Essential accounting skills to highlight on your resume include proficiency in financial reporting, budgeting, tax preparation, and auditing. Additionally, showcasing your expertise in accounting software, attention to detail, analytical thinking, and problem-solving abilities can significantly enhance your appeal to potential employers. The ability to multitask and effectively manage time ensures that accountants can meet deadlines and provide satisfactory results for their clients. Bryant agrees that time management is essential for successful accounting careers. Despite wide variation in their respective duties, successful accounting professionals all possess the same main skills. Key examples include financial analysis, critical thinking, collaboration, and confidence with specialized financial software platforms.
- As your career advances and you seek positions of greater responsibility, you may wish to get familiar with process automation, artificial intelligence and financial modeling software.
- “Rules and laws change at what can seem like a dizzying pace. Being able to adapt and be comfortable with change is incredibly important.”
- They should also have a strong understanding of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and basic industry practices such as the double-entry system.
How to Highlight Accounting Skills on Resume
While mastery of GAAP is a requirement for certified public accountants (CPAs) and auditors, many private companies also adhere to GAAP standards. GAAP helps keep accountancy transparent, standardized, and consistent, and ensures the accurate comparison of accounting data between companies. You need to be able to interpret and evaluate financial data, identify patterns and trends, and solve problems creatively. You also need to be able to use critical thinking and logic to make sound decisions and recommendations based on your analysis.
Top Accounting Skills for Your Resume
Additionally, they draft memos that take positions on financial statements or tax returns, and they write instructions and guidelines for improving on-the-job efficiency for team members. “Working on different projects and being able to manage deadlines is a trait that separates passable accountants from their top-shelf peers,” he says. Bryant adds that this attribute is particularly salary paycheck calculator valuable during tax season when many accountants are overloaded with clients and bound to inflexible deadlines. Accounting professionals who possess strong business acumen can help develop strategy, inform key decisions and serve as business partners across multiple departments.
The Language of Finance
Take inventory of your strengths and any gaps in your accounting skill set. It’s a good idea to highlight the areas in which you need to deepen your knowledge or abilities. There are ample accounting courses and learning opportunities available both online and in person at local community colleges or training centers. In the accounting world, there are consequences for not filing on time or preparing accurate financial statements.
As fewer students graduate with accounting degrees, a looming nationwide accountant shortage may create a favorable hiring climate for accounting professionals. Accounting skills go beyond sorting through numbers and relying on automated processes to create financial statements. Ethical dilemmas, reporting errors and unbalanced spreadsheets require careful thought and investigation to arrive at the best solutions. Accountants must take an active approach to each task to make predictions and assess risk.
To effectively demonstrate your accounting skills on a resume, include specific examples of your experience, such as managing budgets, preparing financial statements, or using accounting software. Quantify your achievements with metrics, like cost savings or revenue growth, to provide tangible evidence of your capabilities. Collaboration with teammates and other employees is paramount for accounting professionals. Since accounting and finance teams touch every area of the business, they are expected to work cross-functionally and collaborate well with other employees. Projects that involve other employees — like budgets, cash flow projections, or strategic planning — can be complicated and require a high degree of collaboration. While COVID-19 was unexpected, there are other challenges accounting teams can plan for.
Practice by incorporating them into your daily routines, such as by using a task management app for better organization. You can also reach out to potential mentors in your field to work on your communication skills and learn about the latest trends in accounting. Removing distractions from your workspace can also help you improve your focus and attention to detail. But you need more than that if you want to stand out among the competition and get an accounting job—soft skills like communication and organization are critical as well.
