How To Write A Finance CV

When you’re writing a finance CV, it’s important to master the basics – but you also need to showcase your best abilities and achievements in a bid to impress potential employers.

Finance skills are highly sought after, so good applicants are in demand. This means that finance experts are often in a strong position to negotiate the perks they want – for example, 61% of accountants want the option of home or remote working according to the ICAEW.

Whether you need to write a finance analyst, manager, director or accounting CV, we’ll share some top tips to bear in mind.

If you’re looking for some finance CV examples, that’s another thing we can help with. Later on in this blog we’ll share a sample structure to get you underway.

Starting your finance CV

Has it been a while since your last CV? For a complete overview and some general advice, here’s how to write a CV – our comprehensive guide.

In short, when it comes to writing a finance CV, know your audience – keep the layout and formatting simple and effective.

Do:

• Write a strong personal statement: Explain who you are, what you can offer and your career aims. Spend a good amount of time getting this part right – otherwise, the reader may not continue.
• Draw attention to your achievements: Describe your finance career experiences so far in precise detail. Whether it was a full-time role or a summer internship, sell yourself.
• Mention your education and qualifications, plus any key skills. Some of your skills will be more relevant for the role than others, so tailor them to the job description.
• Adopt a professional tone. 

Don’t:

• Lie on a CV – ever.
• Add personal details such as marital status or age.
• Mention salary expectations.
• Include references – later in the application process, provide them if you’re asked.
• Put your photo on a CV in the UK (but if you’re applying for a role overseas then check the local requirements, as some countries’ hiring managers will expect one).

Take great care not to use clichés or generalisations on your finance CV. In the next section, we’ll explore how to describe your successes so far in specific detail.

Finance CV skills

The job advertisements you’re responding to will likely list several soft and hard skills, either required or desired.

A quick way to show employers you have these is to include a skills section, or you can work your skillset into your personal statement and career experience sections.

Finance skills are very broad. The in-demand ones will vary depending on whether you’re applying for roles in accounting, analysis, auditing, bookkeeping, management and so on.

For example, a financial analyst job description could ask for experience with:

• UK General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• Financial planning, modelling and reporting
• Quantitative data analysis
• Software expertise e.g. SAP, QuickBooks
• Tax preparation
• Budget management
• Reconciliation

Some of your soft skills will be more useful for a finance role than others, so think about which ones are most relevant. Requirements could include:

• Working autonomously and in a team
• Commercial focus
• Task prioritisation
• Strong communication skills
• Proactive approach / taking the initiative
• Perfect attention to detail
• Working under pressure

For your strongest skills, you’ll need to back them up with evidence. Let’s take a look at how to do this.

Show your impact

Sometimes it’s not easy to find statistics for a CV to show how much impact you’ve had in previous roles or during your studies. 

However, the finance tools you have previously used may help with this – for example, by showing impressive metrics for activities you were involved in.

Include any relevant and impressive facts, figures or statistics you can to demonstrate your impact.

These numbers will have more impact in the right context. If you’re struggling to explain your best ones, use the STAR method.

Taking this into account, here are some excerpts from one of our finance CV examples to get you started.

Finance CV example

Tammy Myers

[Address] – [Phone number] – [Email address]

Personal Statement

Use a few lines to say who you are, what you can offer and your career aims. Personalise it – show how you stand out and what makes you unique. Here’s a sample first sentence:

Commercially-savvy and multilingual financial analyst with 5 years’ experience and a proven track record of identifying investments with a strong ROI.

Key Skills

If your skill section looks strong, include it here – otherwise, put it after your work history section. Relate your skillset to the job description and use bullet points – for example:

• Statistical analysis
• Risk assessment
• Problem solving
• C-Level reporting
• Fluent in French
• Fluent in German

Work History

List your previous roles or companies worked at in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent position – also include the dates. 

Then, add bullet points, to describe your most relevant achievements or responsibilities, e.g.:

[Role, company] [Dates]

• Contributed to 15% growth for the business unit by developing robust modelling via quantitative statistical analysis
• Identified cost savings of £75,000 by renegotiating supplier contracts and bringing an outsourced operation in-house
• Managed one line report and successfully building their promotion case

Qualifications and Education

Start by including any relevant qualifications – e.g. from AAT, ACA, ACCA, CIMA and so on. Then provide your education details: 

• [Finance qualification(s) obtained] [Dates]
• [University name, degree subject, grade] [Dates]
• [School name, A-Levels, grades] [Dates]
• [School name, GCSEs, grades] [Dates]

Interests

If you’re short of space on your finance CV, this section is not compulsory. Any hobbies you include should strengthen your application in a relevant way, if possible. As an example:

I write a personal blog analysing the state of the UK economy – researching the stories, crunching the numbers and adding my analysis.

References available on request

Final advice

You’ve written all about your achievements and passion for the job, now don’t undo all that hard work by making a basic mistake.

It should go without saying, but you need very strong attention to detail for a finance career. 

Your CV should reflect that, so check it thoroughly to find any mistakes and fix them – here are 10 mistakes that make your CV look unprofessional.

Remember, customise every CV to each company you’re applying to. Use their job advert, website, social media channels and any other relevant information you can access to inform your application.

With this knowledge, you may want to tailor your personal statement or reword how you describe certain aspects of your work history.

Summary: How to write a finance CV

Remember – highlight any unique skills you have, what makes you an impressive candidate, and so on, then build your CV around these points.

We hope this guide has given you some ideas for putting together your next fantastic finance CV! 

We’ve also previously written about how to come up with perfect CV headlines, as well as how to end a CV the right way. These little touches can make all the difference when your CV is in front of a time-poor hiring manager.

If you need some help, we’re CV writing experts. We know how to write an outstanding finance CV, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch for more information.