Senior staff accountant vs fund accountant

The differences between senior staff accountants and fund 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 staff accountant and a fund accountant. Additionally, a senior staff accountant has an average salary of $65,019, which is higher than the $60,203 average annual salary of a fund accountant.

The top three skills for a senior staff accountant include reconciliations, account reconciliations and CPA. The most important skills for a fund accountant are reconciliations, calculation, and securities.

Senior staff accountant vs fund accountant overview

	Senior Staff Accountant	Fund Accountant
Yearly salary	$65,019	$60,203
Hourly rate	$31.26	$28.94
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	112,760	35,702
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
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 a fund accountant do?

A fund accountant provides accounting for an investment portfolio. The investments needed include commodities, securities, and/or real estate in an investment fund like a hedge fund or mutual fund. The role of fund accountants includes activity capturing and recording. Fund accountants prepare accurate and timely values, distributions, yields, and fund accounting output for review. They manage activities associated with fund accounting and domestic equity transactions. Also, they work alongside supervisors when it comes to budget development.

Senior staff accountant vs fund accountant salary

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average salary	$65,019	$60,203
Salary range	Between $48,000 And $86,000	Between $44,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	New York, NY
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	Calumet Specialty Products Partners	Warburg Pincus
Best paying industry	Professional	Finance

Differences between senior staff accountant and fund accountant education

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Fund Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Senior staff accountant vs fund accountant demographics

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

	Senior Staff Accountant	Fund Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%	Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5%
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, 7.6% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 18.4% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between senior staff accountant and fund accountant 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.

Fund accountant example responsibilities.

Manage fund accounting activities for five funds for an investment manager with $80b in AUM.
Manage accoutningtransition from Quickbooks to Yardi.
Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Record efficiently accounting records, securities positions, corporate actions and journal entries accordance with department policies and procedures.
Process complex transactions for foreign and domestic bonds, equities, futures, and options.
Prepare annual and semi-annual financial statements using GAAP.

Senior staff accountant vs fund accountant skills

Common senior staff accountant skills

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

Common fund accountant skills

Reconciliations, 12%
Calculation, 5%
Securities, 5%
GAAP, 5%
Accruals, 5%
Journal Entries, 4%

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Senior Staff Accountant vs Fund Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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