Senior Accountant Resume Example & Writing Guide

Senior accountants who are seeking employment need to tap their talents for record-keeping, attention to detail and organizational skills to produce an outstanding senior accountant resume. This senior accountant resume example will walk you through everything you need to know about preparing this mission-critical document to get the job that’s right for you.

Here’s what to expect from this guide and our senior accountant resume sample:

• How to write a senior accountant resume sample
• Resume structure and components
• The best format for a senior accountant resume
• Professional resume design and layout

What does a senior accountant do?

Senior accountants oversee all of a company’s accounting processes, analyzing financial records, balancing accounts, ensuring compliance with tax laws and assisting with audits. They prepare month-end reports and financial forecasts, ensure the accuracy of financial records and identify ways of reducing costs and increasing profits based on analysis of a company’s books. 

In larger companies, senior accountants oversee a team of junior accountants. According to Parker + Lynch, an executive recruiting company, senior accountants differ from junior accountants in not having to perform administrative tasks like gathering data, population balance sheets or updating journal entries.

Other resume examples from the accounting and finance industry:

• Finance-director resume example
• Bank-teller resume example
• Accountant resume example
• Loan-officer resume example
• Loan-processor resume example
• Bookkeeper resume example
• Auditing-clerk resume example
• Banker resume example
• Compliance-officer resume example
• Investment-banker resume example
• Financial-analyst resume example
• Financial-advisor resume example

How to write a senior accountant resume

A senior accountant resume sample should generally be one page only, featuring all of the following components:

• Resume header
• Resume summary/profile
• Employment history section
• Education section
• Skills section

The header is the space at the top where you list your name (generally first and in the largest type), address, phone number and email. It may also contain your photo and perhaps your LinkedIn profile or another work-related website.

In addition to containing your contact info, the header should serve as an attractive design element on the page. It may contain an accent color and creative use of typography and layout. Take a look at Resume.io’s selection of resume templates to find one you like, and you won’t have to design your own.

You’ll also need a cover letter to go with your resume, and these two documents should have matching headers, fonts and formatting styles so that it’s obvious they were designed to go together. This shows your attention to detail and your understanding of the importance of coherent design. So when you choose a style for your resume, you should choose a style that matches for your cover letter.

Now let’s talk about the other four elements of a winning senior accountant resume example.

Choosing the best resume format 

You can rarely go wrong using the reverse chronological format for a resume, in which you list your last (or current) job first, and your first job last. 

Unless you’ve had an unusual career path, generally your last job will be your most impressive and highest-ranking, so that’s why you want to lead with this. Our senior accountant resume example can give you a good idea of how to create a chronological format for traditional positions.

In some fields, especially in technical professions, job seekers prefer a functional resume format that emphasizes skills and competencies, or a hybrid style that is a combination of functional and chronological.

Senior accountant CV summary example

The CV summary, also known as a profile or personal statement, allows you to do some modest boasting, portraying yourself and your talents in the best light possible. (Curriculum vitae or CV, by the way, is just a term that people outside the U.S. and Canada use for a resume.)

The summary is the only part of a resume that isn’t a list. It should consist of two to three sentences max — although technically a summary doesn’t even need complete sentences. You don’t need to say “I am” or “I worked” — the reader will know who you’re talking about. 

Use strong adjectives (“experienced,” “driven”) and action verbs (“managed,” “spearheaded”) to play up your accomplishments on the job. You don’t want to come off as arrogant or presumptuous, but shouldn’t undersell yourself either.

Here’s an idea of a good CV summary for a senior accountant resume sample:

Employment history resume example

Your employment history resume section is the best place to show what you’ve learned in previous positions. List the jobs you’ve previously held in your field, last job first. Name the company, the city, state and country if appropriate, and the years you worked there. (You don’t need to provide actual start and departure dates, just years.)

Under each job, include a bullet list of your accomplishments on this job. Avoid saying “Was responsible for” and instead describe what you actually did there, using strong action verbs. Be specific, using facts and figures wherever possible (dollar figures, percentage growth, number of clients, etc.). 

Check out the employment history section of our senior accountant resume example.

Senior accountant education resume example

The education section is a big component of a complete senior accountant resume example. Accountants are almost always required to have at least a bachelor’s degree, and certifications in the field can also be a big boost to a candidate’s job prospects. Senior accountants applying for management positions may be expected to hold a master’s degree, often in business administration or accounting.

List the colleges or universities you attended, the years you attended and the degrees you earned. If you have academic distinctions worth noting, such as an exceptional grade-point average or membership in an honor society, you can also mention these in bullet points under each school. 

The education section of your resume is also the place to list any certifications you’ve received in your field, such as licensure to practice as a certified public accountant (CPA). 

If you hold a postsecondary degree, it’s not generally considered necessary to mention where you graduated from high school, although there’s no harm in doing so if you have room. 

This excerpt from our senior accountant resume sample can offer an idea of how to format your degrees and certifications.

Resume skills section example

Your resume should have a short list of your special skills — typically a mix of hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills might include expertise in accounting software and advanced skills in math or statistics. Soft skills are “people skills” that enable you to work well with others, such as communication and management skills.

Check out our senior accountant resume example for some potential skills to list on your own resume.

Resume layout and design

Of all the qualities an employer might be seeking in an accountant, “sloppy” isn’t one of them. The layout and design of your resume should be clean, organized and easy to follow. Your resume should look as good as it reads.

This is among the reasons it’s always a good idea to use a professionally designed resume template like those we offer at Resume.io. Take a look at our Accounting & Finance resume examples, find one you like, and by clicking on it and adding your own info, you can make any of these resumes your own. 

Key takeaways for a senior accountant resume

1. Senior accountants are responsible for some of a company’s most important financial operations, working at a managerial level, and their resumes need to reflect the highest level of experience and professionalism.
2. A senior accountant resume sample should be a one-page document that includes a header, profile/summary, employment history, education and skills sections — covering all the necessary bases with no irrelevant info.
3. Your resume should be tailored for each prospective employer to include the keywords that it’s likely to have input into its ATS system.
4. Your resume should look as good as it reads, so make sure you have an attractively designed page.
5. Using a professional resume layout is the surest way to ensure that you have a clean, well-designed resume example that includes all the information it needs and none that it doesn’t.