Senior staff accountant vs accounting consultant

The differences between senior staff 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 staff accountant and an accounting consultant. Additionally, a senior staff accountant has an average salary of $65,019, which is higher than the $62,830 average annual salary of an accounting consultant.

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

Senior staff accountant vs accounting consultant overview

	Senior Staff Accountant	Accounting Consultant
Yearly salary	$65,019	$62,830
Hourly rate	$31.26	$30.21
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	112,760	74,894
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a senior staff accountant do?

A senior staff accountant is responsible for managing the accounting operations of the company's accounting department, reconciling accounts, and finalizing financial reports to discuss with the management. Senior staff accountants resolve account discrepancies, analyze the company's financial status, and verify financial transactions. They must have excellent analytical skills and extensive knowledge of the accounting principles to perform accounting duties that would minimize the financial risk of the company. A senior staff accountant provides strategic recommendations to prevent overspending and increase efficiency across all departments to drive more revenues and profits.

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 staff accountant vs accounting consultant salary

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Accounting Consultant
Average salary	$65,019	$62,830
Salary range	Between $48,000 And $86,000	Between $45,000 And $86,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	California
Best paying company	Calumet Specialty Products Partners	Jordan Company
Best paying industry	Professional	Manufacturing

Differences between senior staff accountant and accounting consultant education

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Accounting Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Senior staff accountant vs accounting consultant demographics

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Accounting Consultant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%	Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 12.1% White, 63.4% 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 Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between senior staff accountant and accounting consultant duties and responsibilities

Senior staff accountant example responsibilities.

Manage month end close process including journal entries, departmental analysis and preparation of consolidate financial statements and account reconciliations.
Involve in revenue recognition research (ASC 985-605 vs. ASC 605-25).
Aid managers in performing AP duties, generate financial reports for CPA, and reconcile bank accounts for corporate office.
Prepare balance sheet reconciliations and general ledger analysis in accordance with GAAP.
Advance SaaS deal and rev accounting.
Cultivate productive, trustful relationship with external CPA firm, critical to producing successful audits and year-end reporting.

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.

Senior staff accountant vs accounting consultant skills

Common senior staff accountant skills

Reconciliations, 13%
Account Reconciliations, 7%
CPA, 7%
GAAP, 5%
General Ledger Accounts, 5%
Balance Sheet Accounts, 4%

Common accounting consultant skills

CPA, 15%
GAAP, 11%
Reconciliations, 8%
ERP, 4%
Shared Services, 4%
SOX, 4%

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Senior Staff Accountant vs Accounting Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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