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The differences between control accountants and senior cost accountants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a control accountant and a senior cost accountant. Additionally, a control accountant has an average salary of $66,563, which is higher than the $65,824 average annual salary of a senior cost accountant.
The top three skills for a control accountant include reconciliations, general ledger accounts and payroll taxes. The most important skills for a senior cost accountant are reconciliations, variance analysis, and GAAP.
| Control Accountant | Senior Cost Accountant | |
| Yearly salary | $66,563 | $65,824 |
| Hourly rate | $32.00 | $31.65 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 75,702 | 45,010 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Control Accountant is in charge of managing a company's accounting records and spearheads the development of financial reports. Although the extent of their responsibilities depends on their place or industry of employment, it typically includes coordinating with different teams to gather and analyze data, conduct audits and risk analyses, monitor budgets and expenditures, review documents and other transactions and develop strategies to optimize operations. A Control Accountant leads and encourages staff to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A senior cost accountant is an individual who maintains detailed costs in a company's system and provides cost analysis that supports operations and sales. Senior cost accountants are required to review inventory and deal with manufacturing personnel to control and analyze standard costs. They must record cost information to be used in controlling expenditures as well as recommend cost efficiencies in new product layouts. Senior cost accountants must also provide reports that specify and compare factors affecting prices and profitability of products or services to the management.
Control accountants and senior cost accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Control Accountant | Senior Cost Accountant | |
| Average salary | $66,563 | $65,824 |
| Salary range | Between $48,000 And $91,000 | Between $48,000 And $89,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Marathon Oil | OraSure Technologies |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a control accountant and a senior cost accountant in terms of educational background:
| Control Accountant | Senior Cost Accountant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between control accountants' and senior cost accountants' demographics:
| Control Accountant | Senior Cost Accountant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.2% Female, 50.8% | Male, 59.7% Female, 40.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 12.1% White, 63.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 12.3% White, 64.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |