Accounting supervisor vs senior accountant

The differences between accounting supervisors and senior accountants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an accounting supervisor and a senior accountant. Additionally, a senior accountant has an average salary of $71,967, which is higher than the $68,923 average annual salary of an accounting supervisor.

The top three skills for an accounting supervisor include reconciliations, GAAP and account reconciliations. The most important skills for a senior accountant are reconciliations, CPA, and GAAP.

Accounting supervisor vs senior accountant overview

	Accounting Supervisor	Senior Accountant
Yearly salary	$68,923	$71,967
Hourly rate	$33.14	$34.60
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	56,377	76,816
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does an accounting supervisor do?

Account supervisors are in charge of the accounting and financial operations within an organization's accounting department. They supervise the account team and provide feedback about their performance and recommend improvements when necessary. It is their responsibility to review the company's financial statements for accuracy. They even reconcile the enterprise's general ledger accounts and oversee the communications and marketing plans of the clients. Also, they maintain profitable and long-term customer relationships to keep the trust of the clients.

What does a senior accountant do?

A senior accountant is responsible for organizing financial reports, analyzing cost estimates, reviewing budget goals regularly, and making adjustments with the company's account statements as necessary. Senior accountants' duties also include managing account reconciliations, preparing tax documents, maintaining audit records and balance sheets, generating invoices, and providing recommendations to minimize possible financial loss. A senior accountant must have excellent analytical and critical-thinking skills and extensive knowledge of accounting and financial principles.

Accounting supervisor vs senior accountant salary

Accounting supervisors and senior accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Accounting Supervisor	Senior Accountant
Average salary	$68,923	$71,967
Salary range	Between $50,000 And $93,000	Between $55,000 And $92,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	eBay	Google
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between accounting supervisor and senior accountant education

There are a few differences between an accounting supervisor and a senior accountant in terms of educational background:

	Accounting Supervisor	Senior Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Accounting supervisor vs senior accountant demographics

Here are the differences between accounting supervisors' and senior accountants' demographics:

	Accounting Supervisor	Senior Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 39.7% Female, 60.3%	Male, 46.9% Female, 53.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 12.2% White, 63.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.5% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between accounting supervisor and senior accountant duties and responsibilities

Accounting supervisor example responsibilities.

Initiate ongoing departmental projects to automate daily tasks which include the calculations for income distributions and the daily income account reconciliation.
Audit ledgers to ensure they contain correct information, such as billing addresses and invoice numbers.
Review the monthly account reconciliations for all GL accounts including inter-company and validate accuracy and substance of schedules supporting the reconciliations.
Process all student account updates and maintain student ledgers.
Verify and post transactions to journal ledgers and other records.
Reconcile foreign tax GL account and remit funds to IRS.

Senior accountant example responsibilities.

Manage complex pricing structure and maintain SalesForce CRM funnel for forecasting accuracy.
Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Manage the review, enhancement, and creation of department policy and procedure documentation require for Sarbanes-Oxley auditing and compliance.
Compile and analyze financial information to prepare monthly accruals, payroll journal, general journal and bank reconciliations.
Research and develop policies around Medicaid and Medicare billings and prepare Medicaid cost reports.
Coordinate submissions of financial data from regional divisions and prepare the consolidated company financial statement using Hyperion program.

Accounting supervisor vs senior accountant skills

Common accounting supervisor skills

Reconciliations, 11%
GAAP, 6%
Account Reconciliations, 6%
CPA, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
General Ledger Accounts, 5%

Common senior accountant skills

Reconciliations, 13%
CPA, 8%
GAAP, 7%
External Auditors, 4%
Internal Controls, 4%
Payroll, 4%

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Accounting Supervisor vs Senior Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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