INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Finance Associate positions are at a 5% growth rate, which is slower than average. With that said, there are currently 275,200 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 12,600 to 287,800 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Finance Associate jobs was $89,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $44,100, and the highest 10% more than $208,000.
Our conclusion? The Finance Associate job market is wide open for candidates.
Top finance associate sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a finance associate resume experience section
Finance associate 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!
- Planning for Profit and Loss
- Reporting and Analysis of Monthly Resultsdministration of Analysis
- Applications & Documentation
- Ad-hoc Analysis
- Work Closely wtih director to review YTD spend reporting.
- identify trends, and provide guidance to keep costs within budget on monthly basisMaintain expenses tied to campaign fulfillment through collaboration with various internal Ad Ops teams to ensure financial goals are achieved.
- Complete MOnth-end close analyses to reconcile expenses, submit accruals, and adjust monthly forecast.
- Develop dashboards to hel the executive team making strategics decisions based on data
- Improved sales quality by updating the system with new offers anddiscounts
- Prepared company accounts and tax invoice for the auditor
- Ensured compliance with accounting deadlines
- Monitored and recorded company receipts and bills
- Perform general office duties and administrative tasks
- Responsible for reconcile the cost account to the financial account
- Maintaining full set of accounts for the company and its subsidiaries
- Generating invoices, monitoring receivables and preparing payments
- Monthly bank reconciliation
- Timely preparation of monthly and quarterly accounts closing reports and schedules
- Team lead in consolidation of Group's accounts
- Preparation and filing of quarterly GST Return
- Assist with group and subsidiaries audit process, annual return and tax filing
- Assist with bank queries for the company and its subsidiaries
- Office administration
- Spearheaded effort to reduce swaps' desk balance sheet usage from $40 billion to $13 billion
- Built and streamlined existing processes from both a tactical short-term point of view and a strategic long-term perspective
- Reduced dependency on reuters/bloomberg, saving the bank over $50,000 per year
- Daily, weekly and monthly data analytics, dashboard and reports for monitoring the company's cryptocurrency positions and USD exposure
- Identification of risks in frequently released new business initiatives and products (e.g. the cooperation with Circle for USDC deposit and withdrawal)
- Oracle journal entries and assisting in monthly P&L calculation
- Person-in-charge for treasury of both Lending and Margin Trading products
- Process automation and improvement (via Athena SQL and Excel VBA)
- Reconciliation between trade and finance team databases to ensure cryptocurrency funding and positions closing are accurately carried out
- Updated and evaluated reports for Selling, General and Administrative expenses and drivers
- Developed a consolidated income statement in Excel for a diverse set of global business units for +$3 Billion Revenue
- Gathered data, developed, and analyzed Capital Expenditure and Depreciation and Amortization schedules
- Supported the production of the final budget package including Income Statements, Balance Sheets, Statement of Cash Flows, General and Administrative expenses, Capital Expenditures, and supplementary reports
- Assisted in the preparation of board materials
- Utilized an internal corporate performance management tool (OneStream) to analyze and export data and reports for management
- Cross-functional tasks helping Corporate Accounting prepare materials for SOX compliance
- Administration and Implementation of programme/operations - Full compliance with UN/UN Women rules and regulations and other relevant policies on financial recording/reporting system and follow-up on audit recommendations - Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation - Provision of inputs for implementation of cost-saving and reduction strategies in consultation with the office management - Preparation of cost sharing, follow up on contributions within the CO resource mobilization efforts - Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues
- Preparation and administration of CO budgets in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems - Formulate the budget, control allotments, monitor expenditures, and prepare revisions according to the needs of the CO - Entry of data of new grants into Atlas in the form of Annual Work Plans (AWPs), monitoring of their status - Implementation of the control mechanism for development projects through monitoring of budgets preparation and modifications - Assist in the preparation of cost-recovery bills in Atlas for the services provided, follow up on cost recovery - Assist in preparation, review and monitoring of office budget. Support in preparation of fundraising budgets - Preparation of financial reports & Regular Monitoring of the CO delivery report
- Accounting and administrative support - Accounts payable administration and management – issuance of all types of vouchers (PO/nonPO/APJV/GLJE) and verification of support documentation - Maintenance of the internal expenditures control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Atlas; travel claims, and other entitlements are duly processed - Monitor proper follow up of advances to implementing partners, review their financial reports together with project managers and timely clearance of advances in Atlas. - Ensure timely corrective actions on vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers. Timely response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues - Ensure that the Month-End/Year-End closure actions, checking & verification are properly and timely implemented as per the instructions given from HQ. - Manage petty cash fund, cash imprest level and other temporary GL accounts - Prepare VAT reimbursements and follow up with MOFA & UNDP
- Month end closing of Oberoi and Trident Hotels
- Assist in limited review and year end audit
- Variance analysis of P&L and Balance sheet
- Intercompany reconciliation
- Scrutiny of Trial balance
- Booking of inter unit and intercompany invoices
- Preparation of GL schedule
- Month end JV
- GL rectification
- Assist in RACM (Risk and control matrix)
PRO TIP
Don't make the same mistake everyone else does. What we mean is, don't list your Finance Associate job responsibilities instead of your achievements. Recruiters know what you do. They want to know what kind of difference you can bring to their company. Focus on what you've accomplished.
Action verbs for your finance associate resume
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Finance associate resume: the skills section!
How to write a strong Finance Associate 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 finance associate resume
Microsoft Office
SAP
Excel
Salesforce
Data Entry
Quickbooks
Project Management
Customer Service
CRM
Communication
Negotiation
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Collaboration
Flexibitly
Resilience
Dedication
Empathy
PRO TIP
When describing your experience, don’t go too far from its terminology. Recruiters use ATS systems to filter resumes based on them having certain keywords, so make sure you use at least a few keywords mentioned in the job description.
Recommended reads:
Finance associate resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your finance associate 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
Recommended reads.":
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your Finance Associate resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
A career summary for your finance associate resume
Things to include in your finance associate 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
When writing a resume summary or objective, avoid first-person narrative.
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Finance associate 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 finance associate resume
Accounting & Financial Statement Analysis: Complete Training
Accounting & Financial Ratio Analysis made easy. Learn important accounting skills that will get your foot in the door!
Introduction to Finance, Accounting, Modeling and Valuation
Learn Finance & Accounting from Scratch by an Award Winning MBA Professor, Ivy Grad, worked @ Goldman & VC
The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2022
Excel, Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Business Analysis, Financial Math, PowerPoint: Everything is Included!
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
Beat the Banks: How to Secure Finance for Your Company
How to construct a formal request for finance, and how to maximise your chances of obtaining funding for your business.
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PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Choosing the right format for your finance associate 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 Finance Associate 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 Finance Associate resume:
- Choose standard 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for traditional resume fonts sized 10-12p;
- Match the length of your Finance Associate 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 Finance Associate 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 finance associate 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 finance associate 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 finance associate 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.
