Public accountant vs account auditor

The differences between public accountants and account auditors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an account auditor has an average salary of $76,369, which is higher than the $58,843 average annual salary of a public accountant.

The top three skills for a public accountant include CPA, real estate and audit procedures. The most important skills for an account auditor are audit reports, reconciliations, and CPA.

Public accountant vs account auditor overview

	Public Accountant	Account Auditor
Yearly salary	$58,843	$76,369
Hourly rate	$28.29	$36.72
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	46,295	89,144
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	-

What does a public accountant do?

A public accountant handles duties relating to financial planning, bookkeeping, and preparing government taxes and audits. Besides overseeing financial management and budget management, a public accountant also maintains and audits an organization's financial records. Other duties performed by public accountants include creating and analyzing budgets and recommending fiscally practical techniques to save the company's money. A public accountant reports financial information to the organization management and audits its accounts for overspending, fraud, errors, and misinformation.

What does an account auditor do?

The account auditor is the person tasked to conduct audits in sales accounts handled by the company. As with an auditor, this person checks all financial statements, investigates each entry, making sure everything is accounted for correctly. The auditor checks all receivables, attachments, and liquidation to ensure the financial report is accurate, which is vital for strategies that affect company expenses, calculate revenue, gains, and losses, and use those information to file taxes.

Public accountant vs account auditor salary

Public accountants and account auditors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Public Accountant	Account Auditor
Average salary	$58,843	$76,369
Salary range	Between $43,000 And $80,000	Between $53,000 And $109,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	Citi	Apple
Best paying industry	Professional	Professional

Differences between public accountant and account auditor education

There are a few differences between a public accountant and an account auditor in terms of educational background:

	Public Accountant	Account Auditor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Public accountant vs account auditor demographics

Here are the differences between public accountants' and account auditors' demographics:

	Public Accountant	Account Auditor
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0%	Male, 39.6% Female, 60.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 12.4% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 12.2% White, 64.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between public accountant and account auditor duties and responsibilities

Public accountant example responsibilities.

Manage and monitor accounting procedures for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and coordinate and facilitate external audit requirements.
Perform write-ups, analysis of general ledger, adjusting journal entries and reconciliations.
Ensure accuracy and completeness of write-ups and monthly bank reconciliations.
Handle tax matters with the IRS for clients and business owners.
Assist clients with IRS correspondence, accounting and recording business transactions.
Collaborate in the resolution of taxation disputes with federal, state and local tax agencies.

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Account auditor example responsibilities.

Ensure all working files and relate supporting documents meet SOX compliance and audit trail requirement
Work in a small team, ensure SOX compliance and GAAP/SEC/FASB reporting guidelines are adhered to.
Perform monthly accounting services, prepare quarterly/yearly payroll tax reports.
Administer processing of payroll and compliance with federal/state tax reporting requirements.
Review and analyze Medicaid cost report data to determine Medicaid reimbursement.
Verify accounts and prepares statements for private pay residents and Medicaid long-term care eligibility.

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Public accountant vs account auditor skills

Common public accountant skills

CPA, 17%
Real Estate, 9%
Audit Procedures, 9%
Financial Statement Preparation, 7%
Payroll Tax, 6%
Partnerships, 5%

Common account auditor skills

Audit Reports, 19%
Reconciliations, 6%
CPA, 6%
Internal Controls, 6%
Audit Procedures, 6%
Payroll, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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