What does a Accountants and Auditor do?

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Day to day that includes work like prepare detailed reports on audit findings and Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.

What skills should a Accountants and Auditor put on a resume?

O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Accountants and Auditor list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 1099 ProsSoftware, Abacus Tax, Accountants Templates JAZZ-It!, Accounting compliance software, and Accounting fraud detection software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Accountants and Auditor work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Accountant, Auditor, Certified Public Accountant, and CPA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Accountants and Auditor role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Accountants and Auditor resume example

A resume for a Accountants and Auditor needs to show the work itself: examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Day to day that means work like this: prepare detailed reports on audit findings; report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Accountant
Auditor
Certified Public Accountant
CPA
Financial Auditor
Accounting Officer
Audit Partner
Cost Accountant
General Accountant
Internal Auditor
Revenue Tax Specialist
Account Auditor
Accounting Auditor
Accounting Consultant
Accounting Methods Analyst
Accounting Systems Analyst
Asset Analyst
Audit Associate

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.
Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters.
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
Inspect cash on hand, notes receivable and payable, negotiable securities, and canceled checks to confirm records are accurate.
Examine records and interview workers to ensure recording of transactions and compliance with laws and regulations.
Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
Prepare adjusting journal entries.
Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.

29 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Prepare detailed reports on audit findings, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

1099 ProsSoftware
Abacus Tax
Accountants Templates JAZZ-It!
Accounting compliance software
Accounting fraud detection software
Accounting software
Accounts payable software
Accounts receivable software
ACCUCert
Accurate NXG
ACL Audit Exchange
ACL Business Assurance Analytics
AcornSystems Corporate Performance Management
AcorynSystems Activity Based Costing/Management ABC/M

239 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

10-key calculators
Computer data input scanners
Desktop computers
Laptop computers
Laser facsimile machines
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistants PDA
Photocopying equipment
Scanners
Tablet computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

GAAP
financial statements
reconciliation
auditing
general ledger
accounts payable
Accounting
QuickBooks
SAP
Microsoft Excel

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Reading Comprehension
02Active Listening
03Critical Thinking
04Speaking
05Judgment and Decision Making
06Writing
07Complex Problem Solving
08Monitoring
09Coordination
10Mathematics

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Economics and Accounting
English Language
Mathematics
Administration and Management
Customer and Personal Service
Law and Government
Administrative
Computers and Electronics

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Accountants and Auditor do?: Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Day to day that includes work like prepare detailed reports on audit findings and Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
What skills should a Accountants and Auditor put on a resume?: O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Accountants and Auditor list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 1099 ProsSoftware, Abacus Tax, Accountants Templates JAZZ-It!, Accounting compliance software, and Accounting fraud detection software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Accountants and Auditor work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Accountant, Auditor, Certified Public Accountant, and CPA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Accountants and Auditor role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.