INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accounting Assistant positions are at a -3% growth rate, which is negative. With that said, there are currently 1,620,000 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to decrease by -48,100 to 1,571,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Accounting Assistant jobs was $42,410 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $27,050, and the highest 10% more than $63,900.
Our conclusion? The Accounting Assistant job market is facing competition due to decreasing demand.
Top accounting assistant sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write an accounting assistant resume experience section
accounting assistant resume experience: checklist
- Use either chronological or reverse-chronological format when listing your previous jobs;
- Mention only relevant positions that add value to your resume;
- Briefly state the challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them;
- Highlight the results from your efforts (for bonus points, add numbers, percentage rates, etc.);
- Forget about buzzwords! Use power verbs instead.
Use the examples below to build your own experience section!
- Preparation of worksheets fir pay record cards
- Inputting of Employee data for archiving purposes
- Assisting in the manual generation of salary payments of employees
- Reconciling financial accounts for Italian providers
- Competitor analysis across the Spanish and the Italian markets
- Online after sales support in three languages: Italian, Spanish, English
- Entered accounts entries
- Done VAT declarations
- Wrote official reports of counts endorsement
- Provide important financial and taxation advice to the management team.
- Monitoring and examining the revenue/expenditure, cost of goods, product profit margin.
- Other day-to-day accounting duties such as managing PAYE, GST return, banking, invoicing, budgeting, and perform monthly reconciliations.
- Month End Closure
- VAT & Tax Returns
- Year End Closure & Annual Reporting
- Intern supervision & coaching
- Financial accounting for small businesses
- Year End Closure & Annual Reporting
- VAT Returns
- Prepared and analysed annual budgets to determine compliance, expenditure efficiency and percentage variances for individual departments.
- Preparation of external financial regulatory reports which include: monthly and quarterly cash flows reporting for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, and Central Statistical Office which included balance of payments reports.
- Internal reporting included: analysis of financial statements, preparation of monthly management accounts and variance analysis reports.
- Papersoft is a document management solutions's company with +300 employees between Portugal, United Kingdom, Mozambique, Romania and Republic Democratic of Congo.
- Support all Recruitment processes, specially in IT and Sales areas;
- Coordinate and Manage Performance Evaluation System;
- Manage Compensations and Benefits;
- Contract Management;
- Payroll and Administrative Management;
- Prepare and support Accounting processes (Month-end Reports);
- Banking, Financial and Accounting management (vendor payments, invoicing, collections, receipts, payment of taxes);
- Manage Purchase Processes;
- Manage Medicine and Health processes.
- Performed data entry to organise accounting records
- Introduced system to monitor all outstanding payments
- Handled payroll & N.I. payments
- Represented AVA Pack Inc. at the NRA Show 2014 - 2016
- Assisted with data organization and analysis
- Collected and organized Accounts Payables/Receivables
- Cashiering, dining area set up, and regular stocktaking (daily/weekly)
- Assisted with supplier card file entry/updates and invoicing in MYOB
- Delivered 5-star, on-brand and in-person customer service in a fast-paced environment while being extremely attentive to detail and accuracy
- Supported contract offers & review process.
- Managed the accounting record of documents.
- Organized the majority of client projects.
- Shell stocks recording and reconciliation (gas, oil, bitumen)
- Stock analysis, providing stock adjustments summarizing every month
- Finding and posting gains/losses on the stocks
- Contact with Shell units and non- Shell depots (France, Slovenia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Philippines)
- Accounts control and allocation
- Processing deliveries and invoices
PRO TIP
Check the Accounting Assistant job description for inspiration. Look for similarities between your employer’s values and your experience.
Action verbs for your accounting assistant resume
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Accounting assistant resume: the skills section!
How to write a strong accounting assistant resume skills section?
- Make sure to include all types of skills - soft, hard, technical;
- Focus on skills that show your expertise in the field;
- Check the job description for keywords and make sure to add them to your resume – this will help you pass ATS;
- Leave room for discussion – elaborate on some of your strongest skills in other sections of your resume
Top skills for your accounting assistant resume
SAP MM Module
SAP PS Module
ADVANCED:
Excel
Power Point & Word
Word
PowerPoint
Access
Xero
Communication
Negotiation
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Collaboration
Flexibitly
Resilience
Dedication
Empathy
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
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Accounting assistant resume header: Tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your accounting assistant resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
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PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Accounting Assistant resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
A career summary for your accounting assistant resume
Things to include in your accounting assistant resume summary:
- Your total years of experience in the industry;
- 2-3 of your most remarkable achievements so far;
- How your experience relates to the position you’re applying for;
- A very brief description of your strengths.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a professional taster. Use it wisely. Effectively convey your professional profile and let the hiring manager know that if they hire you, they won’t be disappointed. Make sure to include keywords from the job description too! Elaborate on your abilities further in your experience section. Again, cater to the job description.
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Accounting assistant resume: the education section
Things to include in your resume's education section:
- Your highest education degree – including course, year of graduation, institution;
- Awards received as part of your education;
- Extracurricular activities that have helped you gain relevant skills;
- Certifications that have helped you master new skills and increase your expertise;
- Entry-level applicants only: relevant courses and projects.
Top Certifications for your Accounting Assistant Resume
Accounting–Financial Accounting Total-Beginners to Advanced
Including well over 100 hours of content, e-book (EPUB, MOBI, PDF) ,Excel worksheet, & PDF files, this is comprehensive
Accounting & Financial Statement Analysis: Complete Training
Accounting & Financial Ratio Analysis made easy. Learn important accounting skills that will get your foot in the door!
Financial Accounting - #1 Ranked University: Course 1 of 5
Honored by the President of the United States for outstanding teaching, learn Accounting from the self-made millionaire.
Fundamentals of Business Accounting 1: Learn Quick and Easy
Learn Basic Accounting & Finance in 60 Minutes! Learn How to Build & Analyze Financial Statements. Improve your Business
Accounting: From Beginner to Advanced!
Learn accounting like never before. Learn easy and fast. Easy to understand Accounting. #1 accounting course online.
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PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Accounting Assistant. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Choosing the right format for your accounting assistant resume
In general, there are three basic formats for your resume:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
Some things to consider when choosing the right format for your Accounting Assistant resume include the stage of your career, whether you have all the right skills required for the job or are looking for an industry change, and what field you’re looking to grow in.
The reverse-chronological resume format is the most common one. It lets you describe your most recent job and then move backward. This makes it great for people who have around or less than 10 years of experience and are looking to highlight only their work-related skills and qualities.
If you’re just starting your career journey and reverse-chronological resumes sound too demanding, go for the functional resume format. It’s ideal for showcasing your strengths, personal qualities, skills, education, and the courses you’ve taken, without putting too much pressure on experience and expertise.
Don’t worry if neither of these sounds suitable for you – the hybrid or combination resume format will surely match your needs. It’s similar to the reverse-chronological, but with a catchy twist. Combination or hybrid resumes are great for showcasing both your experience and work-related skills and your personal qualities. Add a “What my day looks like” section for enhancing the jaw-dropping experience!
Here are some more things worth remembering when it comes to formatting your Accounting Assistant resume:
- Choose standard 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for traditional resume fonts sized 10-12p;
- Match the length of your Accounting Assistant resume with your experience – choose a one-page template if you have less than 10 years of experience, and be careful with two-page templates – use them only when applying for executive positions;
- Save your resume in PDF to avoid formatting issues and potential unauthorized editing.
Tired of getting rejected? Check out this article on how to craft a resume that stands out!
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PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Accounting Assistant resume layout, you can use a creative layout. Getting noticed is the most important challenge and a creative resume layout might help you get invited for an interview as most of other accountants have boring resume designs.
Other sections suitable for your accounting assistant resume
Depending on the position and the industry, you can spice your resume up by adding some more sections. They will help the recruiter get a glimpse of who you are as a person, besides all your job-related skills and qualities.
Here are some examples:
How to add creativity to your accounting assistant resume
Gone are the days when creative resumes were frowned upon by recruiters!
What’s more, the right amount of creativity will make recruiters remember you and want to learn more about who you are – both as an individual and as a professional.
There are two ways to build a creative resume - add creative sections or go for a more creative design approach in general. Go for whatever suits you, the position, and the industry most!
What makes a great accounting assistant resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
