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Senior project accountant vs accounting consultant

The differences between senior project accountants and accounting consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior project accountant and an accounting consultant. Additionally, a senior project accountant has an average salary of $64,388, which is higher than the $62,830 average annual salary of an accounting consultant.

The top three skills for a senior project accountant include reconciliations, project management and GAAP. The most important skills for an accounting consultant are CPA, GAAP, and reconciliations.

Senior project accountant vs accounting consultant overview

Senior Project AccountantAccounting Consultant
Yearly salary$64,388$62,830
Hourly rate$30.96$30.21
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs45,27774,894
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

What does a senior project accountant do?

Senior Project Accountants are responsible for providing support in financial management for a project. Their duties include creating financial appraisals, producing project forecasts, and developing project financial reports. They are responsible for facilitating financial planning, identifying budget deviances, performing impact analysis, and assisting in risk management planning. Senior Project Accountants also establish financial governance for a project, improve financial tools, test data, and prepare a business case analysis for senior management. They participate in project meetings, assist in internal audits, and ensure operations adhere to corporate financial legislations.

What does an accounting consultant do?

An Accounting Consultant is a person tasked to assist the accounting department of a company. The consultant advises businesses concerning the accounting system used by the organization. It is also through the accounting consultant's help that improvements in the accounting process are proposed, the determination of problematic areas in the workflow, possible issues in the future, and everything that needs upgrading. The accounting consultant also helps businesses conform to legal policies set about by State and Federal legislation.

Senior project accountant vs accounting consultant salary

Senior project accountants and accounting consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Project AccountantAccounting Consultant
Average salary$64,388$62,830
Salary rangeBetween $48,000 And $85,000Between $45,000 And $86,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsCalifornia
Best paying companyDahl ConsultingJordan Company
Best paying industryTechnologyManufacturing

Differences between senior project accountant and accounting consultant education

There are a few differences between a senior project accountant and an accounting consultant in terms of educational background:

Senior Project AccountantAccounting Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorAccountingAccounting
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior project accountant vs accounting consultant demographics

Here are the differences between senior project accountants' and accounting consultants' demographics:

Senior Project AccountantAccounting Consultant
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 37.3% Female, 62.7%Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.0% Asian, 12.2% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 13.4% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage7%7%

Differences between senior project accountant and accounting consultant duties and responsibilities

Senior project accountant example responsibilities.

  • Manage daily operations of the accounting department to include contract billing, accounts receivable, and monthly backlog/accrual reconciliations.
  • Manage the review, enhancement, and creation of department policy and procedure documentation require for Sarbanes-Oxley auditing and compliance.
  • Produce financial reports on a timely basis for building construction decision making using various job cost methods in conformity to GAAP.
  • Provide recommendations and assist with development, documentation, and implementation of agree process improvement procedures according to GAAP and SOX.
  • Audit and approve the supporting documents of all invoices of the company in accordance with the requirements regulations by SOX.
  • Prepare schedules for recurring accruals and deferrals and amortize monthly.
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Accounting consultant example responsibilities.

  • Work independently on line of business projects to automate derivative processes and system enhancement testing.
  • Share oversight for recruitment, human resources and advertising.
  • Provide support to accounts payable department in tagging and recording of fix assets during an ERP system transition
  • Work with governance and internal audit team ensuring SOX compliance during monthly & quarterly reviews as well as the annual audit.
  • Collaborate with accounting department in monthly closing process and development of internal controls to support SOX requirements.
  • Improve audit performance of major medical center by clearing backlog of account reconciliations across multiple medical billing systems.
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Senior project accountant vs accounting consultant skills

Common senior project accountant skills
  • Reconciliations, 7%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • GAAP, 5%
  • Financial Reports, 4%
  • Payroll, 4%
  • Accruals, 4%
Common accounting consultant skills
  • CPA, 15%
  • GAAP, 11%
  • Reconciliations, 8%
  • ERP, 4%
  • Shared Services, 4%
  • SOX, 4%

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