Payroll analyst vs finance analyst

The differences between payroll analysts and finance analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a payroll analyst and a finance analyst. Additionally, a finance analyst has an average salary of $69,887, which is higher than the $54,217 average annual salary of a payroll analyst.

The top three skills for a payroll analyst include customer service, payroll system and payroll data. The most important skills for a finance analyst are financial analysis, financial models, and financial data.

Payroll analyst vs finance analyst overview

	Payroll Analyst	Finance Analyst
Yearly salary	$54,217	$69,887
Hourly rate	$26.07	$33.60
Growth rate	-3%	9%
Number of jobs	15,555	138,600
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	48	40
Years of experience	4	4

What does a payroll analyst do?

A payroll analyst is primarily in charge of overseeing a company's payroll processes and transactions, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities typically revolve around coordinating with human resources for accurate and complete timesheets and employee data, managing calendars and schedules, calculating wages and deductions, and performing consistent audits. There are also instances when a payroll analyst must perform clerical tasks such as processing documents, prepare progress reports, and respond to employee inquiries. Furthermore, it is essential to report to managers should there be any issues and concerns.

What does a finance analyst do?

A finance analyst is responsible for evaluating a company's financial data and historical reports to assess investment opportunities and provide accurate financial statements in support of business strategies and company performance prediction. A financial analyst's duties also include suggesting recommendations to boost operations efficiency and grow revenues, researching the current market performance and economic trends to adjust budget goals as needed, and managing client portfolios. Finance analysts must have excellent critical and analytical thinking skills to identify the best actions for the company's profitability.

Payroll analyst vs finance analyst salary

Payroll analysts and finance analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Payroll Analyst	Finance Analyst
Average salary	$54,217	$69,887
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $74,000	Between $46,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	Olympia, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	Connecticut
Best paying company	Varian Medical Systems	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Technology	Finance

Differences between payroll analyst and finance analyst education

There are a few differences between a payroll analyst and a finance analyst in terms of educational background:

	Payroll Analyst	Finance Analyst
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Payroll analyst vs finance analyst demographics

Here are the differences between payroll analysts' and finance analysts' demographics:

	Payroll Analyst	Finance Analyst
Average age	48	40
Gender ratio	Male, 24.2% Female, 75.8%	Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.1% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%	Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 14.1% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	10%	7%

Differences between payroll analyst and finance analyst duties and responsibilities

Payroll analyst example responsibilities.

Manage all activities relate to base pay, overtime, PTO, garnishments and payroll tax.
Perform monthly accounting functions including journal entries, general ledger account reconciliations, benefit and salary accruals, and headcount reconciliations.
Create PowerPoint slides to train new timekeepers and managers in KRONOS.
Lead functional tester in support of timekeeping, payroll and labor upgrades and conversion projects.
Support the third-party web applications like KRONOS and custom-built time entry systems to input the time data
Enter new hires, terminations, and employee maintenance changes into HRIS & ADP including process employee benefit elections.

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Finance analyst example responsibilities.

Manage company asset accounts, wire funds to clients and record and structure amounts into QuickBooks.
Manage the UAT team involve in the testing of an enterprise accounting and project management software.
Manage customer portfolio to department KPI's, target balance, aging metrics, cash recovery and write-off tolerance.
Manage contract database and SalesForce for historical research and financial reporting purposes.
Manage and maintain information in worldwide-military database which include exemptions, transfers, retirements, and payroll records.
Accomplish project accounting functions including project costing, time reporting, project accruals and proper capitalization of development costs.

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Payroll analyst vs finance analyst skills

Common payroll analyst skills

Customer Service, 11%
Payroll System, 6%
Payroll Data, 4%
Human Resources, 4%
Reconciliations, 4%
Data Entry, 3%

Common finance analyst skills

Financial Analysis, 9%
Financial Models, 5%
Financial Data, 5%
Strong Analytical, 4%
Variance Analysis, 4%
Hyperion, 3%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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