Government Accountant Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Government Accountant resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Government accountants work in an environment where rules and regulations are constantly changing. They’re responsible for managing the finances for government agencies or departments, including state and federal tax departments, social services offices, and more.
Government accountants are often tasked with preparing financial reports that are used to make important decisions by lawmakers and other high-level officials. They may also be called upon to implement new policies and procedures that impact the way their agency does business.
Because government accountants work for large organizations with many different departments, they need to be highly organized and have a solid understanding of how different departments interact with one another. They also need to possess excellent communication skills, as they often need to work collaboratively with other departments within their organizations as well as with outside parties such as vendors and contractors.
Here are some tips and an example to help you write a great government accountant resume that will get you noticed by recruiters.
How to Write a Government Accountant Resume
Here’s how to write a resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
The best way to make your resume stand out is to use specific numbers and statistics to demonstrate your experience and skills. So rather than saying you “managed accounts payable,” you could say that you “managed $1M accounts payable budget, reducing outstanding invoices by 15% in first six months, resulting in a $150K annual savings for company.”
The second bullet point is much stronger because it provides specific numbers and details about what you did and the results of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a government accountant role, your resume will likely be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This system looks for certain terms related to the job, like “financial analysis” or “accounting procedures,” in order to determine whether your skills are a match for the job. If you don’t have enough of the right keywords on your resume, the ATS might discard your application before a recruiter ever sees it.
To make sure you have a shot at getting an interview, use this list of commonly used government accountant keywords as a starting point to help you customize your resume:
- Government
- Accounting
- Financial Reporting
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Accounting
- Internal Controls
- Auditing
- U.S. Government
- General Ledger
- Account Reconciliation
- Public Finance
- Budgeting
- Financial Statements
- Budgeting & Forecasting
- Accounts Payable
- Tax
- Financial Audits
- Accounts Receivable (AR)
- Forecasting
- Cash Flow
- U.S. Federal Budgeting
- Managerial Finance
- Microsoft Access
- Managerial Accounting
- Public Policy
- Managerial Economics
- Government Budgeting
- Consolidation
- Analytical Skills
- Tax Accounting
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As a government accountant, you will need to be proficient in a variety of software programs to complete your work. These may include QuickBooks, Excel, and Word. You will also need to be familiar with other programs or systems that are relevant to the role, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) system.