In the career world every now and then people move from one organization to another. To facilitate this, chances are as a supervisor you will be required to write them a reference letter. For most people, this is something they just do not know how to write. This article serves to help you out in that by giving you adequate information on how to write an Accountant Reference Letter, and to help you draft one for an employee or even a colleague.
What is an Accountant Reference Letter?
Certified Public Accountants require reference letters to use in their applications for graduate school as well as for jobs. The reference letter is written to state the skills possessed by the accountant as well as their character, the experience they have and the various achievements they have made with respect to their accounting career.
Reference Letter Examples
Who Writes This Letter?
The Accountant Reference Letter may be written by supervisors; in this case, the employers may be current supervisors or former supervisors. They may also be written by co-workers as well as customers who have had first-hand experience with the accountant in question and know about their traits. The Accountant Reference Letters may also be written by other Accounting professionals who have interacted first-hand with the accountant.
Sample Accountant Reference Letter
To whom it may concern,
I know John since he began working for ABC Limited as an accountant intern. I have seen his remarkable transition to a full-time accountant assistant within six months. Since then, there is no looking back for John and his passion for accounting procedures makes him a valuable asset for the firm.
John takes every task as a challenge and completes it successfully. He is hardworking, excellent with numbers, and extremely punctual. During the Christmas season, he volunteered extra hours to complete the pending tasks of the marketing department. Everyone in the company values his sense of expertise in making things quite easy to understand.
I highly recommend John for an accounting position in any organization that he wishes to apply. I am quite certain that he will be a valuable asset for any company.
Regards,
XYZ
Account Manager
ABC Limited
Address
Reference Letter Template for Finance
Date: _________
To: Whom It May Concern
Subject: Letter of Reference for _______
The above mentioned had been an Accountant for ABC Limited in the period _____ to ______. His/her professional duties during the tenure were the following:
- Trained junior accountants and supervised their accounting records.
- Analyzed financial statement of the company and gave sound advice to the management as per the requirement.
- Selected accounting software as per the requirements of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and prepared relevant charts as per GAAP.
- Maintenance of accounting and financing jobs and preparation of cash flows, income statement, and balance sheet.
Insert other duties and skills of the employee as per the need.
(Name) was a valuable asset for our organization and did an excellent accounting job. I highly recommend (Name) for an accounting position in any organization.
Thank You
What should be included?
An accounting reference letter should contain more than two paragraphs of information as a short letter might signify that the author does not know the one they are writing about very well. It might also signify that the author does not completely endorse the accountant they are writing about:
- The letter should be concise, straight to the point and focus on key points to ensure it isn’t more than one page.
- The author should introduce themselves in the first few lines so as to outline their position in the company as well as their relationship with the accountant that they are writing about. The author should also indicate how long they have worked with the candidate (accountant).
- The other lines should contain information such as:
- The applicant’s job title as well as the position they hold within the company.
- The status of the applicant’s employment includes current employment, previous employment, the nature of their current employment in this case full-time, temporary or part-time.
- The dates that pertain to the applicant’s employment.
- The author should include their judgment on the applicant’s abilities as well as their qualities.
- The author should end positively and make a statement recommending the applicant for a position. The author should indicate their willingness to trust the accountant with their finances at any time or have an accountant work on their future projects.
- The author should express faith in the accountant’s integrity.
- The writer should also include their contact information for further correspondence with regards to the applicant.
What to avoid?
You should avoid writing in an informal manner. In this case, the letter should remain business-like devoid of jokes and slang as they might actually limit the applicant’s chances.
You should avoid including personal information that is irrelevant to the application. Information such as religion, race, age, nationality or marital status should not be included.
You should avoid spelling mistakes or typos as the letter should remain professional as it’s a very important letter.
The Do’s (when having someone write your accountant reference letter)
- Choose someone who knows you well enough.
- Ask someone in person rather than via email.
- Mention specific experience, skills and qualifications that you would want to be included in the
letter.
The Don’ts
- Don’t ask someone to provide false information about you.
- Don’t choose someone because of their titles but because they know you.
- Don’t wait till the last minute, secure the letter in advance.
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