Accounting staff vs accounting consultant

The differences between accounting staff and accounting consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an accounting staff, becoming an accounting consultant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an accounting consultant has an average salary of $62,830, which is higher than the $53,322 average annual salary of an accounting staff.

The top three skills for an accounting staff include reconciliations, journal entries and general ledger accounts. The most important skills for an accounting consultant are CPA, GAAP, and reconciliations.

Accounting staff vs accounting consultant overview

	Accounting Staff	Accounting Consultant
Yearly salary	$53,322	$62,830
Hourly rate	$25.64	$30.21
Growth rate	-5%	6%
Number of jobs	108,836	74,894
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	51	44
Years of experience	6	4

What does an accounting staff do?

The accounting staff works alongside the head accountant in an organization, company, or business. Proper accounting is essential for all companies as it will help management assess areas of the company that needs adjustments, especially budget-wise. Aside from this, a competent accounting staff assists in the company's bookkeeping and filing its taxes. The accounting staff must be highly organized, communicate well with colleagues, and generate accurate reports for the executives and management.

What does an accounting consultant do?

An Accounting Consultant is a person tasked to assist the accounting department of a company. The consultant advises businesses concerning the accounting system used by the organization. It is also through the accounting consultant's help that improvements in the accounting process are proposed, the determination of problematic areas in the workflow, possible issues in the future, and everything that needs upgrading. The accounting consultant also helps businesses conform to legal policies set about by State and Federal legislation.

Accounting staff vs accounting consultant salary

Accounting staff and accounting consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Accounting Staff	Accounting Consultant
Average salary	$53,322	$62,830
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $73,000	Between $45,000 And $86,000
Highest paying City	San Mateo, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Oregon	California
Best paying company	Essex Property Trust	Jordan Company
Best paying industry	Professional	Manufacturing

Differences between accounting staff and accounting consultant education

There are a few differences between an accounting staff and an accounting consultant in terms of educational background:

	Accounting Staff	Accounting Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Accounting staff vs accounting consultant demographics

Here are the differences between accounting staff' and accounting consultants' demographics:

	Accounting Staff	Accounting Consultant
Average age	51	44
Gender ratio	Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1%	Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 6.6% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 13.4% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between accounting staff and accounting consultant duties and responsibilities

Accounting staff example responsibilities.

Manage accounts payable activities such as receiving and processing invoices, preparing relate journal entries and completing monthly reconciliations.
Manage revenue ledger including other subsidiary ledgers and responsible for the reconciliation of various income accounts to ensure accuracy of postings.
Administer management of AR transactions in support of optimizing cash-inflow, including establishing and maintaining account reconciliations.
Ensure accuracy of financial statements in accordance with GAAP and internal policies.
Audit reports and approve invoices to ensure proper coding are done in compliance with GAAP.
Manage revenue ledger including other subsidiary ledgers and responsible for the reconciliation of various income accounts to ensure accuracy of postings.

Accounting consultant example responsibilities.

Work independently on line of business projects to automate derivative processes and system enhancement testing.
Share oversight for recruitment, human resources and advertising.
Provide support to accounts payable department in tagging and recording of fix assets during an ERP system transition
Work with governance and internal audit team ensuring SOX compliance during monthly & quarterly reviews as well as the annual audit.
Collaborate with accounting department in monthly closing process and development of internal controls to support SOX requirements.
Improve audit performance of major medical center by clearing backlog of account reconciliations across multiple medical billing systems.

Accounting staff vs accounting consultant skills

Common accounting staff skills

Reconciliations, 9%
Journal Entries, 8%
General Ledger Accounts, 6%
Payroll Taxes, 6%
Cash Management, 5%
Accounts Payable Processing, 5%

Common accounting consultant skills

CPA, 15%
GAAP, 11%
Reconciliations, 8%
ERP, 4%
Shared Services, 4%
SOX, 4%

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Accounting Staff
Accounting Staff vs Accounting Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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