How To Become An Industrial Accountant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an industrial accountant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Sheri Geddes

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an industrial accountant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.8 an hour? That's $43,267 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 81,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an industrial accountant?

Sheri Geddes

Associate Professor of Accounting, Hope College

Starting a career is like the beginning of a long journey. The journey will give you time to learn more about yourself, while making new and lasting relationships. I would encourage graduates to focus on two things. First, try to develop a heart of leadership centered on serving people. Second, always try to remain receptive to new ideas and information, by encouraging others to speak freely, by creating an environment in which all input is valued.

ScoreIndustrial AccountantUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,267

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.44%

Asian 13.09%

Black or African American 5.66%

Hispanic or Latino 7.90%

Unknown 3.81%

White 69.09%

Gender

female 52.17%

male 47.83%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an industrial accountant

Explore industrial accountant education requirements

Most common industrial accountant degrees

Bachelor's

74.3 %

Master's

11.4 %

Associate

8.6 %

Start to develop specific industrial accountant skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Statements	48.71%
Reconciliations	44.11%
Payroll	7.18%

Complete relevant industrial accountant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New industrial accountants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an industrial accountant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real industrial accountant resumes.

Research industrial accountant duties and responsibilities

Manage accounting operations, accounting close, account reporting and reconciliations.
Automate accounting processes via excel - bank statement reconciliations, recurring journal entries etc.
Collaborate with payroll conversion process from ADP to PeopleSoft; performing parallel testing and confirming accuracy of payroll information in PeopleSoft.
Respond to questions from business units regarding general accounting and/or PeopleSoft system matters and investigate and resolve GL accounting inconsistencies.

Apply for industrial accountant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an industrial accountant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do industrial accountants rate their job?

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Industrial accountant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020

Cons

Everything else. Too much anxiety, debts, low sallary (€700/month).