Bookkeeper Resume: Templates & Formats [Skills, Objective, Summary]

bookkeeper resume sample
Created by CakeResume

As a bookkeeper, you will be responsible for recording, analyzing, and preparing the company’s various types of financial materials. While a bookkeeper sometimes is confused with an accounting clerk, many factors differentiate them from each other. The main difference being that bookkeepers manage smaller businesses while accounting clerks usually operate under larger company accountants. 

Preparation for landing a position as a bookkeeper has a similar process. You will want to study and plan out how you will create a strong resume for the recruiters. Impress potential employers with your professional bookkeeper resume using a few tips and tricks.

How to write a great bookkeeper resume?

💡 1. Adopt an ATS-friendly bookkeeper resume format.

Companies want to take as little time as possible to review through all the applicants they have in hand. When the recruiters pull up your bookkeeper resume, they use a tracking system (called Applicant Tracking System or ATS) to scan for important information.

Keep things clean and simple for them by ensuring your resume for the bookkeeper position is in an easy-to-read arrangement. 

💡2. Refer to online bookkeeper resume templates and examples.

Find inspiration to make your bookkeeper resume design more creative by browsing the internet. Check out bookkeeper resume examples online to see what might be useful. Samples are helpful, especially for those looking to build a resume for a bookkeeper with no experience. 

💡3. Tailor your resume for the bookkeeper role and use keywords from the job description.

Carefully examine the bookkeeper job description for resume formation. You want to make sure that you are providing the recruiters their ideal candidate image. Combine keywords from the job description to display that you have the related skills. 

📝 Reminder: A bookkeeper resume will contain relevant achievements and experiences, while a bookkeeper CV will include all of your past involvements. 

💡 4. Quantify results on your bookkeeper resume. 

When providing details about your past experiences, remember to elaborate with numbers. If you are creating an entry level bookkeeper resume, incorporating numbers within your achievements will impress the employers, without a doubt. 

💡

💡 5. Show your tech-savvy side.  

Make sure to highlight your computer skills for your bookkeeper resume. Whether it is something general like being knowledgeable in Microsoft Office or something more specific like QuickBooks, make sure to emphasize that you are skilled with technology.  

What is a good objective for a bookkeeper resume?

A career objective is a short paragraph summarizing your skills and your ideas of a career path. Having a career objective will be more beneficial if you are forming a resume for a bookkeeper with no experience. 

  • Skills first, then goals:
    Let the employers know that you qualify with your bookkeeping skills before you provide them with your career aspirations. 
  • Be descriptive but to the point:
    
    Make your bookkeeper resume objective attention-grabbing with numerical details but make sure that it is still easy to read. 
  • Create the bookkeeper resume objective specifically for the role:
    
    Customize the accomplishments you feature in your bookkeeper resume depending on the bookkeeper role description. 

Bookkeeper Resume Objective Examples:

  • Result-driven assistant bookkeeper with 2+ years of experience in handling deposits, billing reports, and credit statements. Seeking a role as a bookkeeper at BookRates to assist with accounting documentation.
  • Punctual freelance bookkeeper with 4+ years of experience in remote clerical and administrative assistance. Looking to bring disciplinary skills into a full charge bookkeeper role at Ohio Books. 
  • Dependable full charge bookkeeper skilled in preparing accurate and reliable financial statements for 3+ years. Seeking a position as a bookkeeper at QuickBooks to enhance organization and reduce error rates.

How to write a professional bookkeeper resume summary?

Different from the career objective for a bookkeeper, a summary is a few sentences that emphasize your most impressive accomplishments. The main difference is that your concentration for a bookkeeper resume summary will be on your skill sets instead of your career goals. A bookkeeper resume summary will be more suitable if you will be crafting a more experienced bookkeeper resume. 

  • Start with professional adjectives:
    
    Lead your bookkeeper resume summary with noteworthy power adjectives. Power adjectives add life to your descriptions of past experiences. 
  • Personalize your summary:
    Craft your bookkeeper resume summary to fit the bookkeeper role. By doing this, you kill two birds with one stone: one, you will make it easier for the recruiters to review your bookkeeper resume; and two, you will show them that you are suitable for the role. 
  • Be detailed but concise. 
    Your bookkeeper resume summary should be detailed enough to gain the employers’ attention and make sure they keep reading, but brief enough so that it does not give away spoilers for the rest of your bookkeeper resume material. 

Bookkeeper Resume Summary Examples:

  • Devoted head bookkeeper with a 6-year history of accurately supporting data organization and financial reporting. Skilled in bookkeeping regulations, bank affiliations, and accounting operations. Licensed as a public bookkeeper and proficient with QuickBooks. 
  • Methodical certified bookkeeper with 4+ years maintaining financial transactions, sourcing invoice documents, and filing journal entries. Reduced unresolved filing errors by 20% by implementing a collections process.  
  • Honors graduated junior bookkeeper knowledgeable in tax returns, account management, and balance sheets. Experienced with QuickBooks Online and Microsoft Office Suite. 

What are some great skills for a bookkeeper resume?

Your resume skills will show the employers what you know and the characteristics you have. If you have little to no experience, this is your chance to strengthen your bookkeeper resume profile.

4 different ways to arrange your skill sets:

Bullet lists: 

✅ Easy to view, can include many skills, suitable for entry-level bookkeeper resumes

❌ Not enough details - does not show how you used your skills

Expanded bullet lists: 

✅ Detailed and suitable for entry-level or career changer bookkeepers

❌ Not enough space for more than 5 skills

Integrated with work experience:

✅ Very detailed and for highly experienced candidates

❌ Not suitable for entry-level or career changers

Categorized skills section:

✅ Can showcase a broad skill set

❌ Can only include few work history

Tips to write the skills section:

  • Choose skills format based on work experience:
    Some bullet formats are more beneficial than others depending on your work experience level. Decide which of the above best fit your bookkeeping skills for your resume. Learn more details on each of the four bookkeeping skills resume formats.
  • Include hard and soft skills for your bookkeeper resume:
    Remember to include soft skills on your resume for a bookkeeper position. While technical skills are more relevant to your qualification, your soft skills show the recruiters whether or not you, as an individual, fit the role.
  • Include relevant bookkeeping skills for your resume:
     
    Leave out skills that are unrelated to the bookkeeping job description, especially if you have many skills to list. Adding a bunch of irrelevant skills to your bookkeeper resume indicates to the employers your lack of effort in the specific role.

Bookkeeper Skills Resume Examples:

Soft skillsHard skills
- Multitasking
- Organized
- Detail-Oriented
- Reliability
- Time Management
- Taxing
- QuickBooks
- Spreadsheet Application
- Cost Accounting
- Records Management

CakeResume provides you with the best bookkeeper resume templates & examples to demonstrate your qualifications. Let us help you land the dream as a bookkeeper with a strong resume (free download)!

How to write a bookkeeper resume with no experience?

✔️ Advice 1: Choose the right bookkeeper resume format.

There are four different resume formats you can choose from for your bookkeeper resume:

  • chronological resume format
  • functional resume format
  • hybrid/combination resume format 
  • targeted resume format

Just like the skills bullet formats, your overall resume formatting choice should relate to your work experience level. Read further about each of the three resume formats to pick the best one for your bookkeeper resume with no experience. 

✔️ Advice 2: Adopt a career objective for a bookkeeper. 

Provide the employers an idea of what your plans down your career path are by using a bookkeeper resume objective. It also gives them an indication as to how your aspirations align with what the role offers.

✔️ Advice 3: Highlight your education.

Use your education to your advantage by providing details on the skills and experiences you learned while in school. Additionally, you can include any awards, certifications, and honor achievements. This can be especially useful if you are creating a bookkeeper resume with no experience. 

✔️ Advice 4: Include your portfolio/side projects/personal websites.

Additional artifacts of your accomplishments, such as your portfolio or personal websites, help demonstrate your other capabilities that were not in your bookkeeper resume to the recruiters. 

✔️ Advice 5: Write a sincere bookkeeper cover letter. 

Your application letter for the bookkeeper role provides employers your interests in the company position and a few in-depth examples of how you utilized your bookkeeping related skills. Make sure to thank them for their time and provide ways of contact for future opportunities.

Bookkeeper resume sample

Zula Fry

Organized Bookkeeper with 3+ Years of Supporting Accounting Activities for a Diverse Clientele

Columbus, OH
(536)-457-6534
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/zulafry

Professional Summary

Skilled in invoicing, analyzing costs, delivering financial reports, and providing profit and loss statements while meeting deadlines. Helped BookTech in $10k by fixing a tax-reporting error.

Work Experience

Bookkeeper
QuickBooks
Feb 2020 - Present

  • Processed monthly customer billing statements and increased reviews by 3%.
  • Managed the financial filing system and tracked sales tax returns. 
  • Verified reports and system processing to ensure accuracy for lower error rates. 

Assistant Bookkeeper
BookTech
Jan 2018 - Dec 2019

  • Prepared and filed bank reconciliations, direct deposits, and financial reports. 
  • Maintained records for over 1k vendors using QuickBooks software.
  • Updated and reviewed fixed asset records and transaction statements.

Education

Master of Accounting (MAcc)
The Ohio State University/OSU
2018 - 2019

B.S. in Accounting
The Ohio State University/OSU
2014 - 2018

Skills

Hard Skills:

  • Advanced Excel/Spreadsheets
  • QuickBooks
  • Balance Sheets
  • Accounting Principles
  • Income Tax Knowledge
  • Mathematical Acumen
  • Financial Reporting
  • Variance Analysis
  • Data Entry
  • Bookkeeping Procedures

Soft Skills:

  • Time Management
  • Organization
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Detail-Oriented
  • Honesty
  • Critical Thinking
  • Stability
  • Disciplined
  • Punctual

Certifications

Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB)
QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor

--- Originally written by Jessica Sun ---

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