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Bookkeeper resume example

A resume for a full-charge bookkeeper with eight years of experience, four of them running a practice of 22 small business clients. CPA firms, companies and owners hiring a bookkeeper look for reliable monthly closes, payroll and sales tax done on time, and books a CPA can trust at year-end.

Bookkeeper resume example, page 1 of 1Tamara KowalczykFull-Charge BookkeeperSUMMARYFull-charge bookkeeper with eight years of experience, the last fourrunning my own practice of 22 small business clients. I keep monthlybooks in QuickBooks Online and Xero, run payroll for 9 clients, file salestax, and hand each client’s CPA a clean year-end package every January.EXPERIENCEOwner and BookkeeperMar 2022 – PresentKowalczyk Bookkeeping Services · Milwaukee, WI•Keep monthly books for 22 small businesses (restaurants, trades andretail) with $300,000 to $6 million in revenue.•Close every client’s month by the 15th with bank, credit card and loanreconciliations and a profit and loss review call.•Run biweekly payroll in Gusto for 9 clients with 140 employees and fileWisconsin sales and use tax returns for 14.•Cleaned up 3 years of unreconciled books for 5 new clients, readyingthem for tax filing and, in one case, a $400,000 SBA loan.Full-Charge BookkeeperJun 2018 – Feb 2022Lakefront Mechanical Contractors · Milwaukee, WI•Handled AP, AR, payroll and job costing for an HVAC and plumbingcontractor with 45 employees and $9 million in revenue.•Set up job costing by project in QuickBooks Desktop, which showed 6 of40 jobs losing money and led to new bid rates.•Cut receivables over 60 days from $310,000 to $95,000 with weeklystatements and follow-up calls.EDUCATIONA.A.S. in Accounting2016 – 2018Milwaukee Area Technical College · Milwaukee, WICONTACTtamara.kowalczyk@example.com(414) 555-0167Milwaukee, WIkowalczykbooks.example.comCERTIFICATIONSCertified Bookkeeper (CB)American Institute of ProfessionalBookkeepers · 2021QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor,AdvancedIntuit · 2025Xero Advisor CertificationXero · 2024SKILLSFull-charge bookkeepingBank and card reconciliationsAccounts payable and receivablePayroll (Gusto, ADP)Sales and use taxJob costingQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks DesktopXeroExcel1099 preparationCleanup projects
BookkeeperUse this example

What recruiters look for

  • Full-charge scope: whether you take the books all the way to the trial balance, or handle only AP and AR.
  • Software: QuickBooks Online or Desktop, Xero and payroll tools. These are often the first filter.
  • Timeliness: when your monthly close is done, and payroll and tax filings with no penalties.
  • Cleanup and catch-up work: messy books turned around are one of the most valued bookkeeping skills.
  • Industry knowledge: job costing for contractors, inventory for retail, tips for restaurants.

Writing the summary

Say your years, whether you work in-house or for many clients, the software and the scope (payroll, sales tax, job costing). One line on the result for clients, such as clean year-end packages for the CPA, ties it together.

The summary in this example

Full-charge bookkeeper with eight years of experience, the last four running my own practice of 22 small business clients. I keep monthly books in QuickBooks Online and Xero, run payroll for 9 clients, file sales tax, and hand each client’s CPA a clean year-end package every January.

In-house bookkeeper at one company

Full-charge bookkeeper with six years at a 60-person landscaping company, handling AP, AR, payroll for seasonal crews, job costing and the monthly close in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. I hand our CPA a reconciled trial balance by the 10th of every month.

Office administrator moving into bookkeeping

Office manager with five years at a dental practice, where I took over invoice entry, deposits and payroll in QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Certified User and preparing for the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper exams, looking for a full-time bookkeeping role.

Bullet points that work

Strong lines for this role, beyond the ones in the example. Borrow the shape and put in your own numbers.

  • Categorized and reconciled 18 months of backlog for a new client in 3 weeks so its CPA could file 2 late tax returns.
  • Moved 12 clients from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online with full history and a single cutover weekend each.
  • Ran payroll for 180 employees across 11 clients with no late tax deposits in 4 years.
  • Set up class tracking by location for a 3-site restaurant group, giving the owner the first profit report by store.
  • Cut a client’s month-end from 20 days to 8 by connecting bank feeds and writing bank rules.
  • Recovered $14,000 in vendor overpayments for a contractor by reconciling 2 years of supplier statements.
  • Prepared 1099s for about 200 contractors across all clients each January with no IRS notices.
  • Built a cash flow template that 7 clients now use to plan for slow seasons.
  • Grew the practice from 4 clients to 22 in 4 years, nearly all through referrals from 3 CPA firms.

Skills to list

Hard skills

  • Full-charge bookkeeping to the trial balance
  • Bank, credit card and loan reconciliations
  • Accounts payable and receivable
  • Payroll and payroll tax filings (Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks Payroll)
  • Sales and use tax returns
  • QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero
  • Job costing or inventory tracking
  • Catch-up and cleanup projects
  • Year-end packages and 1099s

Soft skills

  • Reliability with deadlines
  • Explaining numbers to owners
  • Discretion with private information
  • Juggling many clients at once

Certifications and licenses worth listing

  • Certified Bookkeeper (CB): from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB), the best-known general bookkeeping certification in the US.
  • Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB): from the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers, a similar alternative.
  • QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor or Xero Advisor certification: free from the software makers and often asked for by firms and clients.
  • Enrolled agent: the next step if you want to prepare tax returns for clients.

Length and format

One page for most bookkeepers, two at most if you run a practice across many industries. A two-column layout keeps software and certifications in view beside your experience.

Common mistakes

  • Not saying whether you are full-charge. Many “bookkeeper” jobs are data entry only, and hiring managers need to know the difference.
  • Listing clients by name. Describe them by industry and size unless they have agreed to be named.
  • Leaving out payroll and sales tax, two of the riskiest tasks to get wrong.
  • Calling yourself an accountant when you are not. “Bookkeeper” is honest and widely understood.
  • No proof of timeliness. Mention close dates, filing records and penalty-free years.

Questions and answers

How do I list self-employed bookkeeping work?

Use your business name, your title, the dates and bullets on client count, industries, software and services. Treat it like any other job, with numbers.

Do I need a degree to be a bookkeeper?

Usually not. Experience, software skills and a certification such as the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper carry more weight than a degree for most bookkeeping roles.

What is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant on a resume?

Bookkeepers record and reconcile transactions and keep the books current; accountants make adjusting entries, prepare financial statements and analyze them, and often hold a degree or a CPA. If you do both, describe the accounting work specifically.

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