Accountant job description template: the accounting seat, CPA lines and screening questions
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"Accountant" covers jobs that share a degree and little else. A staff accountant who books journal entries and reconciles bank accounts, a tax accountant who prepares returns in season, a cost accountant on a plant floor and an audit associate at a CPA firm all apply to the same postings when the posting does not say which seat it is. Below is a copy-ready accountant job description template, the CPA, overtime and pay lines with official sources, how each must-have turns into a screening question and scorecard row, and the mistakes that make accounting postings attract the wrong pile of resumes. The general method is in how to write a job description that screens.
Name the accounting seat first
| Seat | What fills the month | Must-have that separates it |
|---|---|---|
| Staff or general ledger accountant | Journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, close tasks | Has owned a set of balance sheet reconciliations through several closes |
| Senior accountant | Running parts of the close, reviewing others' work, audit requests | Has reviewed others' entries and handled auditor requests directly |
| Tax accountant | Returns, provisions, notices, planning work | Has prepared returns of the type you file (individual, partnership, corporate) |
| Cost accountant | Inventory costing, variances, standard costs | Has explained a variance to an operations manager and fixed its cause |
| Audit associate (public accounting) | Testing client controls and balances on engagements | Is on a CPA track; experience optional for entry level |
Before you write, ask the controller three things: how many days the close takes today, which accounts this person will own, and which ERP or general ledger they will work in. Those answers tell candidates more than any adjective, and they let you tell a senior from a staff role without guessing from years of experience. If the seat is tax, the posting and screen differ enough to deserve their own; see tax accountant screening questions.
The accountant job description template
[Staff / Senior / Cost] Accountant, [entity or business unit]
[Company], [city, state] — [On-site / Hybrid: days / Remote within:
states]
Pay: $[min]–$[max] per year, plus [bonus, if any].
[Benefits summary, if required.]
SUMMARY
You will own [cash, fixed assets and accruals / intercompany and
revenue / inventory costing] for [N entities, currency or currencies],
and help close the books in [N] business days each month. You will
work in [ERP or general ledger] and report to the [Controller /
Accounting Manager].
WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Prepare and post journal entries for [accounts], with support a
reviewer can follow.
- Reconcile [N] balance sheet accounts monthly and clear reconciling
items within [N] days.
- Prepare [schedules: prepaid, fixed asset, accrual] and flux
explanations for [the controller / the audit committee pack].
- Answer auditor requests for your areas during [the annual audit /
quarterly reviews].
- Suggest and document fixes when a close step is manual or keeps
breaking.
YOU MUST HAVE
- Owned month-end close tasks for at least [N] closes, including
reconciliations you prepared yourself.
- Working knowledge of [US GAAP / IFRS] for [revenue, leases,
accruals — the areas this seat touches].
- Spreadsheet skills to build a reconciliation or schedule from a
raw export.
- [Senior: reviewed other accountants' entries and reconciliations.]
- [Cost: worked with inventory or standard cost data.]
NICE TO HAVE
- CPA license, or progress toward one.
- Experience with [ERP], [consolidation or close software].
- [Industry: manufacturing, SaaS revenue, nonprofit fund
accounting.]
If you meet the must-haves and none of these, please apply.
FIXED CONDITIONS
- Close calendar: [the first N business days of each month are
in-office / extended hours are expected].
- [Background or credit check as permitted by law, if required for
access to cash or bank accounts.]
HOW WE HIRE
[Recruiter screen; controller interview; a short reconciliation
exercise with a provided trial balance; a conversation with the team.]
[EEO STATEMENT]
If you need an adjustment to apply or interview, email [address].CPA, overtime and pay lines
Not legal advice. Licensure, classification and EEO points were checked against NASBA, the U.S. Department of Labor, BLS and the EEOC as of October 2026. CPA licensure is granted by each state's board of accountancy; confirm the rules for the states you hire in.
CPA wording. The licensure rules are moving. NASBA describes three pathways in the updated Uniform Accountancy Act: a graduate degree in accounting plus one year of experience, a bachelor's degree plus 30 more credits (150 hours) plus one year, and a new route of a bachelor's degree in accounting plus two years of experience, each with the CPA Exam (NASBA). Each state has to adopt the changes in its own law, on its own schedule, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook profile (last modified August 27, 2026) still describes the 150-hour requirement. So avoid writing an eligibility rule into the posting. "CPA preferred" or "CPA, or on track to sit for the exam" stays accurate as the rules change. If the license is required, verify it with the issuing state board or through NASBA's CPAverify lookup before the start date.
Exempt or non-exempt. Decide this before the pay line, because it decides salary versus hourly. The regulation says certified public accountants generally meet the duties test for the learned professional exemption and many non-certified accountants doing similar work may too, but accounting clerks and bookkeepers who mostly do routine work generally will not (29 CFR 541.301(e)(5)). The salary test applies as well; the Department of Labor lists the standard level as $684 per week as of October 2026 (DOL salary levels), and some states set higher thresholds. A "staff accountant" who mainly codes invoices may be a clerk under the rules, whatever the title.
Pay range. Leave the range bracketed until it is approved on the requisition, then check pay transparency laws by state. For an outside reference, BLS publishes wages for Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011) in the OOH profile linked above and by area through its OEWS program; this page does not quote figures.
EEO statement. The EEOC gives "recent college graduates" as an example of ad wording that may discourage applicants over 40 (EEOC), which matters for entry-level accounting postings. Close with your standard EEO statement, for example: "[Company] is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to any characteristic protected by federal, state or local law."
From must-haves to screening questions and scorecard rows
Accounting resumes look alike: "assisted with month-end close" appears on nearly all of them. The screen's job is to find out what the candidate owned versus watched.
| Must-have | Screening question | Scorecard competency | Evidence of a strong answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owned close tasks | "Which accounts were yours at month-end, and how many days into the close did you finish them?" | Close ownership | Names specific accounts and a day of the close, not "helped with close" |
| Prepared reconciliations | "Tell me about a reconciliation that did not tie out. What was the difference and what fixed it?" | Reconciliation and accuracy | Describes the reconciling item, how it was traced and the correcting entry |
| GAAP in this seat's areas | "Walk me through how you booked an accrual for [a service received but not yet billed]." | Technical accounting | Correct entry, and how and when it reverses |
| Spreadsheet skills | "How did you build your last schedule from a raw export? What checks did you put in?" | Tools and controls | Lookups or pivots plus a tie-out check against the ledger |
| Review experience (senior) | "What do you look for first when you review someone else's reconciliation?" | Review judgment | Support, aging items, unusual balances; gives an example of a catch |
The full screen, including how to probe ERP claims, is in staff accountant phone screen questions. The interview guide for finance roles carries the same competencies into the controller and team interviews, and the 30-60-90 day plan for accountants turns them into first-quarter goals. If the posting is not drawing enough applicants, the strings in Boolean search strings for accountants help you source directly.
Common mistakes in accountant job descriptions
CPA required for a seat that never signs anything
A license requirement for a corporate staff accountant role removes most of the pool, including people who are months from licensure. Unless the work requires the license, write it as preferred and say whether the company pays for exam sections.
"Big 4 experience required"
Public accounting experience is useful, but requiring a firm name screens for a pedigree rather than a skill. If audit-readiness matters, require "prepared support for external auditors" and ask about it.
Years of experience instead of a close
"Three to five years of experience" tells candidates nothing. An example such as "owns 15 reconciliations and closes in five days" tells them the size of the job and lets the screen check it.
An ERP as a gate
Accountants learn a new general ledger quickly; they do not learn reconciliation discipline quickly. Name the ERP as the environment and as a nice-to-have unless the role is a system administrator in disguise.
Close hours left out
If the first week of every month means late nights or mandatory office days, say so. Candidates who learn it at the offer stage withdraw, and the search starts over.
Before you publish
- The seat, the accounts owned and the close length are in the summary.
- CPA wording says preferred, on track or required, without an eligibility rule that may go out of date.
- Exempt status was decided from duties and salary, not the title.
- An approved pay range, the EEO statement and an accommodation contact close the posting.
If you paste the finished posting into Interview Signal, it turns the must-haves into the screen's question guide, and the scorecard quotes what the candidate said about the accounts they owned and the reconciliations they fixed.
Questions people ask
Should an accountant job description require a CPA license?
Only when the work needs it or the role is a deliberate step on a CPA track, such as public accounting audit work. Most corporate staff and senior accountant roles do not need a license on day one, so write CPA as preferred, or as 'CPA or actively pursuing', and say whether the company supports exam costs.
Has the 150-hour rule for CPA licensure changed?
It is changing state by state. NASBA and the AICPA updated the Uniform Accountancy Act to add a pathway of a bachelor's degree in accounting plus two years of experience and the exam, alongside the 150-hour route. Each state must adopt it in its own law, so check the state board of accountancy before writing an eligibility line.
Are accountants exempt from overtime?
Often, but not automatically. The federal rule says certified public accountants generally meet the duties test for the learned professional exemption and many non-certified accountants doing similar work may too, while accounting clerks and bookkeepers who do mostly routine work generally do not. The salary test must also be met, and state rules can be stricter.
What is the best screening question for an accountant?
Ask them to walk through the last reconciliation that did not tie out: what the difference was, how they found it and what entry fixed it. Candidates who have owned reconciliations answer with specifics; candidates who have only reviewed them tend to describe the process in general terms.