Master Your CPA Job Hunt: Top Resume Examples and Tips

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Stand Out with These CPA Resume Examples and Pro Tips

How do I format my resume?
CPA resume summary examples
What else should I include on a CPA resume?
What skills should I put on a CPA resume?
What to avoid including on your resume
Final step: Proofread!

Whether you're seeking advancement, exploring new specialties, or ready for a change of firms, your resume is crucial for opening doors to new opportunities. More specifically, a well-crafted resume highlighting your unique qualifications as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) is key to catching a recruiter's attention.

Starting with a Canadian resume template and looking at resume examples from leading accounting firms can give you a good foundation. From there, the following tips and insights will help you create a compelling document that showcases your skills and gets you noticed.

You can find free customizable Canadian resume templates for accountants on tools like Canva or try the government’s Job Bank resume builder. It’s also worth reaching out to provincial CPA organizations, which offer helpful member career resources such as resume-writing handbooks, resume samples and resume review services.

Want to learn more about the steps to become a CPA? Check out our comprehensive How to Become a CPA guide for practical tips and detailed insights.

How do I format my resume?

For the first look, a recruiter is only going to glance at your resume for a few seconds so yours needs to be easy for them to quickly scan. Creating a template you can use over and over will take a lot of the stress out of formatting, so you can focus on your skills and experience for each job opening rather than on things like how many pages your resume should be or whether the margins need to be a fraction wider. Here are some considerations for your template:

Use an 11 or 12-point font size for the body of your resume (headers can be slightly bigger)

Choose a clear font—CPA Alberta recommends Calibri, Gil Sans, Cambria, Constantia or Helvetica

List your experience in reverse chronological order

Summarize relevant skills in bullet points

Weave in keywords from the job posting

Limit your resume to one or two pages

Using a Canadian resume template will guide you seamlessly from one section to the next. Most importantly, you should start with:

Your full name and contact information (email, phone number and LinkedIn URL)

A professional summary or career profile—think of this as a value proposition highlighting your specific skills, experience and achievements, showing the impact you can make and the problems you can solve for the organization.

If you’re applying for your first professional role or pursuing your CPA designation, you should still showcase relevant skills, qualifications, software knowledge and any accounting or financial experience.

Saving your resume in a PDF format ensures formatting won’t be lost or changed. However, if you’re applying to a company that uses an applicant tracking system (ATS), a .docx file is more compatible.

Read more tips in our article on how to get your resume past applicant tracking systems.

CPA resume summary examples

Here are two resume examples—one for an experienced professional and one for someone starting their career—to give you a clear picture of what works.

Sample 1: An experienced CPA

JOHN SMITH, CPA 416-123-4567 | [email protected] | ca.linkedin.com/in-john-smith

Results-driven senior financial analyst with 8+ years of experience driving business growth and improving financial planning, analysis and reporting. Proven track record of delivering actionable insights and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.

Key experience:

Financial planning and budgeting for large-scale infrastructure projects

Implementing and managing financial reporting systems for publicly traded companies

Leading cross-functional teams in financial process improvement initiatives

Providing financial guidance and support to executive management during mergers and acquisitions

Developing and maintaining complex financial models for forecasting and scenario planning

Sample 2: A recent graduate

EMILY CHEN 604-123-4567 | [email protected] | ca.linkedin.com/in-emily-chen

Recent graduate in accounting with a strong academic record and a passion for financial analysis and planning. Currently pursuing CPA designation, with core modules complete (financial reporting, management accounting and strategy and management) and elective modules upcoming. Proficient in financial software, including Excel and QuickBooks, with excellent analytical, communication and teamwork skills.

Key experience:

Co-op experience in accounting firms

Financial analysis and reporting projects

Student organization leadership roles

Strong understanding of GAAP and financial statements

What else should I include on a CPA resume?

Beneath your professional summary, you should include the following sections:

Work experience

Starting with your most recent job, highlight relevant experience only, showing previous work responsibilities that match those listed in the job description. Include the job title, employer name, location and dates (month and year).

Use bullet points to outline your main responsibilities for each role and quantify your accomplishments. For example:

Successfully led a team that implemented a new accounting system, resulting in a 20% reduction in month-end close time.

Identified and implemented cost-saving initiatives leading to $250,000 in annual savings.

Education

This section should list your professional qualifications and degrees. Include the institution’s name and location, the degree or certification title and the year of completion.

What skills should I put on a CPA resume?

This is where carefully analyzing the job description really pays off. For example, if the employer is asking for particular soft or technical skills, highlight specific, measurable instances of how you’ve used these skills. For example, to demonstrate strong communication skills, you might write:

Presented financial results to executive management, providing clear and concise analysis that informed strategic business decisions (quarterly presentations to 10+ stakeholders).

Or, to show technical expertise, you could add:

Designed and developed financial dashboards using Tableau, providing real-time insights to management and improving decision-making by 20% (created 5+ dashboards with 20+ metrics).

You don’t need a separate section for skills. Instead, weave these into your professional summary and work experience bullet points. You can expand on your skills in a cover letter.

What to avoid including on your resume

Though including a photo is the norm in some countries, it’s not necessary in Canada, as you’ll see on any Canadian resume template. Also, get rid of any fancy graphics—they’re distracting and may not be read by an ATS.

Leave off your nationality and date of birth. HR may require these once you have a job offer in place, but including them on your resume can lead to unconscious bias or discrimination during the hiring process.

Finally, don’t include your salary history. This can put you at a disadvantage in pay discussions. Need help with salary negotiations? Use the Robert Half Salary Guide to find out how much you should be paid for finance and accounting roles across Canada.

Final step: proofread!

Nothing conveys unprofessionalism like spelling and grammatical errors on your resume. Before you hit submit, carefully read your entire resume out loud and ask a trusted friend to take a second look.

Starting your accounting job search? Set yourself up for success by knowing 5 Essential CPA Interview Questions and How to Answer Them.

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