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.
Senior staff accountant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior staff accountant resumes:
- 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.
- Comply and create monthly reports using QuickBooks to prepare monthly consolidate financial statements for review by owners and investors.
- Prepare consolidated financial statements for the primary company, following GAAP.
- Recommend improvements and implement value-add procedures to ERP system and accounting operations.
- Assist accounting manager with compiling SOX documentation and verification of completeness of compliance efforts.
- Shorten receivable aging by updating customer contact information and establishing electronic communications through ERP system.
- Prepare accurate financial statements, which include reconciliation of accounts, calculating accruals and researching discrepancies.
- Provide compilation services, bookkeeping, QuickBooks consulting and property management accounting for small and medium businesses.
- Work as a primary accounting contact for monthly expenses and purchase accruals; maintain relationships with inter-departmental purchasers.
- Perform domestic and international roll forwards, quarterly schedules for goodwill, trademarks and acquisition activities utilizing Hyperion.
Senior staff accountant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Senior Staff Accountants are proficient in Reconciliations, Account Reconciliations, and CPA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Senior Staff Accountants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Reconciliations, 13%
Managed month end close process including journal entries, departmental analysis and preparation of consolidated financial statements and account reconciliations.
- Account Reconciliations, 7%
Take on special projects as needed including automation of vendor payments, automation of account reconciliations, and financial reporting improvements.
- CPA, 7%
Aided managers in performing AP duties, generated financial reports for CPA, and reconciled bank accounts for corporate office.
- GAAP, 5%
Analyzed financial statement accounts and made necessary adjustments for GAAP and related Statutory reporting requirements.
- General Ledger Accounts, 5%
Prepared reconciliation and year-end work papers pertaining to balance sheet and income statement categories and related general ledger accounts.
- Balance Sheet Accounts, 4%
Reconcile all balance sheet accounts monthly including preparing and posting depreciation and prepaid/amortization entries along with correcting/adjusting entries and accruals.
"reconciliations," "account reconciliations," and "cpa" are among the most common skills that senior staff accountants use at work. You can find even more senior staff accountant responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform senior staff accountant duties is communication skills. Senior staff accountants responsibilities require that "accountants and auditors must be able to listen to and discuss facts and concerns from clients, managers, and other stakeholders." Senior staff accountants also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "shortened receivable aging by updating customer contact information and establishing electronic communications through erp system. "
Detail oriented. senior staff accountants are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to senior staff accountant responsibilities, because "accountants and auditors must pay attention to detail when compiling and examining documents." A senior staff accountant resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "perform reviews of trial balance and cost centers detail for accuracy and make required adjustments. "
Math skills. senior staff accountant responsibilities often require "math skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "accountants and auditors must be able to analyze, compare, and interpret facts and figures." This resume example shows what senior staff accountants do with math skills on a typical day: "reconciled bank accounts in aftermath inc. and aftermath services, llc. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for senior staff accountant responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of senior staff accountants all the time, as "strong organizational skills are important for accountants and auditors, who often work with a range of financial documents for a variety of clients." An excerpt from a real senior staff accountant resume shows how this skill is central to what a senior staff accountant does: "provide support to the executive director through organizational billing, financial audits, and financial data management. "
The three companies that hire the most senior staff accountants are:
- Northpoint30 senior staff accountants jobs
- Robert Half26 senior staff accountants jobs
- Monster Products11 senior staff accountants jobs
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Compare different senior staff accountants
Senior staff accountant vs. Accounting supervisor
Account supervisors are in charge of the accounting and financial operations within an organization's accounting department. They supervise the account team and provide feedback about their performance and recommend improvements when necessary. It is their responsibility to review the company's financial statements for accuracy. They even reconcile the enterprise's general ledger accounts and oversee the communications and marketing plans of the clients. Also, they maintain profitable and long-term customer relationships to keep the trust of the clients.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior staff accountant are more likely to require skills like "payroll processing," "excellent organizational," "income statement," and "sage." On the other hand, a job as an accounting supervisor requires skills like "customer service," "payroll taxes," "direct reports," and "tax returns." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Accounting supervisors tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $86,930. In contrast, senior staff accountants make the biggest average salary, $67,353, in the professional industry.On average, accounting supervisors reach similar levels of education than senior staff accountants. Accounting supervisors are 1.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior staff accountant vs. Accountant/consultant
Accountants/consultants perform accounting tasks for organizations or companies. The accountants improve accounting practices and prepare financial statements at the end of every year. They analyze financial data and offer advice on regulatory compliance issues to the finance department. It is their job to make sure that the online system is secure. Most of the day, they organize invoices, prepare statements, and supervising systems. They should be equipped with analytical skills, industry knowledge, critical thinking, and interpersonal communication.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior staff accountant resumes. While senior staff accountant responsibilities can utilize skills like "external auditors," "accruals," "payroll processing," and "close process," accountant/consultants use skills like "account management," "product knowledge," "leveraged," and "customer service."
Accountant/consultants may earn a lower salary than senior staff accountants, but accountant/consultants earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $68,479. On the other hand, senior staff accountants receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $67,353.In general, accountant/consultants achieve similar levels of education than senior staff accountants. They're 1.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior staff accountants in the next 3-5 years?
Terri Walsh
Professor/Program Manager, Accounting, Seminole State College of Florida
Senior staff accountant vs. Accounting consultant
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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior staff accountant resumes include skills like "strong analytical," "excellent organizational," "quickbooks," and "sage," whereas an accounting consultant is more likely to list skills in "shared services," "gap analysis," "internal audit," and "pivot tables. "
Accounting consultants make a very good living in the manufacturing industry with an average annual salary of $68,965. On the other hand, senior staff accountants are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $67,353.When it comes to education, accounting consultants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior staff accountants. In fact, they're 3.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior staff accountant vs. Finance analyst/accountant
In a company setting, a finance analyst/accountant is in charge of handling and monitoring financial activities, ensuring efficiency and accuracy. Their responsibilities revolve around preparing financial reports, performing audits and risk assessments, and identifying any errors and inconsistencies, resolving them promptly and efficiently. They also conduct research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, evaluate the existing procedures to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and recommend solutions to optimize operations for financial growth. Furthermore, as a finance analyst/accountant, it is essential to uphold the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior staff accountants and finance analyst/accountants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior staff accountant might have more use for skills like "payroll processing," "excellent organizational," "balance sheet reconciliations," and "sage." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of finance analyst/accountants require skills like "payroll," "pivot tables," "financial models," and "data analysis. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for finance analyst/accountants, with average annual pay of $78,897. Comparatively, the highest senior staff accountant annual salary comes from the professional industry.finance analyst/accountants reach similar levels of education compared to senior staff accountants, in general. The difference is that they're 2.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of senior staff accountant
Updated January 8, 2025
