Senior project accountant vs senior tax accountant

The differences between senior project accountants and senior tax accountants 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 a senior tax accountant. Additionally, a senior tax accountant has an average salary of $77,537, which is higher than the $64,388 average annual salary of a senior project accountant.

The top three skills for a senior project accountant include reconciliations, project management and GAAP. The most important skills for a senior tax accountant are CPA, state income, and tax research.

Senior project accountant vs senior tax accountant overview

	Senior Project Accountant	Senior Tax Accountant
Yearly salary	$64,388	$77,537
Hourly rate	$30.96	$37.28
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	45,277	57,686
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

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 a senior tax accountant do?

Senior Tax Accountants recommend tax strategies, as well as assist the preparation of federal, state, and local taxes. They contact clients to resolve minor tax issues and work with the senior tax manager to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local tax legislation.

Senior project accountant vs senior tax accountant salary

Senior project accountants and senior tax accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Project Accountant	Senior Tax Accountant
Average salary	$64,388	$77,537
Salary range	Between $48,000 And $85,000	Between $60,000 And $99,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	New York
Best paying company	Dahl Consulting	Riverbed Holdings, Inc.
Best paying industry	Technology	Professional

Differences between senior project accountant and senior tax accountant education

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

	Senior Project Accountant	Senior Tax Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Southern California

Senior project accountant vs senior tax accountant demographics

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

	Senior Project Accountant	Senior Tax Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 37.3% Female, 62.7%	Male, 50.6% Female, 49.4%
Race ratio	Black 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, 8.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.7% Asian, 14.3% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between senior project accountant and senior tax accountant 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.

Senior tax accountant example responsibilities.

Research technical topics in taxation to present to the tax department and clients on areas of concern in the IRS code.
Participate in monthly accounting close with preparation and ownership of tax accrual journal entries and reconciliations.
Help implement, and maintain federal and state tax provision information into OneSource.
Work with internal and external resources to ensure implementation of CCH software on shopping cart is successful.
Assist and review the maintenance of the OneSource database relative to coding & mapping of the trial balance.
Conduct research with CCH and RIA on tax exposures, savings, refund, recovery, and credits.

Senior project accountant vs senior tax accountant skills

Common senior project accountant skills

Reconciliations, 7%
Project Management, 6%
GAAP, 5%
Financial Reports, 4%
Payroll, 4%
Accruals, 4%

Common senior tax accountant skills

CPA, 14%
State Income, 5%
Tax Research, 5%
Income Tax Returns, 4%
Tax Planning, 4%
Tax Compliance, 4%

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Senior Project Accountant vs Senior Tax Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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