Auditor Resume: Examples, Template, and Resume Tips
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Are you a recently graduated auditor looking for your first job? Are you an experienced auditor looking for new opportunities, or seeking to get back into the job market after a hiatus? Are you an accountant trying to get into auditing?
Are you wondering how to create a bullet-proof auditor resume that will increase your chances of getting invited to the job interview and getting your dream job? If you answered yes to these questions, you are in the right place.
Like accountants, auditors are people who deal with numbers. Unlike accountants, however, your job as an auditor isn’t about the company’s daily financial transactions.
As an auditor, your job is more about reviewing an accountant’s work. You are the accountant who confirms that the accountant is doing their job right – that there are no errors in their work, and most importantly, that no funds are being embezzled from the company.
To be an auditor, you need exceptional attention to detail. You need to be a sober, careful, and focused individual who is not easily. Question is, can you communicate this in your resume? Of course you can. We are going to show you exactly how to do it.
Accountants also need to have a high standard of perfection and attention to detail, so what makes the auditor different? In addition to being highly detail oriented, an auditor also has to have extremely strong investigative skills.
As an auditor, you are a financial detective of sorts. It’s your job to detect any fraud, subterfuge, intentional misstatements, errors, and so on.
Keep in mind that any cases of fraud, embezzlement and subterfuge will have been committed by accountants, and therefore, you can bet that they will have hidden their tracks quite well. This is why your skills as an auditor are so valuable.
To be an auditor, you will need to have at least a bachelor’s degree. While some people have succeeded as auditors without a college degree, the chances of getting hired without one are very slim.
In addition, it is also advisable to have a relevant certification, such as a CPA. Some employers will go for auditors that have a master’s degree, typically in accounting or business administration.
The job outlook for auditors over the next 10 years looks good. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, auditor and accountant jobs are expected to grow by 6% between 2018 and 2028. This is slightly faster than the projected average growth rate for all jobs in the US within the same period.
The BLS reports that the median pay for auditors is $70,500 per year, which translates to an hourly rate of about $33.89.
While there number of auditor jobs is growing steadily, there are a lot of auditors in the job market. In addition, it is quite easy for those currently working as accountants to transition into auditing. This means that you are going to face stiff competition to get a job as an auditor.
Considering that the greatest number of applicants are eliminated even before the first round of interviews, having a well-written auditor resume can put you ahead of more than half of the competition.
Below, we are going to teach you how to craft such an exceptional auditor resume that will guarantee you an invite to the job interview. With such a resume, all you need is focus on impressing the interviewing panel during the interview and the job will be yours.
We also understand that not everyone has the time or inclination to work on their resume from scratch. If that sounds like you, you can use our automated resume builder to create your resume in less than ten minutes.
All you need to do is enter your details, choose a suitable template, and leave the resume builder to handle the rest for you.
AUDITOR RESUME EXAMPLES
Before we look at the sections you need to include in your auditor resume and how to write them, let’s first look at some examples of well-written auditor resumes.
Experienced Auditor Resume Sample
Entry Level Auditor Resume Sample
WHICH IS THE BEST FORMAT FOR YOUR AUDITOR RESUME?
While there are several resume formats to choose from, I recommend using the reverse chronological resume format for your auditor resume.
Like you might have guessed from the name, this resume format arranges the information in your resume starting from the most recent and going back in time. This format works particularly well for auditors with some professional experience.
With the reverse chronological resume format, you are going to arrange the sections in your auditor resume in the following order:
- Personal information
- Resume summary/objective
- Professional experience
- Education
- Skills
- Certifications
If you are an entry level auditor without any significant experience, you can put the skills, education and certifications sections ahead of the education section. This will put greater focus on your academic qualifications and skills rather than your experience.
Make sure that your resume is well designed, making sure that each section is distinct from the rest. Include lots of white space to draw the eye to the content of your resume, and use professional resume fonts to make the contents of your resume easier to read.
Finally, save your resume in PDF format – PDF files are easier to read on any device and are highly compatible with most Applicant Tracking Systems.
GET THE PERSONAL INFORMATION SECTION OF YOUR RESUME RIGHT
Your personal information is the first thing the employer or recruiter sees when they start going through your resume. You need to make sure this section is professionally written.
If the first thing a recruiter sees in your resume doesn’t look professional, there is a high chance they won’t read the rest of the resume.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing the personal information section of your resume:
- Use your official name and make sure the name is more visible than the other content around it. You can emphasize its importance by using a bigger font than the rest of the content in your resume. You can also center it or write it in bold.
- While not absolutely necessary, it’s a nice touch to add an address. It can give you an advantage if you are in the same city as the job you are applying for. If you decide to include your physical address, simply mentioning the name of the city will suffice. There’s no need to include your full address.
- Don’t forget to include your phone number, because there is a high chance the recruiter might reach out via phone to notify you that you have been shortlisted for an interview. Double-check your number to make sure you’ve typed it correctly. You don’t want to lose out on your dream job because you wrote a 9 instead of a 0.
- It is advisable to use your cellphone number. This is a number where you are easily reachable at all times, and there is a low chance that your phone call might be picked by someone else.
- Use a professional looking email address. The first name, last name format works pretty well. Avoid email addresses that include nicknames or meaningless numbers, such as crazyauditor938@gmail.com.
- Avoid using a work email address. For instance, if you currently work at MGK consulting, don’t use an email like martin@mgkconsulting.com. Instead, go for a personal email, such as martin@gmail.com.
- A LinkedIn profile is also a great place to showcase your experience and skills – a sort of online resume. Many recruiters nowadays spend time on LinkedIn looking up job candidates. Including a link to your LinkedIn profile in the personal section of your auditor resume can bolster your chances of getting the job. Before doing that, however, make sure that your profile is in order.
A well written personal information section should look like this:
RESUME SUMMARY OR OBJECTIVE: WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU USE ON YOUR AUDITOR RESUME?
Recruiters read resumes in bulk, speeding through one after another at a rapid pace. In the haste to review as many resumes as possible in as short a time as possible, the recruiter might not have time to go through each resume in detail.
That’s why you need an attention-grabbing resume summary or objective that entices the recruiter to want to know more about you.
The resume summary is an overview of your work experience, your strongest skills, your greatest professional achievements, and any key projects you have worked on.
Since it is just a summary, you don’t have the luxury of listing down everything. You must therefore be selective and pick only the most impressive or position-relevant information.
A resume summary works best for an auditor with 3 years of experience or more. Below is an example of a well-written resume summary:
If you are an entry level auditor who is yet to gain any significant experience (less than three years of experience), you should go for the resume objective. The resume objective highlights what makes you a good candidate, and explains what you want for your career – your objective. Here is an example of a resume objective in an entry level auditor resume:
SHOW THAT YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO EXCEL IN THE POSITION YOU ARE APPLYING FOR
The experience section is the meat of your resume.
As an auditor, you will be combing through records that have already passed through the hands of a qualified accountant, which means you must have an extraordinary level of attention to detail.
You also need to be aware of common methods that accountants use to hide information. Experience gives you an edge in this job because you know what to look for, based on past successes or failures.
In the experience section, you should list all previous experience that is relevant to the position you are applying for. If the experience is not related to auditing or accounting, leave it out.
For each entry in the experience section, you should mention the company name, your job title, employment dates, and a brief summary of your duties and key accomplishments.
Extra information (like the company’s contact details and the names of your supervisors) is irrelevant.
Put greater emphasis on your achievements rather than your duties, since this shows the impact you made, rather than just what you were tasked with. Here is an example of an achievement: “cut internal waste and costs by over $75,000 every year for 4 years in a row.”
If you have no experience at all in auditing but have experience in accounting, you can put down your accounting experience, since many of the skills required for accounting are transferable to auditing.
A well-written experience section should look like this:
HIGHLIGHT YOUR ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS IN THE EDUCATION SECTION OF YOUR AUDITOR RESUME
Most auditors have a bachelor’s degree, typically in accounting or a related field. There are employers who prefer auditors who have master’s degrees – either in accounting or business administration.
Showcase your education credentials in this section to let the recruiter know that you have the necessary qualifications for an auditing job.
Writing the education section of your auditor resume is pretty easy. Simply write down the school name, the years you attended the school, and degrees you were awarded.
If you are a recent graduate who hasn’t gotten much experience, consider including your GPA to show your brilliance. However, if you don’t have a strong GPA (it must be 3.5 and above), leave it out.
Any awards or special honors you got at school can also improve your chances if you are an auditor without much work experience to show.
Your high school information is not necessary. Just leave it out. The education section of your auditor resume should look like this:
SHOW YOU ARE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB BY HIGHLIGHTING YOUR KEY SKILLS
Auditing is a skills-heavy job. As I have mentioned severally, your job as an auditor is to review an accountant’s work. That means you have to be as skilled as, and preferably more skilled than the accountant, especially if we are talking about an accountant using their skills to carry out subtle fraud in an organization.
Such accountants are experts at hiding their tracks and you have to know as much as they do to see through their accounting sleight of hand.
This is why you must make sure the skills section of your resume does not let you down.
Do not be afraid to flaunt your skills. However, don’t just search for auditor skills on Google and copy paste each of them in your auditor resume. Instead, carefully review the job post and identify the skills the employer is looking for.
These are the skills you want in your resume. However, only include them if you are actually strong in these areas. Do not claim to possess skills that you do not.
Some skills that might be relevant on an auditor resume include:
Technical Skills
- Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS)
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
- Regulatory compliance
- Financial auditing
- Risk management and mitigation
- Sarbanes-Oxley
- Microsoft Excel
Soft Skills
- Analytical and organizational skills
- Detail-orientation
- Able to focus on a task for extended periods
- Thrives under pressure
- Team player
- Independent worker
- Solution-focused
INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING HIRED BY HIGHLIGHTING YOUR CERTIFICATIONS
Having professional accounting certifications in your resume increases your chances of getting the job. Some certifications that are relevant to auditors include:
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
- Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
- Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
- Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF)
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
ADD THE ICING ON THE CAKE BY INCLUDING ADDITIONAL SECTIONS TO YOUR AUDITOR RESUME
Since the recruiter is going through tens and sometimes hundreds of attractive resumes, you need to go an extra mile to make yours stand out. Adding extra sections to your resume can do the trick. However, do ensure the additional sections are either auditing related or relevant to the position you are applying for.
For instance, you could add a “languages” section to flaunt the languages you are fluent in, if the job is taking place abroad, say the job is in France and one of your extra languages happens to be French.
Some of the extra sections that might help spice up your auditor resume include:
- Professional Memberships: If you are a member of any auditing or accounting-related professional organizations like the Institute of Internal Auditors North America (IIA-NA), mention it in your auditor resume.
- Publications: If you have authored any published articles and papers related to auditing, flaunt them in your resume. For maximum effect, mention those that have been published in renowned business or accounting journals.
- Awards: Have you won any accounting or auditing awards in the course of your career? Be sure to mention them.
- Conferences and conventions: Have you attended relevant accounting or auditing conventions and conferences? Include them in your resume to show your commitment to learning.
- Volunteer experience: If you have not had much work experience in auditing, any relevant volunteer experience you have had that is position-relevant could work in your favor.
WRAPPING UP
Getting a job as an auditor is all about experience and skills. Technical skills are especially important because of the cerebral depth and difficulty of the job you are going to be doing.
The key to writing a good auditor resume lies in proving that you have the experience, skills, and education required to do the job.
All in all, follow these guidelines provided in this guide and you will greatly improve your chances of getting an invite to a job interview.
Remember that the trick to a good resume is to focus on strengths that are relevant to the job you are applying for and give them maximum visibility.
Finally, remember that you can always use our resume builder to quickly generate a professional level resume if you are short on time or if you feel that creating a great auditor resume from scratch is too much of a chore.
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