30 Accountant CV Examples That Worked in 2025

How to Write an Accountant CV

As an accountant, you know that precision matters. You’re expected to be an analytical expert who can produce reliable research and solve complex legal and financial problems. So, think of your CV not only as a place to highlight your experience but also as a place to demonstrate your attention to detail and high standard of work.

Enhancing your CV’s potential requires special attention to these four areas:

Highlighting key skills on your accountant CV

When recruiters post an accountant job description, it’s not uncommon for them to receive over 100 CVs. With the sheer number of applicants, companies can’t meticulously review every accountant’s application. The applicant tracking system (ATS) software helps filter out applicants before a recruiter reviews them, which saves time and eliminates candidates without the right experience.

Applicant tracking systems work by using algorithms that match keywords from the company to keywords in your CV. So even if you’re highly qualified for a job, your CV may be discarded if it doesn’t include the right keywords. To avoid this, you need to know how to include job-appropriate skills on your CV (keywords).

What are the right skills? The right skills will vary depending on the accountant role. Read this excerpt from a sample accountant job description and see if you can identify the essential skills:

Greenhill is seeking a qualified accountant who can handle every aspect of the accounting process, from balancing ledgers to researching legislation and analysing data to ensure efficient and effective operations. This position is ideal for candidates who are all-rounders! Must possess strong public speaking and collaboration skills while demonstrating initiative and the ability to work independently.

Based on this small sample, we can create a list of essential skills tailored for the role. You do not want to take exact words from the job description or lie about your skill level. Instead, use the accountant job description as a starting point to consider the most relevant skills you possess:

In other accountant job adverts, you can expect to see different skills emphasised, such as:

Choose the best CV format

It’s not just about what you write on your accountant CV; it’s about how you write it. Your CV format is important for ensuring that your CV is visually appealing, easy to read, and easy for the ATS to recognise. For these reasons, we always suggest the reverse-chronological format to keep your most recent job experience listed at the top of your CV, but there are some other aspects of CV formatting you need to know.

Here are some other essential elements of CV formatting that you should pay attention to:

Remember these formatting tips, and you’ll be confident that your CV is ATS-friendly and easy to read for recruiters.

Understand the elusive CV objective and summary

All right, back to the objective and summary. A CV objective is one of the most misunderstood sections of your CV. Most people think objectives are outdated and pointless, but that’s only the case if you don’t tailor them and keep them concise.

But what exactly is a CV objective? And what’s the difference between that and a CV summary? Let’s delve in!

A CV objective and summary statement are both short, two to three-sentence paragraphs at the top of a CV to express your interest in a position or provide a brief career synopsis. Both require customisation and should be avoided if you don’t intend to write a new one for each job application.

However, these two types of paragraphs differ in how they convey interest in the job. An objective outlines the value you’ll bring to a company and why you want the position. Objectives are most appropriate for accountants who are just beginning their careers or undergoing a career change (such as from a staff accountant to an accounts payable specialist).

A CV summary highlights your past work experience, leveraging it to prove your qualifications and skills. Because the summary relies on many past job experiences, it’s only recommended for senior accountants with many years of industry experience.

Let’s go through a few examples together, so you can better understand all the different elements:

Poor CV objective: Years of experience in the industry, seeking a full-time position in the accounting sector with benefits.

• There are several issues at play here. First, it’s uninformative. The applicant doesn’t include anything that provides concrete evidence of their skills. Secondly, it’s not specific. They don’t mention a particular job title, relevant skills, or the company to which they’re applying. Lastly, this candidate is only focused on what the job will do *for them*. You need to mention why you’ll be an asset to the company, not what the job will offer you personally.

Better CV objective: Detail-oriented junior accountant with over 4 years of experience working for Big Four accountancy firms. Seeking an opportunity as a staff accountant at a smaller-scale operation like Fender Co., where my specialisms in optimising pricing through software adoption and systems streamlining would positively impact sales.

• This CV objective demonstrates the applicant’s value to the company by highlighting relevant skills and years of experience. Furthermore, it is tailored to the specific job the candidate is seeking, which is a major positive sign for employers.

Poor summary statement: Experience as an accountant for three businesses. My role, which involved providing organised, detailed work for all three companies, positively impacted the companies.

• This statement is vague and confusing, not to mention it’s poorly worded. Would you trust this person with your company’s financial records?

Better summary statement: Data-driven certified accountant with specialised work in small and medium-sized businesses for 22 years. Committed to providing services that adhere to UK GAAP standards while optimising operations and financial performance. Expertise in various types of accounting software relevant to business size, including Xero, QuickBooks, Zoho, and SAP. Experience supervising and collaborating across cross-functional teams and departments while increasing ROI by over 5% year-to-date.

• This summary statement includes specific metrics, specialised skills, and a job title. It’s an excellent example of a strong statement that would impress a recruitment team.

Measure your positive impact as an accountant

If you want to prove to a company that you’re an excellent accountant, you’ll want to focus on numbers. Quantifying your impact on your accountant CV provides concrete proof that you’re an asset to the company.

Based on the above, have a look at these examples that demonstrate how metrics can enhance your bullet points:

Optimise your accountant CV for each job

Unfortunately, you can’t just have one copy of your CV that you submit for every accountant job application. Every application deserves a tailored CV.

We understand it’s frustrating to focus on customisations when you want to submit multiple applications in a short period of time. Consider creating a document with a master list of job description bullet points and skills, sorted into groups based on the skills you need to highlight (e.g., one section that demonstrates your accuracy, another for client interactions, another for public speaking, etc.). Then, you can pick and pull things from this document to create fully customised CVs in no time.

For now, we think you’ll find something to help you get started on your accountant CV, no matter the exact role:

Accountant CV

• Do you have experience in general ledger (GL) accounting?
• Try to demonstrate your knowledge of accounting fundamentals, including balance sheets, accounts payable/receivable, and accounting software.
  • Remember, you don’t need to include all of these accounting skills in each position, but they must be covered at least once somewhere on your accountant CV.

Senior accountant CV

• As a senior accountant, focus on tailoring your CV to demonstrate skills beyond just the basics.
  • Emphasise aspects such as significant improvements in efficiency rates, accuracy, and year-on-year financial growth.
  • Have you worked with senior management to establish company-wide standards or implement internal policies or financial work incentives?
• Emphasise your ability to take on leadership and mentoring roles.

Accounts payable CV

• Focus on what matters by discussing payment processing and review, tracking business expenses (such as supplier invoices), and ensuring GL and UK GAAP compliance.
• Have you dealt with complex accounts, perhaps with payment discrepancies that required you to act in the company’s interest?
  • Emphasise your attention to detail and how it has saved money for companies you have worked for in the past.

Entry-level accountant CV

• Hiring managers do understand that everyone has to start somewhere, so you don’t need to have loads of accounting experience straight away (although that is preferred).
  • You can utilise almost any job position to highlight particularly relevant skills in accounting. For example, a restaurant waiter can still balance payments, check receipts against bills, etc.
• Read the job description carefully, noting which skills are most important to the hiring team and emphasising your ability to work in accounting based on their requirements.

Staff accountant CV

• As a staff accountant, you’ll generally have more responsibility and focus on more specialised work than general accountants.
  • Your staff accountant CV should focus on general ledger maintenance/oversight, tax revenue billing, accounts payable/receivable, reports, and general record-keeping.
• Don’t forget to showcase your potential for career progression in the future by highlighting any aspects where you provided management or supervisory work.

Final takeaway for improving your accountant CV

The hardest part of writing your accountant CV is getting started, so congratulate yourself on beginning your CV journey! You’re one step closer to creating your best-ever accounting CV. We’ve laid out all the essential tips, including optimising your skills section, formatting, metrics, and CV customisations, so you can write an amazing CV in no time.

We also have a host of tools to make CV writing easier. See how your CV measures up against our AI-powered tips. Or, if it’s time to write your CV for the first time, you can use our CV builder with built-in formatting standards and corresponding recommendations to keep the process stress-free, easy, and quick—leaving you time also to craft an outstanding accountant cover letter for your dream role.

No matter what stage you’re at, we’re here to help, and we wish you the greatest success!