Best Senior Accountant CV Examples & Guide for 2025

Senior accountants need to highlight their accounting skills. A senior accountant CV example will also showcase previous jobs, including any benefits that you may have brought to the previous job by improving their accounting processes. If you’ve received any awards or you have any other qualifications, it’s also a good idea to highlight these components of your experience.

The first element to note is that the structure of any CV will at least partially depend on the CV format you use. A skills-based (also known as a functional CV) will emphasise your skills, while a chronological CV will usually emphasise experience. With an ample amount of work experience, senior accountants will typically want to use a chronological CV.

 

The first section on your CV is your CV header. This header should include your contact information such as name, phone number, location, email address and professional job networking links, like your LinkedIn profile.

 

The next section is your personal statement (also know as the CV summary or professional statement). This is a descriptive paragraph highlighting your best achievements and qualifications as a senior accountant. If you don’t have a long history as a senior accountant you can use this section to focus more on your career goals.

 

The skills section will include a variety of important skills that you’ve learned throughout your career. Format your skills on CV as bullet points so they are easy to read. Here are some skill statements to consider:

• Ability to perform audits
• Preparing journal entries and general ledger accounts analysis
• Quickly spotting balance discrepancies
• Understanding fixed assets and cash flow
• Forecasting future trends
• Implementing internal controls
• Problem-solving
• Knowledge of spreadsheet and accounting software (Oracle, QuickBooks, ERP, SAP, Checker, Excel)
• Knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
• Ability to perform financial analysis and manage financial reporting
• Handling accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Account reconciliation and bank reconciliation
• Managing a balance sheet
• Year-end and month-end close
• Compiling monthly financial statements

It’s important that you have both soft skills and hard skills to be successful as a senior accountant. Bookkeeping is an important part of an accountant role, but to do a complete accountant job, you also need to work well with other staff accountants, including junior accountants, and have generalised skills like problem-solving and thinking well on your feet.

 

Next is your work experience section. Include up to 10 years of experience here. This doesn’t have to just include experience as a senior accountant but can also include work as an accounting manager or any other accountant role within a company.

 

In this section, include your professional education. You’ll typically need A levels or the equivalent level 3 qualifications to apply. You should also include your certifications. Typically, senior accountants will be a professionally part or fully qualified accountant through ACCA or CIMA depending on your career path.

Here are some tips for writing your senior accountant CV:

Do:

• Read the job description before you apply for the job. Every employer is looking for a slightly different person, so reading the job description will help you present yourself well to a hiring manager.
• Make full use of your CV. Include any information that is relevant to the job description.
• Use the CVHelp CV builder to help create the perfect senior accountant CV. The CV builder will help you quickly and easily create a professional CV using pre-written texts that you can quickly modify to suit your needs.

Don’t:

• Apply as a senior accountant without first going through the process of being a junior accountant. You need that work experience to be taken seriously.
• Include every work experience you have, including those that aren’t accountant related. You’ll typically only need to include 10 years of experience, but there may be situations that extend past this if all experiences relate to the accounting industry.
• Include any samples with identifying information from previous jobs. You should never show financial statements or similar items as part of your job application.