Top 12 Controller Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's tight job market, standing out as a top controller takes more than debits and credits. You’ll need systems fluency, sharp analytics, and people sense that turns numbers into direction. Below are 12 skills to spotlight on your resume—tools and frameworks that show you can steer the books, the close, and the story behind the results.
Controller Skills
1. QuickBooks
QuickBooks (Online and Desktop) is core accounting software for invoicing, AP/AR, bank feeds, payroll, inventory, and reporting—bread-and-butter tooling for small and midsize finance teams.
Why It's Important
It condenses day-to-day accounting into one place, speeds the close with automation, and supports audit-ready records, so you can focus on analysis instead of manual cleanup.
How to Improve QuickBooks Skills
Design the foundation: Tailor the chart of accounts, classes, locations, and projects so reporting mirrors how the business runs.
Automate the routine: Use bank rules, recurring invoices/bills, and memorized transactions to reduce keying and errors.
Tighten the close: Reconcile banks, credit cards, and key subledgers monthly; close periods and lock prior months.
Elevate reporting: Build custom P&L by class, budget vs. actuals, and cash flow views; save report groups for the close pack.
Harden access: Enforce roles, two-factor authentication, and regular user reviews; back up and document changes.
Integrate wisely: Connect payroll, expense, and billing apps for end-to-end flow and fewer manual imports.
Train the team: Standardize procedures, templates, and naming—consistency shrinks review time.
How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume
2. SAP
SAP (notably S/4HANA) is an enterprise platform that unifies finance, supply chain, and operations with real-time data, embedded controls, and rich analytics.
Why It's Important
Controllers gain one source of truth, standardized processes, and robust compliance. That translates to faster closes, cleaner reconciliations, and deeper insight into margin and cash.
How to Improve SAP Skills
Stay current: Keep to supported releases and apply patches; new features often reduce custom workarounds.
Design for control: Align the chart of accounts, profit centers, and cost objects with reporting and planning needs.
Use Fiori and workflows: Streamline approvals, journal entries, and close tasks; shrink cycle time and audit risk.
Lean data: Enforce master data governance and naming conventions; retire duplicates and stale records.
Exploit finance modules: Tap CO, CO-PA, Asset Accounting, and Group Reporting for detailed profitability and consolidation.
Tune performance: Review batch jobs, memory, and queries; small configuration tweaks pay dividends.
Harden security: Map roles to duties, maintain SoD, and log critical transactions.
Upskill users: Train accounting on self-serve reports and variance analysis to reduce IT tickets.
How to Display SAP Skills on Your Resume
3. Oracle
Oracle, in this context, spans Oracle Cloud ERP and EPM (for financials, planning, consolidations) and the Oracle Database that underpins high-volume, high-integrity financial data.
Why It's Important
It delivers scalable ledgers, strong controls, and powerful reporting—exactly what you need for accurate closes, compliance, and decision support as the business grows.
How to Improve Oracle Skills
Architect the chart: Build a clean, flexible account and segment structure; simplify mappings and reporting.
Accelerate the close: Use Close Manager, account reconciliations, and automated allocations to compress timelines.
Sharpen analytics: Create dashboards and infolets for cash, working capital, and margin; standardize KPIs.
Optimize queries: Tune SQL, indexes, and memory; review AWR/ADDM reports to find bottlenecks.
Integrate cleanly: Move data via APIs or secure files on a schedule; validate against control totals.
Strengthen roles: Principle of least privilege, strong SoD, and periodic access reviews.
Govern change: Use sandboxes, test cycles, and documented deployments; no surprises at quarter-end.
How to Display Oracle Skills on Your Resume
4. Excel
Excel is the controller’s workshop: modeling, analysis, reconciliations, and the ad hoc storytelling that fills gaps ERPs can’t reach.
Why It's Important
It turns raw exports into direction—budgets, forecasts, sensitivity checks, and variance narratives that leadership can actually use.
How to Improve Excel Skills
Speed first: Learn core shortcuts; reduce clicks, boost focus.
Power Query: Automate data cleanup and refresh; build repeatable pipelines.
Power Pivot: Model large datasets, relationships, and measures without clunky workbooks.
Modern formulas: XLOOKUP, FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, LET, and LAMBDA—fewer helper columns, cleaner logic.
Data validation: Guardrails for inputs; fewer broken models.
Visualization: Clear charts, sparklines, and conditional formats to surface the signal fast.
Protect and audit: Sheet protection, version control, error checks, and named ranges for stability.
How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume
5. Hyperion
Hyperion (Oracle Hyperion and EPM Cloud) covers planning, budgeting, forecasting, and financial consolidation applications like Planning, FCCS, and close tools.
Why It's Important
It centralizes plans and actuals, enforces governance, and speeds consolidations—so your reporting is timely, consistent, and trusted.
How to Improve Hyperion Skills
Design dimensions well: Keep entities, accounts, scenarios, and versions tidy; avoid unnecessary depth.
Streamline calculations: Optimize business rules and calc scripts to cut run times.
Automate data loads: Schedule integrations, validate with control totals, and use clear error handling.
Close orchestration: Define task lists, dependencies, and calendars; track completion in real time.
Secure precisely: Role-based access by entity and account; audit key actions.
Maintain proactively: Patch on schedule, monitor performance, and archive old metadata.
How to Display Hyperion Skills on Your Resume
6. GAAP
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) sets the U.S. rules for recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure.
Why It's Important
Controllers live here. Consistency, comparability, and compliance depend on it—so do audits, covenants, and credibility with the board.
How to Improve GAAP Skills
Track new standards: Monitor ASUs and implementation guidance; build a cadence to assess impacts early.
Codify policies: Document revenue (ASC 606), leases (ASC 842), inventory, capitalization, and estimates; keep them current.
Strengthen controls: SOX-ready design, segregation of duties, review/approval evidence, and reconciliations that tie to the penny.
Disclosure discipline: Use checklists; ensure materiality judgments are supported and consistent.
Train and review: Quarterly refreshers for accounting staff; peer reviews for complex areas.
How to Display GAAP Skills on Your Resume
7. IFRS
IFRS is the global counterpart to GAAP, enabling cross-border comparability and a shared accounting language for international operations.
Why It's Important
For multinationals and global investors, IFRS alignment reduces friction, helps with listings and financing, and clarifies performance across jurisdictions.
How to Improve IFRS Skills
Policy alignment: Maintain IFRS accounting policies and map differences from U.S. GAAP if you report under both.
Focus on the big rocks: IFRS 15 (revenue), IFRS 16 (leases), IFRS 9 (financial instruments), IFRS 3 (business combinations), IAS 36 (impairment).
Consolidation rigor: Clean FX translation, hyperinflation assessments where relevant, and consistent intercompany elimination logic.
Documentation: Position papers, estimate methodologies, and audit-ready workpapers for judgments.
Team readiness: Train staff; run dual-GAAP examples to surface differences before year-end.
How to Display IFRS Skills on Your Resume
8. SQL
SQL is the language for querying and shaping data in relational systems—indispensable when pulling ERP, CRM, and billing data into analysis-ready sets.
Why It's Important
Fewer CSV gymnastics, more reliable joins, faster insights. You’ll answer tough questions without waiting in the IT queue.
How to Improve SQL Skills
Know your schema: Understand tables, keys, and relationships before you write a line.
Write readable queries: Use CTEs, window functions, and clear aliases; avoid SELECT * in production queries.
Think in sets: Aggregate efficiently, filter early, and precompute where it helps.
Mind performance: Examine execution plans; index the right columns; parameterize heavy queries.
Govern access: Least-privilege permissions and masked sensitive fields; log the important stuff.
Operationalize: Schedule extracts, add data quality checks, and reconcile row counts to source reports.
How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume
9. Tableau
Tableau turns messy data into clear dashboards, giving leaders quick, visual answers to what happened and why.
Why It's Important
Controllers can narrate performance at a glance—variance, trend, cohort—without burying stakeholders in spreadsheets.
How to Improve Tableau Skills
Prep the data: Keep it tidy; choose joins vs. blends intentionally; define a calendar/date spine.
Use LODs: Level of Detail expressions solve tricky aggregations (e.g., period-to-date by customer).
Design for decisions: Start with the question; prioritize hierarchy, labeling, and color that clarifies, not decorates.
Interactive stories: Parameters, actions, and filters that let users drill without breaking context.
Performance matters: Extracts, fewer quick filters, and optimized calculations keep dashboards snappy.
Governance: Publish with sensible permissions and data source certifications.
How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume
10. Power BI
Power BI brings modeling, DAX calculations, and slick visuals into one Microsoft-friendly stack that plays well with finance data.
Why It's Important
It bridges ERP exports and executive dashboards, enabling real-time KPIs, budget vs. actuals, and controlled sharing across the org.
How to Improve Power BI Skills
Model first: Build a star schema; designate a proper date table; define clean relationships.
Master DAX: CALCULATE, FILTER, time intelligence, and variables for maintainable measures.
Power Query: Automate transformations; document them in steps for auditability.
Optimize: Use Performance Analyzer, reduce column cardinality, and disable auto-date/time.
Govern: Row-level security, certified datasets, and scheduled refresh with alerts.
Tell the story: Bookmarks, drill-through, and consistent layout so leaders get the “so what” fast.
How to Display Power BI Skills on Your Resume
11. Xero
Xero is cloud accounting for SMBs, handling invoicing, bank recs, expenses, inventory basics, and financial reports from anywhere.
Why It's Important
Controllers get live books, clean bank data, and collaboration-friendly workflows—perfect for lean teams that still need rigor.
How to Improve Xero Skills
Bank rules and repeats: Automate coding for common transactions and set repeating bills/invoices.
Tracking categories: Segment results by department, location, or project without bloating the chart.
Custom reporting: Tailor layouts and formulas for board packs and cash flow views; save as templates.
Multi-currency readiness: Configure currencies, rates, and revals correctly before go-live.
Access and security: Roles with least privilege, two-step authentication, and periodic user reviews.
Integrations: Connect expenses, payroll, and inventory tools; reconcile integrations monthly.
Close discipline: Reconcile banks and AR/AP, post adjustments, and lock periods after review.
How to Display Xero Skills on Your Resume
12. NetSuite
NetSuite is a cloud ERP with robust financials, inventory, CRM, and a deep ecosystem—popular with high-growth and multi-entity organizations.
Why It's Important
It centralizes processes, enforces controls, and offers real-time visibility. You get scale without losing grip on accuracy.
How to Improve NetSuite Skills
Design segments right: Accounts, departments, classes, and locations that map cleanly to reporting.
Close control: Use the period close checklist, enforce approvals, and lock steps as they’re completed.
Automate workflows: SuiteFlow for approvals and alerts; reduce manual touches in AP/AR and journals.
Saved searches & SuiteAnalytics: Build exception reports (unapproved, unreconciled, out-of-tolerance) and KPI scorecards.
Tighten security: Role-based permissions, SoD, audit trails; review access quarterly.
OneWorld readiness: Intercompany eliminations, local tax setups, and subsidiary books configured from day one.
Test in sandbox: Validate scripts, integrations, and customizations before production changes.
How to Display NetSuite Skills on Your Resume
