Accounts Payable Specialist Resume Examples
Years of Experience
- 0
- 2-3
- 5-10
- 10+
Kayla McAdams
(123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | 789 Second Street, Joplin, MO 64801
Profile
Entry-level Accounts Payable Specialist with strong recent academic and work experience. Focused on helping automate systems to improve financial transaction accuracy and transparency. Fast learner who quickly gains and applies expertise in new systems and software.
Key Skills
- Advanced Mathematics
- Complex Problem-Solving
- Information Management & Organization
- Reporting & Documentation
- System Automation
- Team Collaboration
- New Hire Training
Professional Experience
Accounts Payable Intern, JNE Accounting Firm, Topeka, KS | May 2022 to Present
- Track and manage payments and transactions totaling $100K+ for 5-7 clients
- Help train new staff on the latest accounting software
Highlight:
- Selected to present original research at an anti-fraud seminar to 250+ accounts payable specialists
Financial Aid Office Student Worker, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI | January 2020 to May 2022
- Answered 30-50 calls per day from students inquiring about their accounts
- Ensured public and private student loan money was disbursed promptly and accurately
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Accounting, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI | 2022
Select Coursework:
- Accounting Information System Design
- Accounting Principles
- Advanced Big Data Analytics
Marlon Brown
(000) 987-6543 | [email protected] | 155 Row Lane, Toledo, OH 43613
Profile
Motivated Accounts Payable Specialist with 2+ years’ experience. Highly organized and proficient in many software platforms. Adapt readily to new work challenges and shifting priorities. Naturally curious and committed to gaining and applying new skills.
Areas of Expertise
- Account Administration & Reconciliation
- Budget Control
- Data Entry
- General Ledger
- Efficiency Improvement
- Invoicing
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Oracle NetSuite
- Process Streamlining
- Purchase Orders
- QuickBooks
- Reporting & Documentation
- Sage X3
- SAP Accounts Payable Module
- Team Collaboration
- US GAAP
- Vendor Relations Management
Professional Experience
Accounts Payable Specialist, STP Enterprises, Toledo, OH | January 2020 to Present
- Coordinate approval of accounts payable invoices
- Balance batch summary reports for verification
- Enter financial transactions into database with 100% accuracy and compliance with corporate policy
Highlight:
- Introduced audit procedures that reduced processing time by 15%
Accounts Payable Clerk, FasTemp Staffing Solutions, Toledo, OH | June 2018 to January 2020
- Filled in for accounts payable roles at various companies
- Communicated regularly with suppliers and vendors nationwide
Highlights:
- Resolved many backlogged work and billing issues, recovering $25K in overpayments for one business and $15K in overpayments for 2 businesses
- Praised by company executives for drafting timely, accurate reports on cash flow and accounts payable liability
Education
Associate of Applied Business – Accounting Technology, Owens Community College, Toledo, OH | 2018
Arthur Archer
(100) 100-1000 | [email protected] | 44 Fourth Street, Sacramento, CA 44444
Profile
Solution-focused Accounts Payable Specialist with 5+ years’ experience building positive vendor relationships. Carefully cross-reference data on invoices to ensure processing efficiency and accuracy. Adept at both increasing on-time payment rate and decreasing total expenditures.
Professional Experience
Accounts Payable Specialist, Bakersfield Manufacturing, Bakersfield, CA | September 2017 to Present
- Negotiate payment plans with vendors
- Process 500+ invoices per week
- Maintain communications with 14 vendors including two Fortune 500 firms
- Update payment transaction records
- Cross-check records for errors, finding and correcting ~10 per week
Highlight:
- Negotiated early payment plan with one vendor that reduced total expenditures by $2M
Accounts Payable Clerk, Sacramento Solutions, Sacramento, CA | July 2015 to August 2017
- Processed and verified invoices, serving as primary contact for 12 clients
- Drafted and delivered weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports to executive team including CFO
Highlights:
- Cleared 6-month backlog, resolving 30 accounting errors
- Launched and used QuickBooks software to reduce company-wide payment errors by 90%
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS) in Accounting, San Francisco University, San Francisco, CA | 2015
Key Skills
- Bookkeeping
- Client Relations
- Contract Negotiations
- Oracle NetSuite
- QuickBooks
- Reporting & Documentation
- Tipalti
- Vendor Communications
Credentials
Certified Accounts Payable Professional, Financial Professionals Association | 2021
Certified Bookkeeper, Bookkeepers Association | 2018
Regina Rickson
(111) 222-3333 | [email protected] | 333 Third Highway, Boise, ID 33333
Profile
Senior Accounts Payable Specialist with 13+ years of advancement and experience. Expertly manage vendor relations while keeping all accounts in good standing. Highly organized bookkeeper who delivers prompt, accurate records at tax time and during reviews and reconciliation. Firm grasp of many industry-standard software programs.
Professional Experience
Senior Accounts Payable Specialist, Boise Business Solutions, Boise, ID | January 2015 to Present
- Process ~15K invoices per month, remitting $1M+ in payments to vendors
- Review deliveries and inventory to ensure vendors meet obligations
- Provide business leaders with weekly and quarterly reports on vendor payments and any invoice issues
- Reconcile vendor invoices with internal records to identify any errors or overpayments
Highlights:
- Reduced annual vendor costs ~$120K by purchasing services early and in bulk
- Found and recovered $500K+ worth of overpayments to date
Accounts Payable Specialist, Smith Solutions, Bismarck, ND | July 2009 to December 2014
- Reviewed invoice coding for errors, catching and correcting ~12 per week
- Researched vendor agreements to find discount opportunities
- Kept records on 40+ vendors
- Assisted with month-end closing
Highlights:
- Eliminated 4-month vendor payment backlog
- Found a vendor discount opportunity that saved $12K per order
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Accounting, Nebraska University, Lincoln, NE | 2009
Key Skills
- Bookkeeping
- Cost Reduction & Elimination
- NetSuite
- Oracle
- Reporting & Documentation
- Team Collaboration
- Tipalti
- Vendor Relations Management
Certifications
Bookkeeper Certification, Bookkeepers of America | 2020
Certified Accounts Payable Specialist, Financial Professionals Association | 2019
How to Write a Better Accounts Payable Specialist Resume
Your resume has one purpose: to get you interviews for jobs you want. You can ensure your resume serves that purpose by focusing on your most relevant skills and displaying them as clearly as possible. The tips below will help you give your resume the focus and clarity it needs to advance your job search.
Focus on your relevant accounts payable background
To write a great resume, you’ll need to first take the full measure of your relevant background. Follow these three steps:
Step 1: For each job in your work history, brainstorm and jot down the various duties and highlights you can remember. Don’t worry yet whether the details you’re jotting down are relevant or well-organized. The point here is to generate plenty of information you can then curate.
Step 2: Now with everything in front of you, go through and remove any details that don’t speak to your target job. Review each detail one by one, always answering the same question: Does this overlap with the duties you’ll have as an accounts payable specialist? When in doubt, move the detail to a separate document so it’s no longer part of your writing process.
Step 3: Organize and format your remaining details as the basis for your resume.
The order of these steps is important. Don’t start reviewing and removing details until you’ve brainstormed plenty about your positive work experiences. And don’t start organizing details until you’re done removing the irrelevant ones. Otherwise, you’ll probably waste time polishing up work details that you just delete later on.
Make your numbers stand out
The average reader of a resume doesn’t really “read” it in the normal sense. Rather, they quickly scan down the page, looking for details that jump out as impressive and relevant to their hiring needs. For this reason, you should present your career details in a way that makes it easy for the reader to understand even at a glance. Here are three simple ways to do that:
- To abbreviate large dollar amounts, use “K” for thousand, “M” for million, and “B” for billion.
- Use % for percentages and # for performance rankings.
- Use the numeral form to express all numbers from two up, and only spell out the numbers zero and one. (This practice differs from normal prose, where you spell out numbers zero through ten and use the numeral form for all numbers from 11 up.)
Examples
Negotiated early payment plan with one vendor that reduced total expenditures by $2M
Cleared 6-month backlog, resolving 30 accounting errors
Avoid non-AP/AR jargon
Any time you use a long word when a short word would do, that’s jargon. A classic example: People use the words “utilize” or “utilization” when they should use “use”.
Jargon is especially tempting in finance, where plenty of specialized terms (like “amortization”) may not actually have a shorter option. These terms deserve a spot on your resume, as long as they’re relevant to your goals. The problem is when you let words that should be short and simple become words (often ending in “-tion” or “-ment”) that are long and clunky.
Companies and other authorities use jargon all the time to soften the blow of bad news. For instance, General Motors once described a plant shutdown as a “volume-related production-schedule adjustment”. (You’ll find this and many other examples of corporate jargon in William Zinsser’s classic book “On Writing Well”.)
Take the opposite approach on your resume. Your goal with this document isn’t to conceal bad news, but to share the good news of your candidacy for a job opening. Any time you find yourself using a long word, stop and ask: Is there a shorter synonym? This habit will help make your resume a clear, concise record of what you offer to employers.
Example
Launched and used QuickBooks software to reduce company-wide payment errors by 90%
Common Key Skills for Accounts Payable Specialist Resumes
Companies looking to fill a position often use an applicant tracking system (ATS). This computer program scans each submitted resume for keywords relevant to the job at hand. When the ATS scans a resume with many relevant keywords, it’s more likely to flag the document for the hiring manager.
For this reason, you should add a keyword-rich “Skills” or “Expertise” section to your resume (as in the examples above). With this section, you can show the breadth of your skillset and boost the chance your application gets noticed. Below are common keywords for an accounts payable specialist:
Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
---|---|
Accounting Software | Accounts Payable Codes |
Advanced Mathematics | Check Processing |
Complex Problem-Solving | Customer Service & Relations |
Data Analysis | Data Protection & Confidentiality |
Efficiency Improvement | Microsoft Excel |
Process Streamlining | Reporting & Documentation |
Team Collaboration | Time Management |
Common Action Verbs for Accounts Payable Specialist Resumes
One of the most common (yet avoidable) resume mistakes is using too few verbs. When you repeat the same generic verb (say, “Manage”) several times, it distracts the reader and fails to show the dynamic nature of your work. You can prevent this issue by using a healthy variety of action verbs on your resume. Consider the following options:
Action Verbs | |
---|---|
Analyze | Assess |
Balance | Calculate |
Collaborate | Communicate |
Conduct | Cross-reference |
Deliver | Eliminate |
Handle | Identify |
Monitor | Prepare |
Record | Rectify |
Resolve | Track |
How to Align Your Resume With a Job Posting
In what industry or sector is the job posting? Do you have any experience in that industry as well? If so, cite that common experience in the first line of your resume’s Profile section.
Example
Senior Accounts Payable Specialist with 13+ years of experience including 4 years in the manufacturing sector.
If you don’t have experience in the same industry, consider instead adding a line to your Profile that calls out your overall adaptability to new work settings.
Example
Highly adaptable to new work challenges and industry conditions.