Fund accountant vs senior cost accountant

The differences between fund 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 fund accountant and a senior cost accountant. Additionally, a senior cost accountant has an average salary of $65,824, which is higher than the $60,203 average annual salary of a fund accountant.

The top three skills for a fund accountant include reconciliations, calculation and securities. The most important skills for a senior cost accountant are reconciliations, variance analysis, and GAAP.

Fund accountant vs senior cost accountant overview

	Fund Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Yearly salary	$60,203	$65,824
Hourly rate	$28.94	$31.65
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	35,702	45,010
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 84%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

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.

What does a senior cost accountant do?

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.

Fund accountant vs senior cost accountant salary

Fund accountants and senior cost accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Fund Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Average salary	$60,203	$65,824
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $80,000	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	Warburg Pincus	OraSure Technologies
Best paying industry	Finance	Health Care

Differences between fund accountant and senior cost accountant education

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

	Fund Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 84%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Fund accountant vs senior cost accountant demographics

Here are the differences between fund accountants' and senior cost accountants' demographics:

	Fund Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5%	Male, 59.7% Female, 40.3%
Race ratio	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%	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%

Differences between fund accountant and senior cost accountant duties and responsibilities

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.

Senior cost accountant example responsibilities.

Manage quarterly inventory reserves in accordance with company policy which follows GAAP guidance.
Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Process month end close including journal entries, account reconciliations, variance analysis, financial statement preparation and corporate reporting.
Provide user training and technical support for ERP and payroll systems.
Implement process improvements for monthly close process and SOX documentation retention.
Complete account reconciliations in accordance with maintaining the integrity of assets and liabilities for balance sheet inventory accounts.

Fund accountant vs senior cost accountant skills

Common fund accountant skills

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

Common senior cost accountant skills

Reconciliations, 9%
Variance Analysis, 6%
GAAP, 5%
Account Reconciliations, 4%
SR, 4%
SOX, 3%

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Fund Accountant vs Senior Cost Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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