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The differences between directors of accounting & finance and cost accounting managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a director of accounting & finance and a cost accounting manager. Additionally, a director of accounting & finance has an average salary of $127,871, which is higher than the $89,286 average annual salary of a cost accounting manager.
The top three skills for a director of accounting & finance include CPA, GAAP and internal controls. The most important skills for a cost accounting manager are variance analysis, financial analysis, and reconciliations.
| Director Of Accounting & Finance | Cost Accounting Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $127,871 | $89,286 |
| Hourly rate | $61.48 | $42.93 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 100,209 | 61,135 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
A director of accounting and finance is in charge of overseeing all financial activities and decisions in a company and supervising its workforce. Their responsibilities revolve around spearheading the development of financial plans and strategies, coordinating with analysts and consultants, gathering and analyzing financial data, and reporting all sales progress to executives through documents and presentations. They must also set goals and objectives, allocate budgets to different departments, prepare comprehensive sales forecasts, and lead employees while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A cost accounting manager is responsible for analyzing and evaluating pricing and costing systems of the goods and services of an organization, ensuring its adherence to the internal guidelines and state regulations. Cost accounting managers review business and financial transactions to generate accounting reports for management reference. They also identify business opportunities that would provide revenue resources and profits by monitoring industry trends and public demands. A cost accounting manager must have excellent analytical skills and accounting principles knowledge, especially in resolving account and expense discrepancies.
Directors of accounting & finance and cost accounting managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Director Of Accounting & Finance | Cost Accounting Manager | |
| Average salary | $127,871 | $89,286 |
| Salary range | Between $88,000 And $184,000 | Between $67,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Fried Frank | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a director of accounting & finance and a cost accounting manager in terms of educational background:
| Director Of Accounting & Finance | Cost Accounting Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between directors of accounting & finance' and cost accounting managers' demographics:
| Director Of Accounting & Finance | Cost Accounting Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 67.1% Female, 32.9% | Male, 71.7% Female, 28.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Asian, 9.4% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 9.2% White, 64.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |