1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
The cost accountant is responsible for analyzing ongoing process constraints, costing projects, analyzing profit margins, and linking costs to activities. They build and manage data accumulation systems to provide costing information to management. They also plan budgets and prepare reports for the company and its various departments. Asides from this, they prepare periodic cost forecasts for operational schedules. Additionally, they analyze periodic financial reports to identify and recommend cost-effective strategies for improvements.
Generally, cost accountants have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or a related field, with at least two years of related experience. Applicants must be familiar with accounting software, such as FreshBooks and QuickBooks. You must also know about the generally accepted accounting principles. Not just this, but you must possess analytical, time management, collaboration, and computer skills. Cost accountants can either practice independently or work with a firm. The average salary that a cost accountant earns is $60,051. It varies from $54,000 to $81,000.
There are certain skills that many cost accountants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed organizational skills, analytical skills and communication skills.
If you're interested in becoming a cost accountant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 76.8% of cost accountants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.2% of cost accountants have master's degrees. Even though most cost accountants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a cost accountant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior accountant, progress to a title such as accounting manager and then eventually end up with the title regional controller.
What Am I Worth?
The role of a cost accountant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general cost accountant responsibilities:
There are several types of cost accountant, including:
An accountant is a professional who specializes in preparing and analyzing financial records and transactions to ensure that they are accurate, complete, and compliant with legal and regulatory requirements. Their analysis helps firms and clients make informed decisions about their finances and business decisions. Accountants can work in various settings, including public accounting firms and government agencies. Successful accountants possess strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and an understanding of accounting principles and regulations.
Accountants typically have a better work-life balance than other professions that require long hours or irregular schedules. While busy periods such as tax season may require overtime, many accounting jobs offer a predictable nine-to-five schedule with weekends and holidays off.
People normally enjoy their role as an accountant because of the trust that clients place in them. Accountants have access to sensitive financial information and are responsible for ensuring its accuracy and confidentiality. Accountants can offer valuable insights and advice that can make a significant impact on their clients' businesses or personal finances.
Pro:
- Good job security and stability
- Diverse range of career paths and specializations
- Competitive salary and benefits
- Opportunities for remote work or flexible schedules
- Positive impact on society by ensuring financial compliance
Con:
- Can be stressful during busy periods such as tax season
- Requires attention to detail and high degree of accuracy
- May require continuing education to maintain certifications or licenses
- Can be repetitive or monotonous work
- Can involve working with challenging or uncooperative clients
Many businesses rely on staff accountants to handle the "math" of the business. But that's just a lazy way for saying you'll be in charge of handling the budget and tax requirements. Basically, any financial records will be prepared and examined by you.
Depending on the industry you're in, the majority of the year will be your "busy season." Some industries this may not apply and you'll only be required to work the normal 40-hour work week.
Typically, staff accountants need a bit of an education to find a job. And no, we're not talking about a high school degree. Most employers prefer you to have a bachelor's degree. Here's to learning more math!
A certified public accountant, or CPA for short, offers his/her or her services to companies or individuals in preparing forms for tax returns and financial statement documents. CPAs oversee audits, keep track of clients' financial records, and contribute to budgeting processes.
Knowing how to develop and implement bookkeeping policies and being familiar with local and federal laws and regulations of taxing procedures is a must, as this is what poses the challenge for people hiring CPAs. CPAs generally have basic computer skills and use accounting software to make the most of their time and resources.
In order to become a CPA, you need to have a BA in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field. As implied in the name, you need to obtain a certification to fill the role, and this is usually preceded by years of experience in the field as a public accountant.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active cost accountant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where cost accountants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 2,495 | $60,645 |
2 | Texas | 1,527 | $57,949 |
3 | Illinois | 1,106 | $56,908 |
4 | Florida | 1,101 | $54,213 |
5 | New York | 999 | $67,790 |
6 | Pennsylvania | 753 | $59,347 |
7 | Virginia | 695 | $61,310 |
8 | Massachusetts | 685 | $67,989 |
9 | Georgia | 681 | $60,301 |
10 | Ohio | 661 | $55,801 |
11 | North Carolina | 553 | $58,832 |
12 | Maryland | 547 | $57,752 |
13 | Colorado | 523 | $60,998 |
14 | Minnesota | 523 | $56,774 |
15 | Michigan | 512 | $55,418 |
16 | New Jersey | 474 | $68,831 |
17 | Missouri | 458 | $50,749 |
18 | Arizona | 439 | $55,205 |
19 | Washington | 404 | $65,944 |
20 | Tennessee | 387 | $53,887 |
21 | Wisconsin | 344 | $52,082 |
22 | Indiana | 342 | $57,732 |
23 | Connecticut | 304 | $63,183 |
24 | Oregon | 288 | $55,251 |
25 | Iowa | 284 | $53,144 |
26 | Alabama | 280 | $50,273 |
27 | Utah | 235 | $56,366 |
28 | South Carolina | 210 | $52,833 |
29 | Kentucky | 194 | $55,936 |
30 | Louisiana | 182 | $49,794 |
31 | Nevada | 178 | $59,792 |
32 | Oklahoma | 175 | $56,380 |
33 | Kansas | 148 | $52,012 |
34 | Nebraska | 136 | $54,104 |
35 | Arkansas | 129 | $53,775 |
36 | Mississippi | 116 | $51,187 |
37 | New Hampshire | 107 | $52,514 |
38 | New Mexico | 107 | $49,385 |
39 | Delaware | 99 | $58,960 |
40 | Montana | 99 | $49,947 |
41 | Idaho | 86 | $45,296 |
42 | Rhode Island | 85 | $57,093 |
43 | Hawaii | 75 | $48,470 |
44 | Maine | 62 | $50,115 |
45 | West Virginia | 58 | $51,307 |
46 | South Dakota | 50 | $48,424 |
47 | Alaska | 46 | $59,856 |
48 | Vermont | 39 | $53,110 |
49 | Wyoming | 36 | $44,531 |
50 | North Dakota | 36 | $44,558 |
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
Vestal, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,808
Enrollment
13,990
Villanova, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,308
Enrollment
6,819
San Diego, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,488
Enrollment
30,018
Waltham, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$49,880
Enrollment
4,177
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,948
Enrollment
17,238
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.6% of cost accountants listed reconciliations on their resume, but soft skills such as organizational skills and analytical skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Cost Accountant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Cost Accountant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
1. Cost Accounting
View the Specialization trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE5Rx91bdYw\n\nMany corporate decisions need cost accounting information. When you know the costs of your products, you will make better pricing decisions and you can better choose which products to offer. When you know the costs of your departments, you can better detect inefficiencies and you can better incentivize your employees.\n\nIn this Specialization, you will learn the fundamentals of cost accounting. Three courses cover...
2. Assets in Accounting
In this second course, you will dive deeper into the world of bookkeeping and focus on accounting for assets. If you are familiar with bookkeeping basics, such as double entry accounting, you are ready for this course. You will gain an understanding of common asset types, learn how to account for inventory, calculate cost of goods sold, and work with Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E). Upon completing this course, you will use your new knowledge of assets to record transactions and produce...
3. Cost Accounting: Introduction to Management Accounting
Learn Cost Accounting for Management. Includes Process Costing, ABC Systems, Variance Analysis, Cash Budgets and more...
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a cost accountant. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington. Cost accountants make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $68,831. Whereas in Massachusetts and New York, they would average $67,989 and $67,790, respectively. While cost accountants would only make an average of $65,944 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$89,977
Avg. Salary
2. Massachusetts
$67,989
Avg. Salary
3. Connecticut
$63,183
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | IBM | $87,067 | $41.86 | 39 |
2 | Texas Instruments | $80,537 | $38.72 | 19 |
3 | Solectron Corp | $77,533 | $37.28 | 26 |
4 | The Dow Chemical Company | $75,896 | $36.49 | 23 |
5 | Gardner Denver | $70,891 | $34.08 | 24 |
6 | Anheuser-Busch | $69,348 | $33.34 | 19 |
7 | Motorola Solutions | $68,745 | $33.05 | 25 |
8 | Tyson Foods | $67,761 | $32.58 | 38 |
9 | Eaton | $66,762 | $32.10 | 29 |
10 | International Paper | $63,441 | $30.50 | 26 |
An accounting firm is an organization with a variety of accountants on staff to provide accounting and financial management services to clients. Accounting firms provide accounting and financial management services. Clients of accounting firms might be individuals or whole organizations such as companies.