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    Accounting Internship Resume Template

    Three free accounting internship resume templates: two in US format, for students with and without an internship, and one in Canadian format for co-op students. They follow the structure that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta (CPA Alberta) and university career centers recommend. Download any of them as Word, PDF or plain text.

    As of October 21, 2026, Intern Insider listed 1,337 accounting internships at Cherry Bekaert, BDO USA, Ryan, MNP and 536 other companies.

    Templates to download

    Accounting student with an internship (US format)

    Accounting students in the US who have completed an audit, tax or corporate accounting internship

    First accounting internship, no accounting experience yet (US format)

    First- and second-year accounting students in the US applying for their first internship or leadership program

    What goes in each section

    Contact information

    • Put your name, city and state or province, phone number and an email address you check often at the top.[3][5]
    • On a Canadian resume, leave out a photo, age and marital status, and never include your Social Insurance Number (SIN).[5]

    Summary or profile

    • On a US resume this section is optional. Our US templates leave it out, following William & Mary, which calls it unnecessary for most undergraduates.[3]
    • On a Canadian resume, open with a profile statement and a key skills section matched to the posting, not an objective.[4]
    • For a co-op application, put your available term lengths and start date in the first lines.[6]

    Education

    • Give the school, degree, expected graduation date and grade point average (GPA). The AICPA student guide recommends including the GPA early in your career.[1][3]
    • If you are on track to meet the education requirement for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam, add a line that says so, with a date.[2][3]
    • List upper-level courses such as auditing, taxation and accounting information systems as relevant coursework.[3]
    • On a Canadian resume, mention awards and academic projects under education.[4]

    Technical skills

    • Group software by purpose, for example accounting systems in one line and data and analysis tools in another.[2]
    • Name the specific Excel features you use, such as pivot tables or lookups, when the posting asks for Excel.[3]

    Experience

    • For each job, describe the work, the skills you used and what you achieved.[1]
    • Start each bullet with a past-tense action verb and avoid Responsible for. Add numbers such as invoices processed or clients served.[3]
    • Keep each bullet to two lines and use no more than five or six per position.[4]
    • Jobs outside accounting still count. A server, cashier or bank teller handles money, follows procedures and works with the public, and the bullets should say so.[1]

    Leadership and activities

    • Add campus activities, leadership roles and volunteer work. The AICPA guide notes that they show you can balance several commitments.[1]
    • A role in an accounting student society belongs here, with one or two bullets on what you organized or managed.[2]
    • On a Canadian resume, include sports teams and community involvement as well, and leave references off.[4]

    Accounting resume samples for roles in Canada

    The Canadian template differs from the US ones in four ways. It opens with a profile statement and key skills instead of going straight to education, it can run to two pages, it avoids tables, borders and page-width lines, and it leaves out personal details such as a photo or Social Insurance Number.

    In Canada, CPA stands for Chartered Professional Accountant. Many Canadian accounting students apply to employers in the CPA Pre-Approved Program Route (PPR) or the Experience Verification Route (EVR), whose positions count toward the CPA Practical Experience Requirements (PER). CPA Alberta's student recruitment tips are written for that process.

    For the conventions that apply to every field, see our Canadian resume format page.

    [4][5]
    Canadian resume format for students

    Where the sources disagree

    Sources differ on the summary. The Towson University accounting sample opens with a professional summary, William & Mary calls a summary unnecessary for undergraduates, and CPA Alberta asks Canadian students to start with a profile statement. Our US templates leave the summary out, and the Canadian template includes a profile.[2][3][4]

    Sources also differ on the objective. The AICPA guide treats an objective as optional and useful for stating the kind of work you want, while CPA Alberta tells students not to start with one. None of our templates use an objective.[1][4]

    Worked example: accounting student with an audit internship

    This is the US template filled in for Nadia Ferreira, a fictional accounting student with one audit internship and a part-time accounts payable job. The notes explain what each bullet is doing.

    Sample resume. The student, school and employers are fictional.

    Nadia Ferreira

    Charlotte, NC | (555) 555-0137 | nadia.ferreira@example.com

    Education

    Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Ashford State University, Charlotte, NC

    Expected May 2027

    GPA: 3.67 / 4.00 (major GPA: 3.82)

    Relevant coursework: Intermediate Accounting I and II, Auditing, Federal Income Taxation, Accounting Information Systems

    Admitted to the Master of Accountancy program for 2027-2028 to complete 150 credit hours toward CPA licensure

    Technical Skills

    Accounting systems: QuickBooks Online, NetSuite (coursework)

    Data and analysis: Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query), Tableau

    Experience

    Audit Intern, Halden & Pryce LLP, Charlotte, NC

    January 2026 - April 2026

    • Tested cash, accounts receivable and fixed asset balances for three private manufacturing clients under a senior associate

      Why it works: Audit vocabulary for the accounts and the client type, with the senior associate named as the supervisor.

    • Traced a sample of 45 invoices to shipping records and cash receipts, documenting each test in the firm's audit software

      Why it works: A specific audit procedure (tracing invoices to shipping records and receipts) and the sample size.

    • Drafted bank confirmation requests and followed up with client staff until every response was received

      Why it works: Confirmations are routine audit work. Following up until every response came back is the part worth stating.

    • Identified two unrecorded liabilities during a search for payments made after year end, both of which the senior added to the proposed adjustments

      Why it works: A finding that changed the engagement, with credit to the senior who proposed the adjustments.

    Accounts Payable Assistant (part-time), Ashford State University Business Office, Charlotte, NC

    September 2024 - December 2025

    • Matched about 120 vendor invoices a week to purchase orders and receiving reports before payment

      Why it works: A three-way match described in plain terms, with a weekly volume.

    • Investigated duplicate payment alerts with vendors and campus departments and cleared each one before the weekly payment run

      Why it works: Each alert had a deadline, the weekly payment run, and the bullet says it was met.

    Leadership and Activities

    Director of Professional Development, Ashford Accounting Society, Charlotte, NC

    August 2025 - Present

    • Scheduled six information sessions with recruiters and alumni from local and national firms in one academic year

      Why it works: Leadership with a count, tied to the accounting profession.

    Tips for accounting internship resumes

    • Write the CPA eligibility line carefully. State education requirements for the CPA exam differ, so check your state board's current rule before you write a date.[2]
    • Use the vocabulary of the work where it is true: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), reconciliations, journal entries, accruals and month-end close. Canadian students can use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) the same way.
    • Frame the same experience for the side of the firm you are applying to. For audit, stress testing, documentation and accuracy. For tax, stress research, returns and deadlines.
    • Keep your GPA on the resume while you are a student, including your major GPA if it is higher.[1]
    • Check application dates on each firm's posting early in the academic year.
    • In Canada, if a posting names the CPA program or practical experience, mention your progress toward the CPA designation in your profile.[4]

    Sources

    1. AICPA & CIMA (ThisWayToCPA), Writing Your First Resume. Checked October 19, 2026.
    2. Towson University Career Center, Sample Resume: Accounting (PDF). Checked October 19, 2026.
    3. William & Mary Cohen Career Center, Accounting resume sample and Resume Checklist (PDF). Checked October 19, 2026.
    4. CPA Alberta, Student Recruitment Tips for Success (PDF). Checked October 19, 2026.
    5. Government of Canada Job Bank, How to write a good resume. Checked October 19, 2026.
    6. McMaster University Faculty of Engineering, BEng Computer Engineering co-op resume sample (PDF). Checked October 19, 2026.

    We take structure and conventions from these sources and write every template, sample person and bullet ourselves.

    Common questions

    Yes, in most cases. The AICPA student guide recommends including it early in your career, because employers may assume a missing GPA is low. If your major GPA is higher than your overall GPA, you can list both.

    Related

    How to get an accounting internshipAccounting internshipsBusiness internship resume guideAll resume templatesNursing student resume templateCanadian resume format

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