How To Become A Budget Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a budget officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a budget officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.74 an hour? That's $59,780 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 1,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBudget OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $59,780

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.5

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.00%

Asian 7.87%

Black or African American 12.36%

Hispanic or Latino 15.28%

Unknown 4.72%

White 58.78%

Gender

female 41.31%

male 58.69%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

6.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a budget officer

Explore budget officer education requirements

Most common budget officer degrees

Bachelor's

70.4 %

Master's

20.0 %

Associate

7.0 %

Start to develop specific budget officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Management	9.70%
Oversight	9.23%
Budget Formulation	5.38%
Budget Process	5.37%
Financial Analysis	4.79%

Complete relevant budget officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New budget officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a budget officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real budget officer resumes.

Research budget officer duties and responsibilities

Manage accounting data of expenditures in ledgers; ensure all transactions are re-serve for obligation.
Perform manpower and payroll analysis.
Maintain appropriate controls over payroll processes and disbursements.
Review commitments, obligations and expenditures and reconcile monthly reports on transactions process in DoD accounting systems.

Prepare your budget officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your budget officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a budget officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable budget officer resume templates

Build a professional budget officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your budget officer resume.