
• Mining
• Oil, Gas & Exploration
• Medical Device
• Life Sciences
• Food Manufacturing
• Consumer Goods
• Aviation
• Aerospace
• Shipping
• Metals & Steel Production
• Plastics
• Packaging & Distribution
• Agriculture
• Electronic Components
• Power Plants
• Specialty Chemicals
• Pharmaceutical
• Industrial Engineering
• Information Technology
• Courier Services
• Transportation
• Advertising Agencies
• Training Consultants
• Accounting and Taxation
• Legal

Professional information for Accounting Assistants

Sectors: Various
Career Type: Accounting, Administration, Bookkeeping, Taxation, Financial Management, Auditing, Reporting
Person type: Checker, Compiler, Reporter, Verifier, Creator, Processor, Vetter, Reconciler
Education levels: High School Diploma/GED to Bachelor’s Degree
Salary indication: Accounting Assistant Entry Level between $34,800 and $43,700
per annum, Accounting Assistant Experienced Level between $39,800 and $49,500 per annum, Accounting Assistant Senior Level $45,600 and $56,600 per annum
Labor market: Estimated 1% decline between 2016 – 2026 (USA Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Organizations: SME, Corporate, Commercial, Fortune 500, Government, NPO

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