Highlight your certifications, such as CPA or ACCA. These show you are well-qualified and meet industry standards.

Make sure to list any specialized courses or training in tax laws or auditing standards. This shows you have in-depth knowledge relevant to the field.

Include the names of accounting software you are skilled in, such as QuickBooks, SAP, or Oracle Financials. This gives employers a clear idea of your technical skills.

Mention your experience with data analysis tools like Excel or Tableau. Familiarity with these tools is often crucial for accounting roles.

It's important to show why you're the best fit for the role you're applying for. By tailoring your resume, you make it easy for employers to see your relevant skills and experience. Focus on the job description and match it with your background.

• Show your knowledge of complex financial frameworks by mentioning your experience with specific systems like GAAP or IFRS.
• For a role with management components, mention the size of budgets you’ve overseen or teams you've guided. For example, 'Managed a budget of over $500,000 and a team of 5 accountants.'
• If coming from another career, highlight any financial responsibilities or familiarity with accounting principles. For instance, 'Oversaw financial reporting and budgeting as part of project management duties.'

When you create your resume, you must use verbs that show you are someone who takes action and gets results. Choose verbs that are simple and clear. Think about tasks you do as an accountant and how you can describe them with energy. Your verbs should help the hiring manager see you in the job.

Below are examples of good verbs to use on your resume. They show you can handle money and make wise decisions. Use these to describe your past work and how you've helped businesses.

• To show you can examine financial records well, use analyzed, inspected, reviewed, scrutinized, assessed.
• To demonstrate your skill in making financial reports, include verbs like compiled, drafted, formulated, prepared, generated.
• If you've helped save money or reduce costs, verbs such as decreased, diminished, negotiated, consolidated, curtailed will show this.
• For work that improves a company's money situation, use enhanced, amplified, boosted, elevated, escalated.
• To demonstrate leadership and teamwork, verbs like guided, coordinated, directed, mentored, managed are very good choices.

Want inspiration for other action verbs you can use? Check out synonyms to commonly used action verbs like Handled, Acted as, Make, Consulting, Handle.

As a hiring manager, I recommend you highlight any progression in roles or responsibilities. We value seeing how candidates have climbed the ladder or taken on more complex tasks. Here are ways to show this:

• Include job titles and dates to show promotions. For example, if you moved from 'junior accountant' to 'senior accountant,' make sure this is clear.
• List any leadership roles, such as 'team lead for audit projects' or 'head of tax strategy committee.'

Even if you're not sure you've held a traditional leadership role, think about times you've guided others or managed projects. For instance:

• Mention if you've trained new staff or interns. Try 'trained 5+ new team members on financial compliance practices.'
• Discuss any project management experience, like 'led a team of 6 in a successful corporate tax audit.'

When crafting your resume as a chartered accountant, it's essential to focus on the technical skills that show your capability to manage financial records and ensure compliance with laws. Below is a list of skills that are often sought after in your field. Remember, you don't need to have every skill listed, but you should include those that match your experience and the job you're aiming for.

• Financial reporting
• Tax preparation
• Account reconciliation
• Auditing
• Budget forecasting
• Regulatory compliance
• Risk assessment
• Financial analysis
• ERP software proficiency
• Advanced Excel skills

Place these skills in a dedicated section on your resume to help applicant tracking systems (ATS) recognize them easily. This can enhance your chances of your resume being noticed. For instance, if you're adept at financial analysis, this skill should be clearly listed. When you have specific software knowledge, such as experience with ERP software, make sure that it's included, as it's a valuable asset in many chartered accountant roles.

Moreover, if you have specialized in a particular area of accounting, highlight the relevant skills. For example, if your focus is on tax, emphasize your tax preparation and regulatory compliance skills.

When you describe your work, use numbers to show your impact. Numbers can make your achievements clear and show the value you add. Here’s how you can do that:

• Think about how you saved time. If you made a process faster, say how much time you saved. For example, if you improved the monthly closing process, did you cut the time down by 20%? This shows you can make tasks more efficient.
• Include how you saved money. Did you reduce costs for your company? Maybe you found a way to cut down on tax expenses by 15%, or you helped save $10,000 a year on accounting software.
• Did you help to increase company profits? You might have found errors that, once fixed, boosted profits by 5%. Or perhaps your investment advice helped grow the company's portfolio by 25%.
• Consider the size of the budgets or financial statements you managed. Was it $500,000? $1 million? This can show you are good at handling big amounts of money.
• Think about the number of clients you worked with. Did you manage the accounts of 10, 50, or more clients? This shows you can handle many tasks at once.
• How many reports did you create or oversee? If you worked on 20 different financial reports each quarter, this shows you are good at your job and can manage a lot of information.

Numbers like these help to show the real effect of your work. Think through your job and find ways to measure your success. This will help you stand out to hiring managers.