Corporate accountant vs fund accountant

The differences between corporate accountants and fund 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 corporate accountant and a fund accountant. Additionally, a corporate accountant has an average salary of $64,300, which is higher than the $60,203 average annual salary of a fund accountant.

The top three skills for a corporate accountant include reconciliations, GAAP and account reconciliations. The most important skills for a fund accountant are reconciliations, calculation, and securities.

Corporate accountant vs fund accountant overview

	Corporate Accountant	Fund Accountant
Yearly salary	$64,300	$60,203
Hourly rate	$30.91	$28.94
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	54,174	35,702
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a corporate accountant do?

A corporate accountant is an individual who prepares financial statements and maintains financial records of an organization to ensure that they comply with laws, regulations, and the organization's policies. Corporate accountants are required to analyze financial statements to help executives make financial decisions for the organization. They must collect ledgers and financial reports from divisional offices and prepare corporate financial statements for executives. Corporate accountants must also prepare budgets to allocate funds for spending for each department.

What does a fund accountant do?

A fund accountant provides accounting for an investment portfolio. The investments needed include commodities, securities, and/or real estate in an investment fund like a hedge fund or mutual fund. The role of fund accountants includes activity capturing and recording. Fund accountants prepare accurate and timely values, distributions, yields, and fund accounting output for review. They manage activities associated with fund accounting and domestic equity transactions. Also, they work alongside supervisors when it comes to budget development.

Corporate accountant vs fund accountant salary

Corporate accountants and fund accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Corporate Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average salary	$64,300	$60,203
Salary range	Between $46,000 And $89,000	Between $44,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	New York, NY
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	Putnam Investments	Warburg Pincus
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between corporate accountant and fund accountant education

There are a few differences between a corporate accountant and a fund accountant in terms of educational background:

	Corporate Accountant	Fund Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Corporate accountant vs fund accountant demographics

Here are the differences between corporate accountants' and fund accountants' demographics:

	Corporate Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9%	Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.0% Asian, 13.0% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 18.4% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between corporate accountant and fund accountant duties and responsibilities

Corporate accountant example responsibilities.

Lead successful implementation of PeopleSoft fix asset software module.
Manage and monitor accounting procedures for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and coordinate and facilitate external audit requirements.
Perform month-end closing responsibilities, month-end accruals, expense allocations across business units and legal entities, and account reconciliations.
Perform general accounting assignments including accruals, profit and loss reports and reconciliations.
Prepare monthly journal entries and variance reconciliations primarily relating to compensation, operational accruals, investments, and partnerships.
Perform detailed and extensive schedules and analysis for annual audits by an outside CPA firm as required by law.

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Fund accountant example responsibilities.

Manage fund accounting activities for five funds for an investment manager with $80b in AUM.
Manage accoutningtransition from Quickbooks to Yardi.
Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Record efficiently accounting records, securities positions, corporate actions and journal entries accordance with department policies and procedures.
Process complex transactions for foreign and domestic bonds, equities, futures, and options.
Prepare annual and semi-annual financial statements using GAAP.

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Corporate accountant vs fund accountant skills

Common corporate accountant skills

Reconciliations, 14%
GAAP, 6%
Account Reconciliations, 6%
CPA, 5%
General Ledger Accounts, 5%
External Auditors, 4%

Common fund accountant skills

Reconciliations, 12%
Calculation, 5%
Securities, 5%
GAAP, 5%
Accruals, 5%
Journal Entries, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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