How To Write Accounts Payable Resume Objective In 5 Steps

Updated 4 March 2023

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An account payable specialist has a critical role in an organisation's accounting processes. When looking for a job as an accounts payable specialist, you can customise your resume to meet the requirements and expectations of financial industry companies. Understanding how to write a clear and effective resume objective can be valuable while applying for an accounts payable specialist employment.

In this article, we discuss the role of an accounts payable specialist, explain why it is important to have an accounts payable resume objective, review skills essential to include in your objective and explore templates with examples to help you create your own.

What is an Accounts Payable Specialist?

Accounts payable specialist oversees a company's financial receipts and records. On an accounting balance sheet, accounts payable refers to the money a company owes to other vendors and suppliers for products or services. Any money owed to another party that remains unpaid within a set deadline is a liability on the financial statements. The accounts payable specialist's responsibility is to maintain track of all overdue invoices to ensure the company does not accumulate debts.

Accounts payable specialists are instrumental to accounting and they usually work as internal employees at an organisation or accounting firms. They ensure their businesses do not keep any long-term debts from vendors who have previously delivered their goods and services. To avoid long-term debts, they organise and update a company's overdue invoices. The accounts payable specialist ensures their employer pays the vendors on time.

Why is an Accounts payable resume objective important?

An accounts payable resume objective is a brief opening statement that you can include at the top of your resume to convey your career objective and suitability to a potential employer and add value to your candidature and resume. When applying for an accounts payable expert position, your resume objective requires demonstrating why you want to work for them and the skills and experience you can contribute, as it is often the first section of a resume that an employer reviews.

As recruiting managers may not always be able to go through an entire resume, an attractive and relevant resume objective can increase the chances of them noticing your resume and subsequently, getting shortlisted.

How to write an Accounts payable specialist resume objective

You can follow these steps to write an effective objective for your accounts payable specialist resume:

1. Review the job description

Start by reading the job description carefully to ensure that your resume objective applies to the employer's expectations for the position. This can help you find which qualifications to include in your objective statement. Determine which elements of the job description relate to your experience or abilities. For example, if a position requires knowledge of a specific software application, you can highlight your previous work experience with it.

2. Finish the rest of your resume

Finishing the rest of your resume is an important step toward creating a great resume objective. You gain a better sense of all relevant information you can provide to your future employer by filling out the other sections of your resume, such as education, work experience and talents. After completing the other sections of your resume, go over all of your skills and knowledge to see which ones are relevant or outstanding to include in your objective.

3. Shortlist what you want to include

Make a list of items from your resume that you want to incorporate into your objective. To emphasise your suitability for the job, you can highlight academic achievements, achievements and awards, work experience, certifications and hard or soft skills. After you have narrowed down your credentials, you can start crafting sample objectives that incorporate the most relevant aspects of your resume.

4. Define your career objective

Establishing your objective is a critical component of drafting your resume objective. Try to customise a section of your statement to the specific company for which you apply. When stating your objectives as an accounts payable specialist, be clear and back up your claims with the abilities, education and experience that prepare you for the job.

5. Write multiple versions of objective

Though resume objectives are usually brief, you can consider writing multiple samples. To assess which versions are most informative, concise and professional, try combining different combinations of your abilities, experience and education. After you have written a few goals, read them aloud to see which one sounds the best for the accounts payable specialist job.

Resume objective templates for the account payable role

By adding in your details, experience and skills, you may create your unique objective using the following resume templates and modifying their structure:

Looking for a position at [organisation] as a [job title] to explore opportunities in the [field]. As a motivated engineer and fast learner, I have gained [skills] that I can use for my role.
[Add adjectives] candidate looking for [job title from the job description] to apply my [skills] and contribute to your [organisation name].
I am a [mention soft skills] candidate looking for a position at your [company] as [job title] where I can contribute using my [skills].

Resume objective examples for accounts payable specialist job

Here are some examples of resume objectives for an accounts payable specialist job:

An ambitious and well-organised candidate looking for a job as an account payable specialist. With over seven years of experience as an accounting assistant and three years as a payable specialist, excited to join a challenging work environment.
Account payable professional with 12 years of experience in diverse accounting roles, looking to work with startups. I bring attention to detail and excellent computer skills at work.
Account executive with four years of experience in financial data entry and customer service. I am looking to work for SFG Consulting as an internal accounts payable professional.
Accountant with a master's in commerce in accounting and two years of work experience, seeking a challenging and interesting role as an accounts payable specialist for DKT Education Group.
Accounts payable specialist with more than three years of financial documentation and invoicing experience. With an excellent working knowledge of accounting software and attention to detail, looking to work with a growing organisation in a challenging role.
With a bachelor's degree in account and finance and over five years of experience as an internal accountant at BDCS Bank, looking to work as an accounts payable specialist with Eron Lending to apply my organisation skills to ensure smooth accounting operations.
With two years of experience as a junior accountant at a nonprofit organisation, I am an accounting specialist with great attention to detail, looking for a job in a service business as an accounts payable specialist.

Important skills for a resume objective of accounts payable specialist

You can use a combination of the following skills in your resume objective for the accounts payable specialist job:

Journal entries

Mentioning Journal entries in your resume objective can reflect your ability to record every financial transaction accurately in the financial statements of the company. Accounts payable specialists may be responsible for effectively balancing both debit and credit columns within each journal entry. They also record transaction dates and any departments or accounts affected by the transactions.

Technology skills

Accounts payable professionals frequently employ a variety of software and other digital tools to carry out their duties. They can use these tools to assist them with managing the general ledger, tracking invoices, distributing payments and maintaining financial records. Including technology skills in your resume objective can convey that you know how to use these various accounting systems and troubleshoot basic computing issues efficiently.

Communication

Accounts payable professionals employ communication skills to listen to client requirements carefully and determine how they can address those. They may use simple language to communicate sophisticated accounting principles or calculations to their clients. You can list communication skills in your resume's objective. You demonstrate to the hiring manager that you know how to communicate their message via various media, including in-person or over the phone effectively.

Data entry

You can also consider mentioning your data entry skill or experience in your resume objective. Data input is part of a variety of work obligations of accounts payable professionals, including invoices, expense reports, ledgers and purchase orders. They require knowledge of how to enter data into a digital database from various sources, like handwritten notes or audio recordings, to complete data entry activities properly.

Attention to detail

Data sets, mathematical formulae and accounting balances are components that require accounts payable specialists to be attentive and detail-oriented. It is critical to ensure that these figures are correct as they may affect a variety of financial activities at their organisation. The data that accounts payable professionals record or verify, for example, can affect procedures like delivering statements to vendors or filing tax returns.