Crafting an exceptional account assistant resume is your ticket to unlocking opportunities in the dynamic field of finance and accounting. As an account assistant, your resume serves as a powerful tool to showcase your skills, experience, and dedication to supporting financial operations.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the essential components of a standout account assistant resume, providing you with invaluable tips and strategies to create a document that will impress potential employers and set you on the path to success in your career.

Whether you're a seasoned professional looking to advance your career or someone eager to break into the field of accounting, this guide will equip you with the tools you need to craft a CV or resume that stands out from the crowd and lands you your dream job.

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Accounting Assistant Resume Writing Guide

Key Components of an Effective Accounting Assistant Resume

1. Contact Information

Ensure your resume includes up-to-date contact information, including your name, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile (if applicable). Make it easy for employers to reach out to you for potential opportunities.

2. Professional Summary

Craft a compelling professional summary that highlights your relevant skills, experience, and career objectives. Keep it concise yet impactful, giving hiring managers a snapshot of your qualifications and why you're the ideal candidate for the job.

3. Skills Section

Highlight key skills relevant to the accounting assistant role, including proficiency in accounting software such as QuickBooks or Xero, attention to detail, data entry accuracy, financial analysis, and communication skills.

4. Work Experience

Detail your work experience in reverse chronological order, emphasizing relevant roles and accomplishments. Use bullet points to highlight specific achievements and responsibilities, showcasing your contributions to previous employers.

5. Education

List your educational background, including degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework. Highlight any academic achievements or honors that demonstrate your dedication to your field.

6. Certifications

If applicable, include any relevant certifications, such as Certified Bookkeeper (CB) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA). These credentials can enhance your credibility and marketability as an accounting professional.

7. References

While optional, including references or testimonials from previous employers can add credibility to your resume. Ensure you have permission from your references before listing their contact information.

Tips for Crafting a Standout Accounting Assistant Resume

Crafting a standout accounting assistant resume requires attention to detail, strategic formatting, and effective communication of your skills and experience. Follow these tips to create a cv / resume that grabs the attention of hiring managers:

1. Tailor Your Resume to the Job Description

Customize your resume for each job application by aligning your skills and experience with the specific requirements outlined in the job description. Highlight keywords and phrases that match your qualifications to demonstrate your suitability for the role.

2. Use a Professional Format

Choose a clean, professional format for your resume that is easy to read and navigate. Use consistent formatting throughout, including font styles, sizes, and spacing, to create a polished and cohesive document.

3. Quantify Your Achievements

Wherever possible, quantify your achievements with specific numbers or percentages to demonstrate the impact of your work. For example, instead of stating “Managed accounts payable,” say “Managed accounts payable process for 100+ vendors, resulting in a 20% reduction in processing time.”

4. Showcase Your Soft Skills

In addition to technical skills, highlight your soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. These qualities are essential for success in any workplace and can set you apart from other candidates.

5. Proofread Carefully

Before submitting your resume, proofread it carefully to catch any typos, grammatical errors, or inconsistencies. Consider asking a friend or mentor to review your resume for feedback and suggestions.

The Career Objective

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 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 Duties

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 Assistant Resume are categorized into three levels, as depicted by the job description examples below.

An Accounting Assistant Resume 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 in 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 Resume 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 Resume 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 accounting assistant CV. To achieve 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

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 fitness 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\

Tools and Tech for your Accounting Assistant Resume

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

The Accounting Assistant of the digital age requires tech-savviness, familiarity with 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 Platforms	Xero, Sage, Quickbooks, SAP, Oracle
Accounts (Payable/Receivable)	Bill.com, U-Collect
Document Management	Hub.doc, LedgerSync
Reimbursements	Expensify, Receipt Bank
Invoicing	Zoho Invoice, Harvest
Project Management	Trello, Asana, BaseCamp
Communications	Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Accounting Assistants

Bachelor of Accounting Sciences	Certified Fraud Examiner	Advanced Auditing Course
Personal Financial Specialist (PFS	SAP Administrator	Certificate in Project Management (CIPM)
Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV)	Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF)	Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP)
Quickbooks Super User	Bookkeeper Advanced Certificate Program	Certified Public Accounting Assistant (CPA)

Action Verbs for your Accounting Assistant Resume and Curriculum Vitae

Auditing	Entering	Monitoring
Developing	Problem Solving	Improving
Researching	Analyzing	Processing
Checking	Reducing	Optimizing
Compiling	Communicating	Vetting
Calculating	Categorizing	Reconciling

Professional information for Accounting Assistants

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