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What is a senior accounting associate and how to become one
Senior accountants are responsible for reconciling account balances and bank statements, maintaining a general ledger. They must be able to prepare month-end close procedures. It may benefit them to have experience collaborating or managing a team of accountants and junior accountants.
They may be required to have a bachelors' degree, though some institutions also accept high school diplomas or GED. It might be beneficial to have experience as an accounting associate, accounts payable clerk, or staff accountant.
Senior accountants can expect to make an average salary of $74,759 per year, or $35.94 per hour. They may even earn more, as there are many benefits to additional payments. Their employers will expect them to be excellent in analysis to analyze financial reports and forecasts. If they are perfect in research, they can earn more.
What general advice would you give to a senior accounting associate?
Claudia Kocher Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Finance, University of Michigan Dearborn
Avg. Salary $105,152
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate -5%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%
Asian 6.55%
Black or African American 6.78%
Hispanic or Latino 14.40%
Unknown 3.96%
White 67.68%
Genderfemale 71.30%
male 28.70%
Age - 53American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 53Stress level is manageable
7.1 - high
Complexity level is intermediate
7 - challenging
Work life balance is good
6.4 - fair
Senior accounting associate career paths
Key steps to become a senior accounting associate
Explore senior accounting associate education requirements
Start to develop specific senior accounting associate skills
Skills Percentages Reconciliations 12.05% GAAP 9.71% Fixed Assets 7.60% Payroll 4.86% Senior Accounting 4.26% Complete relevant senior accounting associate training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior accounting associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior accounting associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior accounting associate resumes.Research senior accounting associate duties and responsibilities
- Lead the conversion to new trading software that enhance cash management and treasury reporting.
- Manage payroll and all taxation matters, coordinate independent audit; communicate with outside organizations and agencies.
- Adhere to SOX control by ensuring trends in income, accruals, and amortization/accretion are in line with forecasts.
- Review accounting documents to ensure accuracy, completeness and compliance of information and calculation to company policy and GAAP.
Get senior accounting associate experience
Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior accounting associate. The most common roles before becoming a senior accounting associate include accounting associate, accounts payable clerk team lead and staff accountant.Prepare your senior accounting associate resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior accounting associate resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior accounting associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable senior accounting associate resume templates
Build a professional senior accounting associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior accounting associate resume.
Apply for senior accounting associate jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a senior accounting associate job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
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Average senior accounting associate salary
The average senior accounting associate salary in the United States is $105,152 per year or $51 per hour. Senior accounting associate salaries range between $73,000 and $150,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do senior accounting associates rate their job?
Senior accounting associate reviews
Business owners that do not know or understand compliance and GAAP, or the patience to follow the rules... generally common in small companies.
Getting a whole picture look instead of a just a snippet of what my current task is
Still more to learn
Making business processes work right and helping people
Tracking billable hours
Updated January 8, 2025
