Audit internship vs staff accountant

The differences between audit interns and staff accountants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a staff accountant has an average salary of $54,216, which is higher than the $48,313 average annual salary of an audit internship.

The top three skills for an audit internship include audit procedures, risk assessments and CPA. The most important skills for a staff accountant are reconciliations, account reconciliations, and GAAP.

Audit internship vs staff accountant overview

	Audit Internship	Staff Accountant
Yearly salary	$48,313	$54,216
Hourly rate	$23.23	$26.07
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	59,053	115,930
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	4

What does an audit internship do?

An audit intern is responsible for assisting the finance department in processing financial reports, analyzing account statements, releasing invoices, and conducting tax audits. Audit interns shadow tenured staff on the operation procedures to familiarize themselves with work processes. They are also tasked to do administrative and clerical duties under the supervision of a direct supervisor, such as writing reports, ensuring the accuracy of financial statements, responding to clients' inquiries and concerns, and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor for immediate resolution.

What does a staff accountant do?

Staff accountants are employees who are part of the company's accounting department. They are usually certified public accountants (CPAs). Staff accountants should be familiar with accounting tasks. Previous accounting experiences play a huge advantage in their success. They perform a variety of accounting responsibilities such as information verification and analysis, financial report preparation and presentation, financial account reconciliation, billing and payment receiving activities, vendor database management, and invoice processing requirements. They should also know how to do bookkeeping. Staff accountants should have good communication skills, analytical skills, and decision-making skills. They should also be organized and trustworthy since they will be handling confidential information.

Audit internship vs staff accountant salary

Audit interns and staff accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Audit Internship	Staff Accountant
Average salary	$48,313	$54,216
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $71,000	Between $42,000 And $68,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Alaska	New York
Best paying company	RSM US	Meta
Best paying industry	Professional	Government

Differences between audit internship and staff accountant education

There are a few differences between an audit internship and a staff accountant in terms of educational background:

	Audit Internship	Staff Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Audit internship vs staff accountant demographics

Here are the differences between audit interns' and staff accountants' demographics:

	Audit Internship	Staff Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 51.9% Female, 48.1%	Male, 41.6% Female, 58.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 17.9% White, 60.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.4% White, 61.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between audit internship and staff accountant duties and responsibilities

Audit internship example responsibilities.

Manage audit finalization, SOX audit and internal audit of multinational companies
Manage accounting operations, accounting close, account reporting and reconciliations for internal corporate and bank transactions.
Conduct FDA submission projects including projects.
Assist the senior manager to make PowerPoint presentation.
Work with senior management to prepare PowerPoint presentations for clients.
Have currently effective BLS and ACLS certificates, confidently run codes.

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Staff accountant example responsibilities.

Manage and monitor accounting procedures for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and coordinate and facilitate external audit requirements.
Contribute revenue accruals using job cost system, fix assets including reclassification, reconciliation and depreciation.
Prepare month-end journal entries and assist in compilation of financial statements, reconcile bank statements and general ledgers.
Complete audit-quality account reconciliations monthly for balance sheet accounts including the capital projects in progress accounts and miscellaneous revenue accounts.
Assume responsibility for cash management encompassing wire and ACH transfers processing, bank activity confirmation, and monthly bank account reconciliations.
Handle all A/R and A/P, payroll, change orders, collections, lien placement and release, vendor account management.

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Audit internship vs staff accountant skills

Common audit internship skills

Audit Procedures, 18%
Risk Assessments, 15%
CPA, 11%
GAAP, 9%
Audit Intern, 7%
First Hand, 5%

Common staff accountant skills

Reconciliations, 15%
Account Reconciliations, 7%
GAAP, 6%
General Ledger Accounts, 4%
External Auditors, 4%
Internal Controls, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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