Accountants help organizations make critical financial decisions and corrections. They do this in a variety of ways, including research, audits, and data input, reporting, analysis, and tracking. Accountants can be responsible for tax reporting and filing, reconciling balance sheets, helping with departmental and organizational budgets, financial forecasting, communicating findings with stakeholders, and more. An accountant job description will include this type of information, tailored specifically to the type of accounting position listed.

Why refer to an accountant job description?

If you're an Accountant looking to land your next job and need to update your resume, one of the best resources you can turn to is an accountant job description. By reviewing job description examples, you can identify what technical and soft skills, credentials, and work experience matter most to an employer in your target field. In this post, we share an example of an accountant job description summary, followed by responsibilities, requirements, and skills.

Accountant job description example

Accountant Job Description

Prepare balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and other financial reports. Accountant duties and responsibilities also include analyzing trends, costs, revenues, financial commitments, and obligations incurred to predict future revenues and expenses.

Reports organization's finances to management and offers suggestions about resource utilization, tax strategies, and assumptions underlying budget forecasts.

Accounting candidates must be familiar with standard concepts, practices, and procedures within the [field of focus]. Astute at relying on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of additional tasks as assigned. A certain degree of creativity and latitude is required.

Works under general supervision. This position will report to [title of supervisor or manager].

Requires a bachelor's degree in accounting or a similar area of specialty and two to four years of experience in the field or in a related area. An associate's degree in accounting might be acceptable.

Accountant responsibilities

Below the general job description summary, like the example above, you'll typically see a list of responsibilities, requirements, and necessary skills, as outlined in this section and the next two.

Here are some of the accountant job description responsibilities you might find listed:

• Prepare asset, liability, and capital account entries by compiling and analyzing account information

• Document financial transactions by entering account information

• Recommend financial actions by analyzing accounting options

• Summarize current financial status by collecting information; preparing balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and other reports

• Substantiate financial transactions by auditing documents

• Maintain accounting controls by preparing and recommending policies and procedures

• Guide accounting clerical staff by coordinating activities and answering questions

• Reconcile financial discrepancies by collecting and analyzing account information

• Secure financial information by completing database backups

• Verify, allocate, post, and reconcile transactions

• Produce error-free accounting reports and present their results

• Analyze financial information and summarize financial status

• Provide technical support and advice on management

• Review and recommend modifications to accounting systems and generally accepted accounting procedures

• Participate in financial standards setting and forecast process

• Provide input into department's goal-setting process

• Prepare financial statements and produce budget according to schedule

• Direct internal and external audits to ensure compliance

• Plan, assign, and review staff's work

• Support month-end and year-end close process

• Develop and document business processes and accounting policies to maintain and strengthen internal controls

• Communicate effectively with clients

• Contribute to a strong client relationship through positive interactions with client personnel

• Communicate with Manager and/or Director on work status and client issues that arise

Accountant requirements

These are just a few of the job requirements you may see in an accountant job description:

• Thorough knowledge of basic accounting procedures and principles, including the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

• Awareness of business trends

• Experience with creating financial statements

• Experience with general ledger functions and the month-end/year-end close process

• Excellent accounting software user and administration skills

• Accuracy and attention to detail

• Aptitude for numbers and quantitative skills

• Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree in appropriate field of study or equivalent work experience

• Intermediate understanding of accounting and reporting standards, gaining experience in researching as it relates to accounting issues

• Experience with accounting software is a plus

Accountant skills & proficiencies

There are several hard and soft skills that are possibilities for an accountant job description. Hard skills are measurable talents learned through training and education. Soft skills are people skills that are generally acquired through experience and are difficult to measure.

Below, we break them down by category, though you'll typically find necessary hard and soft skills listed together in the job description.

Hard skills for an accountant job description

• Accounting

• Corporate Finance

• Reporting Skills

• Reporting Research Results

• Financial Data Entry Management

• Basic Math

• Accuracy

• Scheduling and Monitoring

• Problem Analysis and Problem-Solving Skills

• Active Learning

• Clerical Knowledge

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office

• Risk Analysis

• Tax Returns

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

• Accounting Software

• General Ledger Functions

• GAAP

• Balance Sheets

• Budgeting

• Data Analysis

• Bookkeeping

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act

• Financial Audits

• Certified Management Accountant (CMA)

• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)

• Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)

Soft skills for an accountant job description

• Attention to Detail

• Deadline-Oriented

• Confidentiality

• Time Management

• Organizational Skills

• Communication Skills

• Problem Analysis and Problem-Solving Skills

• Initiative

• Teamwork

• Professionalism

• Interpersonal Skills

• Analytical Thinking

• Self-started

• Independent Worker

• Creativity

Expert tip: To help you determine the best skills to include on your Accountant resume, use an AI software tool, like ChatGPT, to scan Accountant job descriptions online. You can then make note of the various industry-related keywords that come up across job descriptions and incorporate the ones that make the most sense based on your experience and target role.

Tailor your resume

Referring to accountant job descriptions for resume development is a smart move to get your creative juices flowing. By reviewing the job descriptions, you can assess and make a list of what skills and experience you have that align with them. From there, you can incorporate them into your resume.

Of course, you'll want to tweak your resume for each job you apply to. The good news is that you won't need to start from scratch if you have a strong initial version to work with. In that case, making minor updates to align with each job you apply to will be easy to do.

Your resume aligned with the job description wins interviews

Use the example description and lists above to guide you in developing a resume to stand out and land interviews!

Is your resume appropriately tailored to the accountant job description for the job you're applying to? Why not submit it for a free resume review to find out?

Recommended reading:

• How to Use Action Verbs in a Resume

• Whether or Not to Use a One-Page Resume

• How to List Multiple Positions at One Company on Resume