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What does a principal accountant do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
Quoted expert
Terri Walsh

Principal accountants are accounting professionals who are responsible for leading a team of accountants to maintain financial systems and provide budgetary advice for an organization. These accountants are required to compile the information into financial statements and perform analysis to identify areas of improvement. They must train and guide their accounting staff while ensuring to take disciplinary steps when needed to correct the performance of their employees. Principal accountants must also authorize the purchase of services, supplies, and equipment that are within the established budgets.

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Principal accountant responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real principal accountant resumes:

  • Manage derivative accounting at global level and ensure accounting and economic hedging objectives are align.
  • Apply and explain GAAP principles to students, departments and vendors.
  • Collect and verify project assumptions and overhead data, ensure Hyperion reporting system capture accurate data during planning process.
  • Maintain Medicaid regulations, guidelines, and manuals pertaining to community mental health services.
  • Apply changes to medical billing processes ensuring all state and federal regulations are followed surrounding specifically Medicaid products.

Principal accountant skills and personality traits

We calculated that 7% of Principal Accountants are proficient in GAAP, CPA, and Reconciliations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Principal Accountants that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • GAAP, 7%

    Complete quarterly GAAP and STAT reporting for various fixed assets

  • CPA, 7%

    Collaborate extensively with CPA's office during preliminary and year-end audit/review process to ensure completeness of financial statements and tax returns.

  • Reconciliations, 6%

    Prepared monthly bank reconciliations for miscellaneous revenue and prepared adjusting journal entries as required.

  • Business Development, 6%

    Tasked with new business development at BPO division of IKON, focused on Utility/Energy accounts.

  • Account Management, 6%

    Headed agency account management recruiting efforts and trained internal executives in effective interviewing skills.

  • Internal Controls, 5%

    Revised and implemented new internal controls, policies and procedures that helped to streamline the budget and grant administrative process.

Common skills that a principal accountant uses to do their job include "gaap," "cpa," and "reconciliations." You can find details on the most important principal accountant responsibilities below.

Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform principal accountant duties is communication skills. Principal accountants responsibilities require that "accountants and auditors must be able to listen to and discuss facts and concerns from clients, managers, and other stakeholders." Principal accountants also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided translation and communication between china gaap (adapted ifrs) and us gaap. "

Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of principal accountants is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday principal accountant duties, as "accountants and auditors must pay attention to detail when compiling and examining documents." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "created detailed forecasts by working directly with business development manager, demand planner, and operations. "

Math skills. A big part of what principal accountants do relies on "math skills." You can see how essential it is to principal accountant responsibilities because "accountants and auditors must be able to analyze, compare, and interpret facts and figures." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical principal accountant tasks: "prepared the financial sections of the monthly project status reports, involving accruals and projections of financial statistics for project engineers. "

Organizational skills. Another common skill required for principal accountant responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of principal accountants all the time, as "strong organizational skills are important for accountants and auditors, who often work with a range of financial documents for a variety of clients." An excerpt from a real principal accountant resume shows how this skill is central to what a principal accountant does: "ensured organizational and gaap compliance using excel and peachtree presented to senior staff and board members for 21 locations. "

Most common principal accountant skills

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Compare different principal accountants

Principal accountant vs. Accounting analyst

An accounting analyst is responsible for supporting the accounting operations of an organization, analyzing financial transactions and financial statements, and resolving account discrepancies. Accounting analysts interpret financial data by consolidating account transactions, performing account reconciliation, and managing account receivables. They also assist in preparing and releasing invoices, issuing billing statements, and creating comprehensive financial reports on the company's budget and expenses. An accounting analyst must have excellent knowledge of the accounting principles and disciplines, as well as extensive analytical and communication skills to perform duties and meet deadlines under minimal supervision.

The annual salary of accounting analysts is $36,409 lower than the average salary of principal accountants.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both principal accountant and accounting analyst positions are skilled in gaap, reconciliations, and internal controls.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, principal accountant responsibilities require skills like "cpa," "business development," "account management," and "project management." Meanwhile a typical accounting analyst has skills in areas such as "customer service," "account reconciliations," "strong analytical," and "pivot tables." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

The education levels that accounting analysts earn slightly differ from principal accountants. In particular, accounting analysts are 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a principal accountant. Additionally, they're 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Principal accountant vs. Accountant/consultant

Accountants/consultants perform accounting tasks for organizations or companies. The accountants improve accounting practices and prepare financial statements at the end of every year. They analyze financial data and offer advice on regulatory compliance issues to the finance department. It is their job to make sure that the online system is secure. Most of the day, they organize invoices, prepare statements, and supervising systems. They should be equipped with analytical skills, industry knowledge, critical thinking, and interpersonal communication.

Accountant/consultant positions earn lower pay than principal accountant roles. They earn a $30,510 lower salary than principal accountants per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both principal accountants and accountant/consultants have skills such as "gaap," "cpa," and "reconciliations. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real principal accountant resumes. While principal accountant responsibilities can utilize skills like "business development," "general ledger," "sox," and "external auditors," accountant/consultants use skills like "product knowledge," "strong analytical," "leveraged," and "customer service."

Accountant/consultants earn lower levels of education than principal accountants in general. They're 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for principal accountants in the next 3-5 years?

Terri WalshTerri Walsh LinkedIn profile

Professor/Program Manager, Accounting, Seminole State College of Florida

I think EXCEL is a must for all business graduates, especially for accounting graduates, but often they have not been exposed to much of it in their degree. Besides, with technology continually changing, a dual major in accounting and information technology will be sought after, so I recommend a bachelor's degree accounting major NOT pursue an MBA, but an information technology degree or programming data. The rise of Big Data and issues surrounding cybersecurity risks will require the accounting profession, and accounting roles, to rely more on students with strong computer skills and logic/analytical thinking. As mentioned before, they will need to master EXCEL, as spreadsheets are widely used in accounting and are the foundation for more advanced software. We are already seeing TABLEAU being used in accounting books, even in the foundational courses which have EXCEL already. There is powerful interrogation software, such as IDEA and ACL, which can pull data from multiple sources; and knowing these tools or their capabilities will be required in the future. Also, strong technological skills need to be communicated once data is retrieved, and this will require persuasive writing and verbal skills.

Principal accountant vs. Senior accountant analyst

As a senior accountant analyst, your main role is to provide professional guidance to a company. You need to have excellent preparation skills to create financial reports that clearly state the expenses and forecast the company's financial future. You should always aim for accuracy and compliance. Moreover, as a senior accountant analyst, you are supposed to give general operational assistance to the company's management.

On average scale, senior accountant analysts bring in lower salaries than principal accountants. In fact, they earn a $19,526 lower salary per year.By looking over several principal accountants and senior accountant analysts resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "gaap," "reconciliations," and "internal controls." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from principal accountant resumes include skills like "cpa," "business development," "account management," and "financial reports," whereas a senior accountant analyst is more likely to list skills in "account reconciliations," "general ledger accounts," "strong analytical," and "accruals. "

Most senior accountant analysts achieve a similar degree level compared to principal accountants. For example, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Principal accountant vs. Senior cost accountant

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.

Senior cost accountants average a lower salary than the annual salary of principal accountants. The difference is about $28,984 per year.While their salaries may vary, principal accountants and senior cost accountants both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "gaap," "reconciliations," and "internal controls. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between principal accountants and senior cost accountants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a principal accountant might have more use for skills like "cpa," "business development," "account management," and "general ledger." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of senior cost accountants require skills like "account reconciliations," "sr," "margin analysis," and "ppv. "

In general, senior cost accountants hold similar degree levels compared to principal accountants. Senior cost accountants are 1.7% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of principal accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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