Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between plant controllers and projects controllers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a plant controller, becoming a projects controller takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a plant controller has an average salary of $99,550, which is higher than the $79,451 average annual salary of a projects controller.
The top three skills for a plant controller include internal controls, GAAP and plant management. The most important skills for a projects controller are project management, financial analysis, and project controller.
| Plant Controller | Projects Controller | |
| Yearly salary | $99,550 | $79,451 |
| Hourly rate | $47.86 | $38.20 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 47,555 | 16,334 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 4 |
A plant controller works at factories where they are primarily in charge of administrative duties and ensuring that operations adhere to budgets, schedules, and standards. As a plant controller, they are also responsible for gathering and analyzing financial data, analyzing cost reports, preparing financial statements, maintaining databases, performing audits and risk assessments, and overseeing the accounting team procedures. Additionally, they also supervise staff operations and address issues and concerns while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A project controller is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of project management procedures, ensuring that the team adheres to the clients' specifications and requirements, and keeping all project resources and deliverables within the budget goals and set timeframe. Project controllers determine the progress of the project and coordinate the updates to the client, adjusting the project approach as needed to achieve high-quality standards and objectives. They also maintain an organized report of expenditures, as well as generating process reports to identify potential process improvement techniques that will maximize operational efficiency.
Plant controllers and projects controllers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Plant Controller | Projects Controller | |
| Average salary | $99,550 | $79,451 |
| Salary range | Between $72,000 And $136,000 | Between $53,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | Reno, NV | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Arkema | California Resources |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a plant controller and a projects controller in terms of educational background:
| Plant Controller | Projects Controller | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between plant controllers' and projects controllers' demographics:
| Plant Controller | Projects Controller | |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.9% Female, 24.1% | Male, 55.9% Female, 44.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.4% Asian, 7.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 13.9% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 7% |