Forensic accountant vs fund accountant

The differences between forensic 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 forensic accountant and a fund accountant. Additionally, a forensic accountant has an average salary of $66,833, which is higher than the $60,203 average annual salary of a fund accountant.

The top three skills for a forensic accountant include CPA, litigation and forensic accounting. The most important skills for a fund accountant are reconciliations, calculation, and securities.

Forensic accountant vs fund accountant overview

	Forensic Accountant	Fund Accountant
Yearly salary	$66,833	$60,203
Hourly rate	$32.13	$28.94
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	39,176	35,702
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a forensic accountant do?

Working close together with law enforcement agencies, a forensic accountant specializes in investigating potential fraud and financial crimes. Their responsibilities typically include performing extensive research and analysis, gathering and analyzing various forms of financial data and storage, reviewing and validating documents, verifying information, and conducting internal and external financial audits. Most of the time, a forensic accountant presents research findings to lawyers and judges as evidence, which will require them to participate and testify in court proceedings.

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.

Forensic accountant vs fund accountant salary

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

	Forensic Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average salary	$66,833	$60,203
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $100,000	Between $44,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	New York
Best paying company	Berkeley Research Group	Warburg Pincus
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between forensic accountant and fund accountant education

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

	Forensic Accountant	Fund Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Forensic accountant vs fund accountant demographics

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

	Forensic Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 57.0% Female, 43.0%	Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 12.1% White, 63.6% 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 forensic accountant and fund accountant duties and responsibilities

Forensic accountant example responsibilities.

Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Gain accounting and auditing experience with this CPA firm.
Select and roll out ERP software to meet company requirements.
Complete all tasks for a full service CPA firm independently with little supervision.
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of GAAP to record transactions.
Prepare responses to interrogatories and requests for production documents.

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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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Forensic accountant vs fund accountant skills

Common forensic accountant skills

CPA, 21%
Litigation, 16%
Forensic Accounting, 8%
Financial Data, 7%
Fraud Investigations, 7%
CFE, 5%

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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