Resume Guide · Finance
The Accountant resume, decoded.
Accounting resumes need to balance technical expertise (GAAP, ERP systems) with business impact. ATS systems in finance heavily weight certifications and specific software proficiency.
ATS score92
Thomas EriksenCPA
Senior Accountant
Minneapolis, MN · t.eriksen@email.com
Experience
Senior Accountant2020 – Present
Northgate Industries
- Cut month-end close from 10 to 6 days for a $50M-revenue general ledger spanning 12 entities.
- Delivered GAAP-compliant reporting in SAP FI/CO with zero audit findings across 3 consecutive years.
- Managed AP/AR reconciliation workflows covering $4M in monthly transactions.
Staff Accountant2017 – 2020
Halvorsen & Ruiz LLP
- Prepared tax filings and quarterly financials for 30+ SMB clients in QuickBooks.
- Built advanced Excel models (Power Query, pivot tables) that automated audit sampling.
Skills
CPAGAAPSAP FI/COFinancial ReportingReconciliationAuditExcel (Advanced)
Education
B.S. Accounting — University of Minnesota, 2017
- "CPA" beside the name, not buried in education — certifications are primary filters.
- Close timeline + revenue + entity count: the numbers finance rankers extract.
- "SAP FI/CO" and "Advanced Excel" spelled out — ERP names are critical keywords.
The problem
Where accountant resumes die.
Before a recruiter ever sees your resume, parsing and ranking software decides whether they will. For accountants, these are the failure points.
On the page
- 01GAAP/IFRS compliance expertise not highlighted
- 02Missing ERP system keywords
- 03CPA certification buried in education
- 04No quantified financial impact
Inside the ATS
- 05CPA/CMA certifications are primary filter criteria
- 06ERP system names (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) are critical
- 07Financial amounts managed ($X in revenue, $Y budget) are extracted for matching
The fix
Same experience. Different resume.
Ranking algorithms reward specificity: metrics, named tools, scale. Here is the same line from a accountant resume, before and after.
Before
Handled month-end close and financial reporting duties.
After
Cut month-end close from 10 to 6 days for a $50M-revenue general ledger spanning 12 entities.
Before
Prepared reports and worked with auditors.
After
Delivered GAAP-compliant reporting in SAP FI/CO with zero audit findings across 3 consecutive years.
- Lead with certification: "CPA licensed in [State], 8+ years public and private accounting"
- Quantify responsibility scope: "Managed GL with $50M in annual revenue across 12 entities"
- Specify software fluency: "Advanced Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Power Query), SAP FI/CO"
The vocabulary
The words the machine listens for.
These are the exact terms ATS filters scan accountant applications for. If a keyword genuinely describes your experience, it belongs on the page — verbatim.
Skills
CPAGAAPFinancial ReportingSAPQuickBooksTax PreparationAccounts Payable/ReceivableReconciliationAuditExcel (Advanced)
Filters match exact strings. Write “CPA”, not a synonym — and keep abbreviations next to their expansions.
The product
Rejectly reads your resume the way the machine does. Then fixes it.
Job Match Analysis
For a specific Accountant posting
- Paste a accountant job description
- Get a fully rewritten resume matching that specific role
- Every keyword, achievement, and bullet point optimized
ATS Optimizer
No job description needed
- Tests against Workday, Greenhouse, Taleo & Lever
- Finds the parsing failures that silently reject you
- One-click optimization with downloadable PDF
Still sending the same resume to every job?
Every job has different keywords, different ATS filters, different expectations. A tailored resume for each application is the difference between getting rejected and getting hired.
