The senior accountant job title isn't for the faint of heart. Well, really, it's just not for those just starting their careers. Hence the senior title. This means you need to have some experience under your belt to secure a job under this title.
Once you have experience and education, you'll be ready to tackle the senior accountant world. That means you'll be doing everything from analyzing client account information to maintaining subsidiary accounts. On top of being able to do this work without supervision, you're also going to be in charge of a small accounting team. So you'll need to be ready to answer questions.
Quite generally, senior accountants become such after being a staff accountant with that firm for a few years. Many senior accountants recommend learning how to do your job above and beyond expectations so that you're already considered for the position before you've even applied. Some things are just that easy.
Senior Accountant Overview
Senior Accountant Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior accountant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.27 an hour? That's $69,205 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 90,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Accountant Do
There are certain skills that many senior accountants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior accountant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.6% of senior accountants included financial statements, while 9.9% of resumes included cpa, and 8.9% of resumes included gaap. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior accountant job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior accountants actually find jobs in the finance and professional industries.
How To Become a Senior Accountant
If you're interested in becoming a senior accountant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.9% of senior accountants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.3% of senior accountants have master's degrees. Even though most senior accountants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior accountant. When we researched the most common majors for a senior accountant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior accountant resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior accountant. In fact, many senior accountant jobs require experience in a role such as staff accountant. Meanwhile, many senior accountants also have previous career experience in roles such as accountant or accounting manager.
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Senior Accountant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior accountant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as accounting manager, progress to a title such as controller and then eventually end up with the title regional controller.
Senior Accountant Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Senior Accountant
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Propeller Industries Senior Accountant Senior Accountant | Propeller Industries Propeller Industries | 06/30/2021 06/30/2021 | $65,00006/30/2021 $65,000 |
XXX Senior Accountant To Immediately Senior Accountant To Immediately | XXX XXX | 06/30/2021 06/30/2021 | $85,00006/30/2021 $85,000 |
Lumen Technologies Senior Accountant, Broomfield or Monroe Senior Accountant, Broomfield or Monroe | Lumen Technologies Lumen Technologies | 06/30/2021 06/30/2021 | $57,60006/30/2021 $57,600 |
Ace Employment Services, Inc. Senior Accountant Senior Accountant | Ace Employment Services, Inc. Ace Employment Services, Inc. | 06/29/2021 06/29/2021 | $90,00006/29/2021 $90,000 |
Taylor White Accounting and Finance Senior Accountant Senior Accountant | Taylor White Accounting and Finance Taylor White Accounting and Finance | 06/29/2021 06/29/2021 | $65,00006/29/2021 $65,000 |
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Senior Accountant Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Senior Accountant. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
10 Best Resume Templates In 2021
Learn How To Write a Senior Accountant Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Senior Accountant resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Senior Accountants
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
7. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
8. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
9. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
10. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Online Courses For Senior Accountant That You May Like
Payroll calculations - federal income tax, social security, Medicare - Payroll journal entries posted to ledger accounts...
This course prepares the learner with the basic knowledge needed to administer the accounting for payroll...
Accounting & Financial Ratio Analysis made easy. Learn important accounting skills that will get your foot in the door!...
Top Skills For a Senior Accountant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.6% of senior accountants listed financial statements on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Financial Statements, 14.6%
- CPA, 9.9%
- Gaap, 8.9%
- General Ledger Accounts, 8.4%
- Internal Audit, 5.7%
- Other Skills, 52.5% See All Senior Accountant Skills
Best States For a Senior Accountant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior accountant. The best states for people in this position are California, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Senior accountants make the most in California with an average salary of $77,942. Whereas in New York and New Jersey, they would average $77,768 and $74,439, respectively. While senior accountants would only make an average of $71,126 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$77,768
Avg. Salary
2. California
$77,942
Avg. Salary
3. District of Columbia
$80,757
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Accountant Rate Their Jobs?
4.0
4.0
Accounting is Fun • April 2019What do you like the most about working as Senior Accountant?
Making business processes work right and helping people Show MoreTop Senior Accountant Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ senior accountants and discovered their number of senior accountant opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Robert Half International was the best, especially with an average salary of $67,842. Deloitte follows up with an average salary of $70,221, and then comes Ernst & Young with an average of $72,489. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a senior accountant. The employers include Mastercard, Cigna, and DRS TECH DRS GROUP
Senior Accountant Videos
