What does a senior accountant analyst do?
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.
Senior accountant analyst responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior accountant analyst resumes:
- Develop and manage Sarbanes-Oxley compliance procedures.
- Manage complex pricing structure and maintain SalesForce CRM funnel for forecasting accuracy.
- Provide high-level financial analysis and accounting, conduct fixed asset analysis, variance analysis, account reconciliations, and month end-closes.
- Perform relevant SOX controls accurately and timely.
- Research and make technical recommendations regarding GAAP accounting issues.
- Document and test control procedures in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
- Develop financial reporting system bridging U.S. GAAP with German reporting requirements.
- Train various accounting personnel on payroll processing for parent and subsidiary company.
- Recommend and prepare monthly accruals and provide feedback to management for monthly budgeting.
- Prepare correcting entries and/or accruals require based on investigation results and present recommendations to upper management for approval.
- Support all functional areas: revenue recognition, international consolidation, financial trend report preparations and SOX testing.
- Complete monthly fix asset accounting, customer profitability analysis and general ledger reconciliations with a focus on streamlining and automating tasks.
- Collaborate extensively with CPA's office during preliminary and year-end audit/review process to ensure completeness of financial statements and tax returns.
- Investigate and resolve all Intercompany outstanding balances.
Senior accountant analyst skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Senior Accountant Analysts are proficient in Reconciliations, External Auditors, and Account Reconciliations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Accountant Analysts that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Reconciliations, 11%
Completed monthly fixed asset accounting, customer profitability analysis and general ledger reconciliations with a focus on streamlining and automating tasks.
- External Auditors, 5%
Developed and managed external financial relationships with external auditors, banks and other parties
- Account Reconciliations, 5%
Managed monthly journal activities and balance sheet account reconciliations, preparing financial statements and presenting quarterly consolidated package to parent company.
- General Ledger Accounts, 5%
Designed reconciliation spreadsheets for general ledger accounts, shortening the reconciliation and review process by several days.
- GAAP, 5%
Researched and made technical recommendations regarding GAAP accounting issues.
- Financial Analysis, 5%
Performed financial analysis, prepared internal management reports using various graphs and discussed company s performance in senior management meetings.
"reconciliations," "external auditors," and "account reconciliations" are among the most common skills that senior accountant analysts use at work. You can find even more senior accountant analyst responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a senior accountant analyst to carry out their responsibilities is organizational skills. This skill is important for the role because "strong organizational skills are important for accountants and auditors, who often work with a range of financial documents for a variety of clients." Additionally, a senior accountant analyst resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "provide strong and decisive organizational and departmental leadership by setting high standards and model work ethics. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for senior accountant analysts to perform their duties. For an example of how senior accountant analyst responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "accountants and auditors must be able to listen to and discuss facts and concerns from clients, managers, and other stakeholders." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior accountant analyst: "provided financial analysis for a telecommunications company who sold telemarketing products and services to a national client base. ".
Detail oriented. For certain senior accountant analyst responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "detail oriented." The day-to-day duties of a senior accountant analyst rely on this skill, as "accountants and auditors must pay attention to detail when compiling and examining documents." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior accountant analysts do: "analyzed the monthly income statement and balance sheets in detail including when necessary reviewing individual journal entries and reconciliations. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in senior accountant analyst job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what senior accountant analysts do. Senior accountant analyst responsibilities rely on this skill because "accountants and auditors must be able to analyze, compare, and interpret facts and figures." You can also see how senior accountant analyst duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "execute business day 5 close of gl including ar, forecast, quantitative analysis and financial statement preparation. "
The three companies that hire the most senior accountant analysts are:
- Robert Half4 senior accountant analysts jobs
- Atlantic Health4 senior accountant analysts jobs
- Solugenix4 senior accountant analysts jobs
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Compare different senior accountant analysts
Senior accountant analyst vs. Accounting supervisor
Account supervisors are in charge of the accounting and financial operations within an organization's accounting department. They supervise the account team and provide feedback about their performance and recommend improvements when necessary. It is their responsibility to review the company's financial statements for accuracy. They even reconcile the enterprise's general ledger accounts and oversee the communications and marketing plans of the clients. Also, they maintain profitable and long-term customer relationships to keep the trust of the clients.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior accountant analysts and accounting supervisor. For instance, senior accountant analyst responsibilities require skills such as "payroll," "income statement," "treasury," and "financial performance." Whereas a accounting supervisor is skilled in "cpa," "customer service," "payroll taxes," and "direct reports." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Accounting supervisors tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $86,930. In contrast, senior accountant analysts make the biggest average salary, $89,199, in the finance industry.On average, accounting supervisors reach similar levels of education than senior accountant analysts. Accounting supervisors are 3.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior accountant analyst vs. Accounting manager
An accounting manager is responsible for supervising and monitoring the overall accounting department operations. Duties of an accounting manager include reviewing account information and account statements, processing invoices, analyzing financial data, performing account reconciliations, assisting with tax processing and audit reports, and generating financial reports for presentation with the board. An accounting manager must have excellent knowledge of the accounting principles and legislation to assist the team with the company's financial goals. Accounting managers must have the outstanding analytical, critical thinking, and decision-making skills to develop the best competitive financial strategies.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior accountant analyst responsibilities requires skills like "payroll," "income statement," "financial performance," and "real estate." But an accounting manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cpa," "customer service," "payroll processing," and "cash management."
Accounting managers may earn a higher salary than senior accountant analysts, but accounting managers earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $99,773. On the other hand, senior accountant analysts receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $89,199.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Accounting managers tend to reach similar levels of education than senior accountant analysts. In fact, they're 2.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior accountant analysts in the next 3-5 years?
Terri Walsh
Professor/Program Manager, Accounting, Seminole State College of Florida
Senior accountant analyst vs. Finance analyst/accountant
In a company setting, a finance analyst/accountant is in charge of handling and monitoring financial activities, ensuring efficiency and accuracy. Their responsibilities revolve around preparing financial reports, performing audits and risk assessments, and identifying any errors and inconsistencies, resolving them promptly and efficiently. They also conduct research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, evaluate the existing procedures to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and recommend solutions to optimize operations for financial growth. Furthermore, as a finance analyst/accountant, it is essential to uphold the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior accountant analysts are more likely to have skills like "treasury," "real estate," "balance sheet reconciliations," and "intercompany transactions." But a finance analyst/accountant is more likely to have skills like "cpa," "financial models," "data analysis," and "sql."
Finance analyst/accountants earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $78,897. Senior accountant analysts earn the highest pay from the finance industry, with an average salary of $89,199.When it comes to education, finance analyst/accountants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior accountant analysts. In fact, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior accountant analyst vs. Fixed asset accountant
A fixed asset accountant is responsible for processing statement reports for the company's assets, organizing account records, and handling bank reconciliations and disputes. Fixed asset accountants must have excellent knowledge of the accounting principles to determine and track the assets dispositions in various accounting systems for reference. They also ensure the accurate balance and calculate the value of all fixed assets for reports. A fixed asset accountant should be highly analytical to measure asset obligations and provide recommendations for asset acquisition.
Types of senior accountant analyst
Updated January 8, 2025
