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CV tips for: accountants and people in finance

Regardless of job function, your CV should focus on highlighting the value you have brought to an organisation, and ideally how this translates into figures: profit, sales, costs, stock turn, debtor and creditor days, shareholder value, working capital…

The significance of what might appear to be small contributions can be made substantial by stating outcomes over a period of several years.

You should make clear any industry expertise you possess, the size of the organisation(s) you have worked for, and the scope of your responsibility.

Decision makers hiring finance people try to avoid taking chances. They are interested in aspects which will demonstrate loyalty (career stability) and trustworthiness; they need to be sure you will be worth the effort in what can be a steep learning curve.

Key achievements should be highlighted and substantiated with facts and figures. For example:

'Decreased working capital by $17m through greater focus on stock turns, debtor and creditor days.Had full responsibility for the finance department with 5 managers, 36 reports and a budget of $6m pa: shaved $550k off business unit costs.'

'Reviewed and updated Sarbanes-Oxley compliant policies across business units.'

'Successfully implemented Oracle financials for more than 100 users in 36 weeks.'
'Introduced performance management and reporting systems across the business.'
'Reduced number of debtor days by three by redeveloping process, resulting in better cash position and quantifiable saving of $200k pa.'
'Negotiated new payroll contract, saving $15k per month, about $540k over the three year contract period.'
'Responsible for clearing backlog of invoices being queried inside four weeks.'